In Her Secret Fantasy Read Online Free PDF

down his spine.
    He leaned forward to kiss her cheek in time-honoured New Year tradition, inhaled her soft, strangely exotic scent with an exciting buzz, but as if she didn’t notice his gesture, she stepped nimbly out of his reach and his hold in order to greet his parents.
    Instead, Aidan found himself eye to eye with Glenn Brody, who offered his hand.
    “Happy New Year,” Aidan said easily. “I’m Aidan, Louise’s brother.”
    Brody shook hands—firm, but not challenging. “Glenn Brody.” He swung up a bottle of whisky and dropped it into Aidan’s hand. “Happy New Year.”
    The man had knife scars on his face; his knuckles showed traces of a hundred fights. And yet Aidan picked up just a trace of social awkwardness, like someone who knows he isn’t welcome but is determined to go through the motions of politeness. Also, he was younger than Aidan had expected. Although he’d done ten years of a life sentence, he must have been little more than a kid when he went inside.
    He too brushed past Aidan, saying, “Happy New Year, Mrs. Grieve. Mr. Grieve.” And for some reason, the gangster’s politeness to his frail parents surprised Aidan too.
    Then Louise was back beside Aidan with the woman he didn’t recognize. “Aidan, this is Izzy who used to have the flat upstairs, and her son, Jack, who beats Mum and Dad at Snakes and Ladders.”
    Ah. So this was the girl, Louise’s friend who was now Brody’s girlfriend. Interesting. He smiled at her. “Pleased to meet you at last.”
    He shook hands solemnly with the kid who had an engaging grin and was wide eyed with excitement at what was probably his first grown-up New Year.
    “And Chrissy,” Louise went on, “who runs things up at the big house.”
    “Tries to,” Chrissy corrected, exchanging brief hugs with Morag, who was also, clearly, well acquainted with all three visitors from the big house. How had this happened in Ardknocken?
    “We met already,” Aidan said, catching the girl’s eye while everyone but Izzy—presumably the other woman in the car earlier—looked from him to Chrissy in surprise.
    “Really?” Louise asked.
    “I had a disagreement with the ice,” Chrissy said. “Though fortunately the worst victim was only a bottle of vodka.”
    “Lucky,” Izzy agreed. “Could have been the whisky. Glad to meet you too, Aidan. You staying long?”
    “A while. Waiting for my new job to start.”
    “Where’ll that be? Glasgow?”
    Aidan smiled faintly. “Abroad, mainly.”
    Louise got it at once. He could see the blood drain from her face. Shit. His changing jobs only gave her something else to worry about.
    Chrissy’s gaze flickered to Louise, then back to him. He busied himself pouring drinks for everyone. Louise followed him, ostensibly to ferry the drinks, but in reality to interrogate him.
    “Abroad where?” she demanded in a low, oddly tight voice. “You might as well tell me now and get it over with.”
    He shrugged, as if it was no big deal. “They’re talking about Iraq to begin with. Phenomenal money for easy work.” He shoved a glass of whisky into her hand.
    Her fingers closed around it mechanically. “ Easy ?”
    He grinned. “I’m not going into battle against insurgents or anyone else. I’ll be babysitting fat businessmen with even fatter wallets. That’s Chrissy’s, and here’s Izzy’s.”
    Clearly, she had more to say, but remembering her manners, she closed her mouth on it and passed on the glasses.
    “So, no party up at the big house?” Aidan enquired when the chatter hit a lull.
    “Oh, it’s swinging,” Chrissy assured him, sitting back on the sofa next to Izzy, with her whisky glass half-empty. “We left them to it for a while.”
    Aidan let his lips quirk. “Not a hard-core party animal?”
    As if she sensed the challenge he was barely even thinking, she glanced at him. “Are you?”
    “God, no.”
    Louise laughed. “He’s broken up too many of them. Say ‘Happy New Year’ to the guys when