Bird of Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page A

had said “Damn the
torpedoes, full speed ahead?” Well, she’d take a page from his book
and show Mr. Nice Eyes. She didn’t give a fig for what he thought
of her. She couldn’t have cared any less about his opinion. She had
no interest in him, none whatsoever, not even the slightest bit of
curiosity about what it was he was doing skulking down at the
distant end of the corridor, speaking with a man in a customs
uniform, handing over not only his cat carrier, but what looked to
be a large handful of money as well.
    Every journalistic instinct within her stood
up and screamed at the nervous, guilty looks he was casting around
himself. Hero glanced over her shoulder at the crowd behind her.
Several members of the television show staff were trying to round
up contestants and herd them toward the shuttles that would take
them to the resort proper, but there were far more people than
space on the shuttles. She probably had at least ten minutes before
she’d need to be back in the main area. Still undecided, she picked
up her bag and looked back down the hallway to where the man was
disappearing through an unmarked door. She gnawed her lip for a
second, then started down the corridor after him. She had no idea
what was going on, but it looked to be the stuff that great stories
were made of, so it could only be to her benefit to follow through
on it.
    She slipped through the
door after the two men and found herself in a large room
reminiscent of a warehouse, stacked from floor to ceiling with
large wooden crates. She ignored them and headed toward where she
heard voices, pausing to peer around a towering stack of crates
marked Crescent Moon
Resort .
    The customs official signed a paper, then
handed it to the blue-eyed man. “Here is the quarantine
certificate. I’ll just add the stamps on the receipt, and you’ll be
able to pass through without comment.”
    Quarantine? Hero vaguely remembered a note
about pet quarantine in the literature about Mystique Island that
came with her acceptance on the show. The man was smuggling his cat
through quarantine? What a personal interest story that would make!
Not to mention it was highly, highly illegal. Hero grinned as she
dug through her bag, her fingers closing tightly around the digital
camera loaned to her by the newspaper. She hadn’t had much of a
chance to use it yet, but knew from those prior experiences that it
could be tricky. If she could just get a photo or two of Mr. Blue
Eyes and the customs official doctoring the quarantine information,
she’d be a very happy woman. Ah, but revenge was sweet.
    Both men spotter her with the very first
picture.
    “Bugger and blast,” she said in a snarl at
the camera as the flash went off, attracting their attention. The
customs official disappeared instantly, leaving Hero to face the
irritated-looking man who stalked toward her.
    “Hello again,” she said weakly, trying
unsuccessfully to hide the camera behind her back. “Fancy meeting
you here.”
    “You were taking my picture,” the man
accused her, and rightly so, she had to admit. His luscious black
brows were drawn together in a frown that made him look even more
adorable, if that were passible. Hero sighed to herself and
promised a lecture to her libido at the earliest possible time.
    “A picture? Why would I want to take a photo
of you?” she asked, knowing innocence was not a brilliant
subterfuge, but it was the best she could come up with under the
constraints of a snapped mind.
    “That’s what I’d like to know. You don’t
work for Sally, do you?” He looked suspicious now, trying to see
what she held behind her back.
    “Sally? No, I don’t even know a Sally. My,
look at these fascinating crates. I wonder what could be in them.
Isn’t this a fascinating room? You know, I find the whole customs
procedure simply fascinating. The rules, the regulations, the
officials . . . oh! That must be what you saw! I was taking a
picture of a customs man who was