How Spy I Am Read Online Free PDF Page A

autonomy.”
    “But what happiness
and fulfilment are you denying yourself by clinging to this shallow
relationship with Arnold?” she asked softly.
    I bit into a brownie
and chewed, studying the vivid patterns of the oriental carpet
while I considered the best way to escape the conversation.
    Miss Lacey
straightened. “I’ve pressed you too far, and I apologize. I
actually invited you here so that you could give me your honest
opinion. How is Arnold? And I’m not referring to his sexual
prowess,” she added.
    I hid my sigh of
relief. “He has a sprained ankle and a broken nose, a couple of
cracked bones in his face, and lots of scrapes and bruises. He’s
pretty badly beaten up, but he doesn’t have any serious
injuries.”
    She leaned back in her
chair with a sigh of her own. “Thank heaven. I’m very fond of him.
You know that he drives me to all my appointments and takes me
grocery shopping.” Her bright black eyes met mine. “He’s a good
man. And he conceals a brilliant mind behind that dreadful
facade.”
    “I know.” I smothered
a smile. “I like his facade, though.”
    “I do tend to fuss
over him a little more than I should. I hope he wasn’t upset that I
had called you.”
    “No, I’m sure he
wasn’t,” I reassured her. “But if you didn’t get my number from
him, how did you find me? My number is unlisted.”
    She hesitated. “Arnold
and I exchanged emergency contact lists some years ago, shortly
after I moved into this complex. I won’t bore you with that story,
but in all the time I’ve known him, he has had only one contact, a
John Kane. Last week he added your name.” She smiled. “I’ve known
you were special to him ever since he introduced us this summer.
You are the only woman he welcomes back repeatedly, unlike his
usual conquests.”
    “Oh.” My heart swelled
at the unexpected honour. I knew how cautious Arnie was in
bestowing his trust.
    Miss Lacey leaned a
little closer, her bright black gaze searching my face. “He warned
me never to divulge your name or number to anyone. He said you were
in a difficult personal situation.”
    “Uh.” I rapidly
dredged up the cover story that had served me in the spring. “Yes,
my ex-husband is, um… well, I’d prefer to avoid him.”
    She sat back in her
chair, nodding. “I understand. Your information is completely safe
with me. I’m not in the habit of giving out personal information,
particularly not to men like those ruffians who were showing your
photo around here last week.”
    The brownie turned to
cardboard in my mouth.
    Time for damage
control, indeed.

Chapter 4
    I was about to demand
details when a rap on her door made us both start.
    “Please excuse me,”
Miss Lacey said as she rose, and I slouched in the chair and gulped
more tea while she went around the corner to answer the door.
    My mind raced. Could
the ‘ruffians’ have been the hired goons who’d been contracted to
kill me last week? Or were they working for Fuzzy Bunny? A tingle
of fear rippled over my skin, and I reached down to skim my
fingertips over the reassuring shape of the gun at my ankle.
    God, please let them
have been the contract killers. I knew they’d been called off.
Fuzzy Bunny, on the other hand…
    I spared a sudden
moment of empathy for Stemp’s insistence on knowing my whereabouts.
Leaving so abruptly this morning had probably been really stupid,
but at least I’d told Kane where I was going this time. I’d better
get back to Sirius, pronto.
    “Aydan, you have a
caller,” Miss Lacey said as she rounded the corner again.
    I sprang to my feet
and dodged behind the wing chair at the sight of the handsome young
man following her. A spasm twisted Mark Richardson’s face when my
hand flew to the wound on my arm.
    “Aydan, I’m so sorry,”
he said. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
    I took a deep breath
and let it out slowly. “I know. Sorry, I’m just a little twitchy.
I’ll get over it.” I stepped out from behind the