Anna Marie Sorenson's Secret Affair Read Online Free PDF

at two o’clock for his dentist appointment,” Pepper said. “And we must find a new dry cleaner. A button is missing on my coral silk shirt. The time before that, my lavender cashmere sweater came back with a spot on the sleeve that I know was not there when I took it to them.”
    Anna Marie lowered her head to hide a smile. She thought she saw a twinkle in Cam’s
    eyes. It was obvious that having had such a dismal success in engaging her brother-in-law in a normal social dialogue, Pepper dropped all efforts of civility towards him, and had decided to patently ignore him for rest of the evening.
    “My publisher wants me to go to New York about the new book sometime next month,”
    Pepper said, busily scooping mushroom risotto onto her plate. “I thought perhaps we could make a small family trip. The kids will have a Friday off next month. I don’t think it would do any harm to take the Thursday before, and we fly to New York. Do you think you can take off those two days, Cam?”
    Her husband nodded. “I’ll have to look at the calendar at work, but no immediate case is coming to mind, so I probably can take off then.”
    Anna Marie herself was not much of a conversationalist so that most of the talk was
    between her sister and Cam. Cam himself was the quiet, thinking type, as well, who tended to listen more than talk, which was perfect for his wife who talked much more than she listened. As Pepper gabbled away from one topic to the next without a break, he nodded every once in while to show either agreement or that he was listening. Sometimes, Anna Marie would see his eyes take on a distant look, and she wondered if he were thinking about one of his cases.
    Secret Affair 22
    Anna Marie barely heard any of her sister’s chattering, because she was so painfully aware of the big, dark haired man in white sitting across the table from her. She had no beginning idea of how to sort out this reaction that she was having to him. She had never felt this way towards any man before, reacting so uncontrollably by just looking at him, all that danger and controlled wildness that was emanating from him blindsiding her. And being so near his tall, leanly muscled presence was creating enormous havoc to her orientation, leaving her feeling confused and not quite rooted to the present. She was appalled to find her breath coming in small rapid breaths. She felt as if she were engulfed in suffocating heat one minute and the next breaking out into a cold sweat. She was terrified that she would get a panic attack any minute.
    Her nerves were being stretched dangerously thin so that she dropped almost everything she picked up, earning her repeated annoyed glances from her sister.
    One time, Anna Marie cautiously raised her eyes, intending to sneak a peak at Dallas, and found, to her horror, his green eyes on her. Her face flushed unbecomingly, and she felt as if she had been caught red-handed, and quickly looked down. She took the risotto that Pepper held out to her. Not paying attention to what she was doing, she kept scooping the risotto onto her plate.
    “Anna, really, leave some for the rest of us,” Pepper admonished.
    “Wha…” She looked down and saw that she had filled her entire plate with risotto and had nearly emptied the bowl. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry.” She hurriedly scooped it back into the bowl.
    Determined to keep her eyes from straying for rest of the evening, Anna Marie forked some of the roasted asparagus to her plate. Spearing a steaming stalk with her fork, without thinking, she popped it in her mouth, and scalded her tongue. Immediately, she spat it out onto her plate, and then started guiltily when her sister said with sharp reprimand, “Anna! Honestly, you’re no better than the kids at the table.”
    “Sorry,” Anna Marie muttered. “I didn’t realize it was so hot.”
    She caught Dallas’s eyes on her again, seeing the hint of amusement in the green depths.
    She flushed and quickly lowered her