Hidden Talents Read Online Free PDF Page B

End had pulled out all the stops to give the couple a wedding celebration worthy of the event. Even Ambrose had come to the party. He had actually condescended to take a few pictures of the bride and groom, all the while making it clear that wedding photos were beneath him.
    Serenity paused briefly to get her bearings amid the trees. An eerie silence enveloped the woods this morning. The fog blanketing the mountains last night had grown heavier after dawn.
    She ducked beneath the low branches of a damp fir. It would have been stupid to have let herself get involved with a rigid, conservative, hidebound traditionalist like Caleb. The man probably wore pinstriped underwear.
    Serenity scowled. Something was wrong with that analysis, and she knew it. In her present foul mood it was tempting to categorize Caleb as inflexible, unyielding, and narrow-minded. But she sensed that was far from the whole picture.
    Her first impression of him had been deeply disturbing in its intensity. Prepared for a middle-aged corporate type with soft hands, a soft jawline, and the beginnings of a soft paunch, she'd been totally unprepared to find herself dealing with a wild beast trapped in a gleaming, stainless steel and glass cage.
    Caleb had reminded her of the griffin that hung from the chain she wore around her neck. Intriguing, different, and powerful. Not quite real, perhaps. Possibly dangerous.
    It was his eyes, gray and filled with a cool, detached watchfulness, that first alerted Serenity to the fact that she was not dealing with a typical member of the mainstream business establishment.
    The rest of Caleb had been as disconcerting as his eyes. While it was certainly true that he didn't have the wings of an eagle or the tail of a lion, she saw a certain, mysterious, griffin-like quality about him. Caleb had risen from behind his desk that first day, a tall, lean, startlingly graceful man. His hair was as dark as a night in the forest, and his features as bold and uncompromising as the mountains around her. His voice had been deep but virtually devoid of any discernable emotion other than a cool civility.
    The remote, distant quality that emanated from him was initially quite chilling. He had appeared completely self-contained. He projected the image of a man who needed no one, relied on no one, trusted no one.
    Oddly enough, the very strength of that image made Serenity realize that whatever was going on inside Caleb, it was neither calm nor unemotional. No man cultivated such profound self-control unless he had something very fierce and powerful inside himself that needed to be controlled.
    She'd found herself inexplicably drawn to what she knew her friend Zone would describe as the masculine force in Caleb. It fascinated her, intrigued her, and seemed to resonate perfectly with an element deep within her that Zone would label the feminine force. This morning Serenity could still feel echoes of the excitement that had flashed through her when Caleb kissed her in his office. She hadn't experienced anything like those feelings before.
    Too bad Caleb had turned out to be a stiff-necked, straitlaced, sanctimonious prude, she thought now. Shaking off the memories, she walked a little faster.
    The cold fog wove its tendrils around her, making her more aware of the chill in the air. In another couple of weeks the first snows would arrive in the mountains. Witt's End would be snugly tucked up for the winter.
    Serenity huddled deeper into her jacket, wishing she'd never written that letter to the president of Ventress Ventures last month. She should have sought start-up help for her new business from another source.
    But even if the abrupt termination of her arrangement with Caleb had been for the best, she was outraged at the reason. Her mouth tightened. She still could not bring herself to believe that Ambrose, a neighbor and friend, had actually tried to blackmail her. It made no sense.
    The whole thing had seemed ludicrous yesterday morning,