Always Read Online Free PDF Page B

his voice. “We’ll find a substitute.” Heplaced her on the bed and covered her carefully with the sheet. “Now listen to me. Okay?” His expression was as grim as his voice had been. “I know you’re angry, and you have a perfect right to be. I’d feel the same way, but angry or not, the situation exists. You’ll either be a guest or a prisoner. The choice is entirely your own. This place is located on a stretch of private beach, and you can scream the house down and no one will hear you. There will be two men on duty at both front and back entrances at all times. If you manage to knock me out or cut my throat, as I’m sure you’re tempted to do, you’ll still have them to contend with.” He sat back down on the chair by the bed. “Here’s the way we play it. The hotel staff has been given the story that you left your singing engagement so abruptly because you’ve made a connection with a wealthy American oilman, Paul Desmond.” He indicated himself with a half-mocking gesture. “You’ve moved into a love nest down the beach and will soon be returning with him to Texas. That should bring Baldwin running.”
    “No.…”
    “I take it that’s a protest, not disagreement. We both know he’ll come, Lisa. He has a history of psychotic jealousy where you’re concerned.”
    She was having trouble keeping her lids from closing. “I won’t let you do this,” she murmured. “I’m going to get away.” Her eyes closed in spite of her struggle to keep them open. “I’m going to get away from you, Donahue.”
    Was it her imagination or did she feel a whisper-soft caress as he brushed a curl away from her temple? “It’s too late, Lisa.” The words came out of the hovering darkness, blurred but unmistakable. “You’ll never get away from me.”
    When she opened her eyes again it wasn’t Donahue’s face she saw, but one that was far less intimidating. The man who was grinning appealingly down at her was much younger and as all-American as apple pie. He wasdressed casually in jeans, a wildly flowered Hawaiian shirt, and tennis shoes.
    “Hi, I’m John Galbraith, Miss Landon. I hope to hell you’re feeling better. Clancy has been spitting like a cat for the last hour or so. He’s telephoning the lab now to yell at them for not calling the shots more accurately about your reaction to the drug.” He made a face. “Better them than me. I nearly got myself mutilated when I brought you in here in that comatose state.”
    The breezily casual statement issuing out of that boyishly appealing face shocked her into full consciousness.
“You
brought me here?”
    “I get all the really quality assignments,” he said sarcastically. “Kidnapping an American citizen was a natural for me.”
    She sat up in bed. Her dizziness was gone now, though there was still the trace of a headache. “A criminal assignment,” she said. “You’re going to go to prison for a long time, Mr. Galbraith.”
    “I won’t, you know,” he said softly. “Clancywouldn’t have sent me on the job if he hadn’t had me covered. He protects his men.”
    “He’ll have trouble protecting himself this time.”
    A tiny frown wrinkled his brow. “Look, Miss Landon, I know you’re upset, but don’t make the mistake of going against Clancy. He has no intention of hurting you, but he’s not about to let you go until Baldwin surfaces. It will be a good deal pleasanter for you if you’ll accept that. Clancy is the toughest bastard I’ve ever run across. You don’t want to cross him.”
    “The hell I don’t.” Lisa could feel her anger igniting once again as she remembered the sheer arrogance, the outrageous illegality of Donahue’s actions. “At the moment, I not only want to cross him—I damn well want to draw and quarter him.” Her voice dropped to an ominously low pitch. “After I finish with you.”
    Galbraith flinched. “I’m easier meat than Clancy, but I don’t think I’d like that. You seem to be a little