Domino Read Online Free PDF Page A

given her hair a condition treatment, a cut,
and added a bouncy curl to her straight, fine hair, managing to be
done at the stroke of seven. He would not be caught dead in the
Wolfe Den after Morgan's explicit orders.
    She adjusted the thin shoulder strap of the
short black cocktail dress, adding a pair of long diamond earrings
and diamond studded watch. She admired the diamond ring on her left
hand for a long moment, and felt again the rush of joy and sense of
accomplishment flood through her. It was close. So close. Then
everything she had dreamed about would be hers.
    The black sateen oblong box rested under one
single white rose on her dressing table. She smiled to herself as
she picked up the flower and smelled its wonderful fragrance.
Morgan was a hopeless romantic. It was these little details of
their love that she cherished. She opened the black box and gasped
at the exquisite beauty of the thin strand of square cut diamonds
that lay on a pillow of red velvet. Clarissa carefully picked up
the necklace and held it to her throat, admiring it before she
fastened the clasp. Love was wonderful.
    She stopped downstairs at the mirror on the
wall near the front door to check her makeup for the last
time.
    "Morgan, I'm leaving," she called out. His
cold hands on her almost bare shoulders made her jump. He moved
with unnerving silence, with less noise than a breeze through the
trees.
    "You are truly lovely, darling," Morgan
whispered in her ear. He turned her around slowly, drinking in her
beauty.
    "I'm taking the Mercedes," she informed him,
forcing mock anger into her voice for having to go to the party
alone.
    "Do you like the necklace?" Morgan asked,
ignoring her act.
    "It doesn't really go with this dress, but it
will do for tonight."
    "I'll have Virginia take it back first thing
in the morning since it does not please you," he toyed with
her.
    "No need," Clarissa countered, enjoying the
game. "I'll just buy a little something to go with it."
    "I knew you'd work it out."
    "I'm an enterprising woman."
    "And stunningly beautiful."
    Morgan pulled Clarissa gently to him. She
twisted coyly away from his grasp and turned once again to the
mirror to fluff her hair.
    "I wish you were coming with me, Morgan. You
won't change your mind?"
    "I can't. Don't be too late
tonight."
    Clarissa threw a flirtatious smile at Morgan's
stern, handsome image behind her in the small mirror. "I just may
not come home at all."
    The side of his mouth curled into an almost
imperceptible sneer and his dark eyes flickered with menacing
lights and shadow. When he spoke, it was a low and guttural
whisper, and an icy sensation crawled up Clarissa's
spine.
    "You'll come home, Clarissa."
    She fumbled in her purse for the car keys so
that Morgan would not see her hands tremble. How was it possible to
love someone who you feared? Clarissa had asked herself that a
hundred times in the last few months. Morgan was so good to her, so
loving and generous. His love making was gentle and skilled,
sending her to erotic heights she never dreamed her body capable.
He gave her the best of everything, listened to her eagerly when
she needed to talk, to express her views, frustrations, or
feelings. He was the father she never had, the brother who cared
about her life, the dream lover she'd only until now, read about in
novels. He was her white knight, her prince, her secret admirer,
her friend.
    Then there were the black moments, fleeting
fragments of frozen time, when she looked into his eyes and saw the
boiling clouds of an impending thunderstorm laced with wild
lightning reaching out to stab her helpless soul. It took all her
will to tear herself away from the crystal fire in that mask of
momentary evil. Then it would be gone. The domino, the mask of
Morgan Wolfe would smile at her and she could fall into his arms as
if the black moment had never materialized. She would forget the
paralyzing fear that held her for that elusive hellish
second.
    "Do you have the Mercedes