Be My Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

the bedroom, tossed everything in a hand-painted tray she’d placed atop the credenza earlierfor that express purpose. Immediately her hair began to swell and grow like a sponge absorbing water, deep waves burgeoning as the thick mass sprang free of its tight confinement. Thrusting her fingers through it, she massaged her scalp vigorously with both hands. “Oh, God, that feels better.”
    She walked into the bedroom, where she sank onto the slipper chair to remove her flats. Peeling her thigh-high nylons down her legs, she tossed them aside, and then, with a long, contented sigh of release, slithered down the chintz-covered seat to slump on her tailbone, extending her toes as far as they’d reach in front of her and stretching her arms overhead and behind her in a reach for the far wall. She let her head fall back against the chair, her released hair an added cushion that bolstered the base of her skull.
    Lessons in comportment were far too ingrained to allow such sloppy posture for long, however, and with a final stretch, she straightened in her chair. Then she rose to her feet and reached for the hidden side zipper on her dress.
    It was so good to have a minute to herself. She felt as if she’d been on one emotional juggernaut after another from the instant the plane had touched down.
    It wasn’t simply the unforeseen business with the police, although that had certainly contributed. She rather thought it had more to do with the foreignness of the city, and most of all with the excitement and stress of being responsible for the success of the Garden Crown’s opening.
    She and Roxanne had been running flat-out practically since the moment Sergeant Dupree had elicited her agreement to stay put and departed. She’d made it a point to meet with the skeleton crew and check with each department to make sure everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing and that it was being done. She simply needed to unwind for a while, in a spot where it was possible to escape feeling her every reaction was being scrutinized, and she’d be fine.
    Pulling the dress off over her head, she hung it on its padded satin hanger in the closet, then swept up her discarded nylons and put them in a net lingerie bag to be laundered later. Wearing only her skimpy bikini panties and a demi-bra of ice-blue satin and lace, she stretched luxuriously again, enjoying the cool air that washed across her freshly exposed skin. Letting her arms drop to her sides, she rotated her head.
    Tight muscles began to relax and stretched nerves to unwind. Padding over to the high-mattressed bed, she tossed back the duvet.
    And felt a scream rip from her throat when a huge black thing flew from the comforter, dropped at her feet on the floor, and scuttled for the darkness beneath her bed.

3
    S econds or hours later—she couldn’t tell which—she heard a fist bang on the suite door. “Juliet!” Roxanne’s voice held both urgency and anxiety. “Are you okay? Let me in.”
    Juliet scrambled to comply. She ran through the rooms, whipped the door open, and nearly got rapped in the face by Roxanne’s upraised fist.
    Her assistant’s arm dropped to her side as if she’d been shot and she stared at Juliet. “My God,” she breathed, “your hair is gorgeous . How come you never wear it down like that?”
    Juliet just stood in the tiny foyer shaking and shivering, and her expression must have been as blank as her mind because Roxanne made an impatient erasing gesture with one hand and pushed her way into the suite. “Are you okay? Holy catfish, girl, you’re practically naked. Nice undies, though.” She wrapped an arm around Juliet’s bare shoulders, and it was a measure of Juliet’s state that she didn’t stiffen in discomfort at the unaccustomed touch. Roxanne guided her back through the foyer to the living room.
    When they reached the bedroom door, however, Juliet balked. There was no way in hell she was going back into that room.
    Roxanne studied her