Molten Gold Read Online Free PDF

heated. Adelaide was a sexy woman, one
he wanted more from than he was comfortable acknowledging. It was a pity he was
leaving like this, but he’d never been rude enough to overstay his welcome. Not
even for those lush, pink lips, dark eyes and silky-soft hair would he violate
his own rules. She wanted him gone, so he was leaving.
    Adelaide pursed those gorgeous lips and nodded. She remained
silent though, and he knew he only had a fifty-fifty shot of her ever reaching
out, even if she did recall something of use. Chances were good that this was
the last he’d ever see or hear of her.
    She escorted him to the door and he left.
    Only a little part of him was sad, wondering what could have
been.
     
    Adelaide slammed the door behind the delectable ass of
Lieutenant Jared Teague and struggled with her fluctuating emotions. The Army
man might be sex on a stick, designed purely for her lustful fantasies and a
few heated nights of powerful sex, but he also made her madder than she could have
believed possible. The nerve of him, accusing Adelaide’s uncle of being a
thief. What rot!
    Even though she’d been able to see the hot thoughts in his
gaze, she’d been too mad to smile back, to flirt or show him her interest. Fury
had overridden even her usual charm and her natural instinct to use her wiles.
Adelaide leaned back against the door, still angry.
    The more she thought about it, the more she realized Jared
could have been far less civil in his questions and his wording. He could have
accused her uncle of treason or pillaging. Stealing was quite a serious charge
in the Army, as was unbecoming behavior. So why had Jared shown compassion and
not been aggressive, as she suspected many others would have been in his place?
    Surely there was more to the story than what he’d said.
She’d been positive he was couching his words in purposely vague language.
There might certainly be classified information she couldn’t be privy to,
but…there seemed to be so much more to this story.
    Deeply intrigued, personally involved now, Adelaide hurried
back to her computer. She saved her files and opened her search engine. To hell
with her deadline—she could use a rainy day emergency filler piece. She typed
“Saddam Hussein, gold bar, 2003” into the search engine. A dozen or more news
articles popped up.
    A quiver rushed through her and her journalistic instincts
snapped to attention.
    Something was going on here and she wanted to get to the
bottom of it.

Chapter Three
    The following afternoon
     
    Adelaide had spent a productive day at work. She’d submitted
the filler article to Frank, saying she’d caught the end of something and
wanted some time and space to follow it on her own. He’d been curious, she
knew, but they’d built up enough trust and respect over the years that he’d
accepted her word and given her the go-ahead.
    Scribbling notes in her notebook, she’d spent the day doing
background research and had the bare bones of the first piece sketched out.
This could easily be a three or more part series depending on how the story
panned out.
    At minimum it could be a “What happened to…?” piece. Nothing
had been written about the missing bars of gold since a few trucks had been
found in 2003. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about them. So where had they
ended up? Were there more? A million questions revolved in her head, all unanswered.
Reviving the story might not answer anything, but it had all the elements of an
interesting piece even if she never learned any more.
    But Adelaide was determined. There had to be more—Jared’s
presence in her home yesterday proved that.
    As Adelaide drove home she kept her notepad on her lap and
her pen in hand. During the red lights she added more questions, angles to look
at, people she could contact and try to get answers or quotes from. Her mind
bubbled over crazily, full to bursting point. This could be something big, she
just knew it.
    Whenever a particular turn of