Follow the Sun Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked at him formally, much like a schoolteacher addressing an errant boy, he thought.
    “Captain Sundance, tell me the truth. Are you married?”
    “Would anyone marry such a rotten docker? No.”
    “Ever?”
    “No.” He watched her try delicately to hide her curiosity. “Never fear, Tess, I have no desire to do your hair or redecorate your boat.”
    She gave him a rebuking look, but chuckled, “I wasn’t asking for personal reasons.”
    “Oh? Are you a reporter for the
Marina Enquirer?
”
    Her soft laughter crept into his bones and refused to leave.
    “You silly lout. I can assume, then, that you’re just another carefree playboy?”
    “Playman,” he corrected. “I passed ‘boy’ way back.”
    She laughed again. Jeopard took a slow swallow from his drink and wished like hell that she’d stop. It was not only the most seductive sound he’d ever heard; it was the sweetest. Instinct, observation, and cold, hard facts began to give way to pure affection.
    “I believe I
will
have lunch with you. Jeopard.” She gazed at him happily.
    Jeopard nodded, forcing himself to look pleased. He was too seasoned, too cynical, and too wise to let a job get to him. She was just a job, after all. If she had the Kara diamond, he’d get it from her. And when she realized his deception, she wouldn’t have anything to laugh about for a long time.

CHAPTER 3
     
    S HE COULDN’T WAIT to tell her grandparents about Jeopard Surprise.
    At seven the next morning—bleary-eyed because she and Jeopard had sat at the Zanzi Bar talking until four—she parked the Jaguar in front of Viktoria and Karl Kellgren’s Spanish-style duplex. The old, exclusive section of Long Beach where they lived was quiet and pretty: small homes and duplexes marched up the street beside tiny front yards exploding with colorful flowers and shrubs.
    Karl and Viktoria met her at their door as usual, their arms wide, as if she didn’t come every morning for breakfast.
    They had followed her to Long Beach soon after Karl retired from a long and prestigious career in the Swedish parliament. Moving to America had been entirely their idea, but she adored them for doing it, and was glad that they were happy in the ultimate American playland that was California.
    She didn’t have a phone on the sailboat, so theykept a phone for her, a separate line with an answering machine. And because her relationship with them was so close, she didn’t mind that they knew her business and social doings. She led a simple life.
    So she sat with them in their bright little kitchen, eating a very Swedish breakfast of pancakes smeared with jelly, not tasting the food, her concentration devoted to telling them an enthusiastic but G-rated account of the intriguing man who’d become her neighbor at the marina.
    After a half-hour of nonstop talking in fluent Swedish, Tess realized that their cheerful expressions had gone dark. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
    Her grandfather spoke first. “Why did you tell him so much about yourself so soon?”
    Tess smiled drolly. “
Farfar
, only because the man asked. It could be that he likes me. I am likable, you know.” She squeezed Karl’s hand. “He’s not the kind of man who feels comfortable talking about himself right away. That’s the only reason he encouraged me to talk. It was innocent.”
    Viktoria nervously twisted the hem of the colorful apron she wore over a housedress. “But he wanted to know so much about your work and your family.” She frowned. “You didn’t tell him that you keep diamonds on your boat, did you?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “And whatever you do, don’t tell him about the blue. Don’t wear it around him, either.”
    “That’s right,” Karl agreed.
    Tess stared at her grandparents in disbelief. “You know I don’t wear the blue. It’s worth too much. What’s going on with you worrywarts?”
    “The diamond has been in the family for many years,” Karl said sternly. “We wouldn’t want it