Chance Of A Lifetime 1987 Read Online Free PDF Page A

should be a housekeeper’s job. Tell whoever it is that the answer is
    no.“
    Rachel stared at him. „But you don’t even know who’s calling.“
    „The possibilities are limited, but I prefer to avoid all of them.“ The phone rang again. „The phone is in the hall,“ he
    added encouragingly. „Just pick it up and say ‘no.’“
    Irritated, Rachel jumped to her feet and went into the hall. The phone, an old-fashioned plain black instrument,
    shrilled again. She yanked the receiver off the cradle.
    „Hello?“
    „Let me speak to Chance.“ The voice on the other end was gruff, imperious and male. „Now.“
    Rachel cleared her throat. „I’m afraid Mr. Chance cannot come to the phone right now,“ she said in her coolest
    professional tone.
    There was a startled pause on the other end of the line. And then the gruff voice demanded, „Who is this?“
    „His housekeeper.“
    „His housekeeper! What the hell’s he doing up there? Playing gentleman farmer? Has he got an upstairs maid and a
    butler now, too? Listen, lady, Chance works for me. Get him on the line and do it immediately.“
    Rachel’s fingers tightened around the phone, and her voice became infinitely chillier. „May I say who is calling,
    please?“
    „Tell him it’s Dixon, for crying out loud!“
    Dixon. She was speaking to the head of Dixon Security, the company that had been hired to investigate the thefts
    at the firm where her sister had worked. „I’m sorry, Mr. Dixon, I’ve been instructed to tell all callers that Mr. Chance is
    unavailable.“
    „Bull. You tell Chance if he doesn’t get on the line now he’s not going to have a job.“
    Rachel considered her options. She couldn’t believe Chance had known who was calling when he instructed her to
    say no to everyone. Apparently he was in trouble with his boss. Surely he would want to take this call. She wondered
    how much damage she would do to his career if she simply followed orders.
    „The answer is no, Mr. Dixon. Goodbye.“ She hung up the phone before the man on the other end had stopped
    sputtering. She stood for a moment staring at the receiver, wondering what she’d just done and then, slowly, her
    nerves tingling, she walked back into the kitchen.
    „Who was it?“ Chance asked without much interest. He was halfway through his cereal. The pile of toast at his
    elbow had almost disappeared.
    „A man named Dixon. He said he was your boss,“ Rachel murmured very sweetly. „He asked to speak to you, and I
    did as you instructed. I told him no.“ She waited for the explosion. When it didn’t take place she didn’t know whether
    to be relieved or disappointed.
    „Good. Maybe that will keep him off my back for a while.“ Chance poured himself another cup of coffee.
    Rachel cleared her throat. „Is he your boss?“ she asked carefully.
    „Former boss. I quit a couple of weeks ago.“
    „I see.“ She didn’t know what to say to that. Apparently she hadn’t done his career much damage by hanging up.
    „Uh, why did you quit?“
    „Dixon and I had a disagreement about the handling of my last assignment,“ Chance said in clipped tones. „There
    were some questions left that I thought should have been answered. I wanted to finish the investigation, but the client
    was satisfied with the results at that point and wanted to cut off further inquiries. It wasn’t the first such disagreement
    Dixon and I have had over the years, but I decided it would definitely be the last. I told him to go to hell, and he gave
    me roughly the same instructions. But I didn’t follow orders. I came up here instead.“
    „Why is he calling you if he fired you?“
    Chance lifted one shoulder in negligent dismissal. „Weren’t you listening? He didn’t fire me. I quit. And who
    knows why he’s calling? Probably because he wants me to go back to work for him.“
    „And you don’t want to?“
    „Nope. I’ve been looking for a good excuse to quit, and this is it.“
    This was