Hidden Talents Read Online Free PDF

“That won't exactly be a new experience for him, will it? Good-bye, Aunt Phyllis.”
    He hung up the phone and gazed thoughtfully at the receiver.
    It seemed to him that his whole life had been shaped by blackmail. Hell, he was a pro at dealing with it.
    Something told him that Serenity Makepeace was not.
    She'd left his office determined to find the blackmailer who had destroyed her hopes and dreams for Witt's End.
    She was no doubt headed for trouble, and, like it or not, she was still officially his client. They had both signed that damned contract.
    Caleb picked up the phone and then slowly replaced the receiver. It was not his way to do anything without giving it a lot of thought beforehand.
    He made himself contemplate the matter for another half hour. Then he slowly and deliberately dialed the hotel where Serenity stayed when she came to Seattle to meet with him.
    The front desk clerk was brief and to the point. “I'm sorry, sir,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. “She just checked out.”

2

    T HE FOLLOWING MORNING S ERENITY LEFT HER COTTAGE to set off through the soggy, mist-shrouded forest. She was headed for Ambrose's cabin. She wanted a few answers to some very specific questions.
    She had not paid him a visit last night after returning to Witt's End because she hadn't trusted her strange, unhappy mood. This morning she was calmer, but a frustrated anger was still burning within her.
    She didn't know which annoyed her the most, that Caleb Ventress had not turned out to be the man she'd thought he was, or that she'd misjudged him so completely.
    Serenity hated the rare occasions when her perception of others turned out to be faulty. She was accustomed to trusting her instincts.
    But she should have known better than to trust her own judgment when she dealt with a man from the mainstream establishment world, she reminded herself. She'd never really understood that world, nor had she adapted well to it during the period she'd lived in it.
    She had been born and raised in Witt's End. The tiny mountain community might strike outsiders as odd, but as far as Serenity was concerned, it was home. It was the place where she belonged. The community sheltered her and raised her when there had been no one else to take her in. She intended to give back to Witt's End what it had given her: a future.
    Now it looked like she'd have to accomplish that goal without the assistance of Ventress Ventures.
    She stuffed her gloved hands into the pockets of her beaded, fringed jacket and tried to examine her emotions from an intellectual viewpoint. Maybe this was how a woman scorned always felt, she thought as she forged a path through the dripping trees.
    A woman scorned . She shuddered at the thought.
    For the first time, Serenity realized just how much she'd been attracted to Caleb. She could not deny that she'd responded instantly and unconditionally to him in a way that she had never responded to any man. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. She must have been out of her mind to get so carried away by a man who was obviously so wrong for her.
    But she knew that she had begun to fantasize about having a committed relationship with Caleb. It probably couldn't have lasted forever, of course. After all, she was from Witt's End and he was from the outside world, but perhaps they could have shared some portion of the future together.
    And, if they had both been very lucky, they might have found something that resembled what Julius Makepeace, the man whose surname she bore, had found with his friend, Bethanne.
    Serenity smiled briefly, thinking of the postcard that had been waiting for her when she got home last night.
    Dear Serenity :
    Having a wonderful time. Marriage is great. Should have done this years ago .
    Love, Julius and Bethanne
    The card had been postmarked Mazatlan, Mexico. Julius and Bethanne were on their honeymoon. After fifteen years of living together, they had decided the time had come to marry. Two weeks ago Witt's