Dream a Little Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

half-moons of sweat staining his shirt, and she tried to feel grateful that he was clean. His breath wouldn’t reek of greasy onions and bad teeth. Still, an inner alarm warned her she would have been safer with Clyde Rorsch.
    His lips barely moved. “Where’s your pride?”
    “I’m fresh out.” The last of the buttons gave way. She slipped the soft blue chambray dress from her shoulders. With a soft whish, it dropped around her ankles.
    His empty silver eyes took in her small, high breasts and the ribs that showed so plainly beneath. Her low-cut panties didn’t conceal either the sharpness of her hipbones or the faint stretch marks that showed above the elastic.
    “Put your clothes back on.”
    She stepped out of the dress and made herself walk toward him, clad only in her panties and sandals. She held her head high, determined to keep her dignity intact.
    “I’m willing to work a double shift, Bonner. Days and nights. No man you hire is going to do that.”
    With grim resolve, she reached out and cupped his arm.
    “Don’t touch me!”
    He jerked away as if she’d struck him, and his eyes were no longer empty. Instead, they darkened with a rage so profound that she took a quick step backward.
    He snatched up her dress and shoved it at her. “Put it on.”
    Defeat curled her shoulders. She had lost. As her hand caught the soft blue fabric, her eyes found the photo of G. Dwayne Snopes staring at her from the purple flyer curling on the wall.
    Sinner! Harlot!
    She slipped into her dress while Bonner made his way to the doors and unlocked them. But he didn’t push them open. Instead, he planted his hands on his hips and bent his head. His shoulders rose and fell as if he were breathing hard.
    Her stiff, cumbersome fingers had just managed to fasten the last button when the snack shop’s doors swung open.
    “Hey, Gabe, I got your call. Where—”
    The Reverend Ethan Bonner froze in place as he saw her. He was blond and breathtakingly handsome, with finely shaped features and gentle eyes; he was the complete opposite of his brother.
    She saw the exact moment when he recognized her. His soft mouth thinned and those gentle eyes glazed with contempt. “Well, well. If it isn’t the Widow Snopes come back to haunt us.”

 

     
    G abe turned at Ethan’s words. “What are you talking about?”
    Rachel sensed something protective in the way Ethan looked at Gabe. He moved closer, as if he were guarding him, a ridiculous notion since Gabe was larger than Ethan and more muscular.
    “Didn’t she tell you who she is?” He studied her with open condemnation. “I guess the Snopes family hasn’t ever been known for truthfulness.”
    “I’m not a Snopes,” Rachel replied woodenly.
    “All those downtrodden people who sent money to keep you in sequins would be surprised to hear that.”
    Gabe’s gaze moved from her to his brother. “She said her name was Rachel Stone.”
    “Don’t believe anything she says.” Ethan addressed Gabe in the gentle tones people usually reserved for the sick. “She’s the widow of the late, but hardly lamented, G. Dwayne Snopes.”
    “Is she now.”
    Ethan walked farther into the snack shop. He wore a neatly pressed blue oxford shirt, khakis that held a sharp crease, and a pair of polished loafers. His blond hair, blue eyes, and even features formed a marked contrast with his rugged brother’s more brutal good looks. Ethan could have been one of heaven’s chosen angels, while Gabriel, despite his name, could only have ruled a darker kingdom.
    “G. Dwayne died about three years ago,” Ethan explained, again using that solicitous sickbed voice. “You were living in Georgia then. He was on his way out of the country at the time, one step ahead of the law, with a few million dollars that didn’t belong to him.”
    “I remember hearing something about it.” Gabe’s response seemed to be made out of habit rather than interest. She wondered if anything interested him. Her