Illegal Possession Read Online Free PDF

no one else had ever said her name in quite that way. Whatever it was, it got to her.
    “Okay. I’ll see you around eight—Dallas.”
    A smile curved his mouth, something warm kindling in his dark blue eyes. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, Troy.” Then he turned and made his way down the steps.
    As Troy watched his lean figure disappear into the distance the big man who’d been waiting, silent and watchful, among the Doric columns at the top of the steps came down to join her. He sat beside her, joining her in looking after the man who’d just left.
    “You walked past us very pointedly,” she observed absently.
    “You were smiling your dangerous smile,” the big man explained in a voice that sounded like an angry bear at the bottom of a deep well. “I thought I’d better pass by to remind you not to light into Cameron.”
    “I nearly did, Jamie,” she said ruefully. “He was needling me about stealing being wrong.”
    Jamie looked at her curiously. “Even after you explained that you don’t gain by it?”
    Troy slid a look at her big companion. “Yes, well—I didn’t exactly tell him about that.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t know. Yes—I do know. He was so damn complacent about his belief and so utterly unwilling to listen to mine. To
hear
mine. I think he wants to reform me, if you please. And I have a terrible suspicion that he’s going to try and blame my unlawful ways on heredity and/or environment. He probably thinks my father was a Skid Row bum and my mother a hooker.”
    Jamie hid a smile at her disgusted tone. “You’ve met others who wanted to place your delicate feet on the straight and narrow,” he said mildly.
    “I know. But dammit, he makes me mad.”
    “Then tell him the truth.”
    “That he makes me mad? He knows that.”
    “No,
mon enfant
—tell him about yourself.”
    “He wouldn’t believe me.”
    “Show him.”
    “That’s his idea.” Troy sighed, then muttered abruptly. “I think I own stock in his company.”
    Jamie burst out laughing at the sudden astonishment in her voice, his own tone even more of a bear-rumble in amusement. “Well, he left calmly enough, at any rate. You must have said something to placate him.”
    “I invited him to my party,” Troy said woefully.
    Remembering the kiss he’d seen, Jamie said rather carefully, “Was that wise,
chérie
?”
    “No.” She sighed. “It wasn’t a bit wise. But he said that either he’d find out about me
from
me, or else he’d hire detectives. And I don’t think he was bluffing, Jamie.”
    “May I ask why he’s so determined?”
    Troy looked at him with a comical mixture of caution and amusement. “Well, don’t go all stuffy and protective, but I’m reasonably sure he has designs on my virtue.”
    Jamie, the memory of that kiss strong, was more than reasonably sure. He was certain. “I promised your father I’d look after you,
mon enfant
.”
    “You’ve taught me to look after myself,” she reminded.
    “True. And you’re over twenty-one. But be careful. Cameron strikes me as being an honest man, but he’s not known for his fidelity.”
    Troy got to her feet, holding the almost-forgotten painting securely. “Fidelity doesn’t interest me, Jamie. I’m not ready to settle down.”
    Jamie rose more slowly, his face concerned as he looked down at her. “You’ve never been in love,
chérie
. But when you fall, you’ll fall hard. I just don’t want to see you hurt.”
    The talents of a genuinely great actress must have been passed down to Troy; her laugh sounded sure and heart-whole even to herself. “Love? Jamie, Dallas Cameron thinks I’m a thief, and nothing’s going to change his opinion. And I could never fall in love with a man who thought me immoral. It just isn’t possible.” She started down the steps confidently.
    “Besides, as soon as the novelty wears off, he’ll be gone.”
    Moving after her, Jamie muttered, “Uh-huh. When pigs grow wings and hell freezes over.”
    If Troy