Judgement By Fire Read Online Free PDF

resort to
hiding in bushes, like the paparazzi, and paint the beautiful people in their
mud treatments…” Her remark brought laughter and helped defuse the steadily
mounting tension in the small hall. Her cheeks flushed, she stood up straight,
brushing the auburn hair from her eyes.
    “I say we set
up a committee now to stop Rush Co., and to show I’ll put my money where my
mouth is, I’ll donate my latest completed work for auction by that committee.
That’s publicity and fund-raising. There’s a five thousand-dollar price tag on
that picture now in the Luke Gallery, and the rights to the prints are worth a
few thousand more. Let’s get this show on the road!”
    Her heart
pounding savagely, she sat down, uncomfortably aware of the blinding glare of
the television camera light focused directly on her. But at that moment the
meeting broke up and groups of people gathered in an arguing, gesticulating
mass, the anger and bewilderment they’d felt earlier finally galvanized into a
solid direction.
    Looking around
at her friends and neighbors, Lauren noted with a twinge of sadness that some
people had unobtrusively left the hall, their silent departure speaking
volumes. But there was no question now about how the majority felt.
    Rush Co. had a
fight on its hands.
    * * *
    He was
standing on the road across from the hall entrance, his long body lounging
against a rugged four-wheel drive vehicle, when Lauren, the first of the
committee members to leave, came out of the hall. She’d tried successfully to
make good her escape before the news camera team cornered her with the other
reporters in hot pursuit. They’d apparently decided that the pretty local
artist was a good angle for their story, but Lauren had evaded them with a
wave, desperate to get out into the crisp air and away from the noise, the
bustle, and the emotional tension that lingered from the meeting.
    So when she
came out, pulling her parka tightly around her and gasping a little at the
sudden chill, he was the first person she saw, leaning against his vehicle and
gazing at the stars.  For a moment, she thought he was talking to himself, then
realized he was using a cell phone. She moved to pass him as quickly and
unobtrusively as possible.
    Even in the dull
light, Jon recognized the woman who had drawn his eye time and time again
during the meeting, the woman whose rich, feminine voice had soothed his
frazzled senses even as her words had aroused him to anger. Seeing her now, he
impulsively wanted to detain her for a moment, puzzled by his own reaction even
as he spoke.
    And when he
said softly: “It’s really a beautiful night, isn’t it?” she returned his
greeting with a smile.
    He saw that
smile in the diamond clear starlight of the bitterly cold country night, and
experienced a response so rich, so soft and warm with longing that he was
momentarily shocked by the sudden realization of his own need and loneliness.
That an unknown woman could move him so, out here on a dirt road on one of the
coldest nights of the year, took his breath away.
    And he knew,
as if the knowledge had always been there, that he had to find out more about
her, to know if this was a starry wild illusion, or if that smile really had
the power to make his heart pound and his breath ragged.
    Suddenly, the
head of Rush Co. felt like a schoolboy again, tapping the toe of his expensive
leather boots in the frozen grit of the road and wondering what on earth he
could say to hold her near.
    *
* *
    Although she
couldn’t know of his struggle, Lauren was also experiencing a sudden burst of
feelings and desires she’d thought were long buried in the past. No, damn it ,
she thought, even in high school I don’t remember this kind of instant
attraction. Maybe I have been living in the country too long.
    Unfortunately,
there is a price to be paid for preoccupation when walking in snow and ice at
night, and Lauren paid it. Normally she had an instinctive, almost unconscious
ability to