Murder Of A Snake In The Grass Read Online Free PDF

you to quit sending me presents.” Skye stood with her back rigid and her voice like ice. “You know, for the first few months after you walked out on me, I secretly hoped you’d see the light, that you’d be miserable without me and realize your mistake. But since then I’ve changed.”
    He hung his head. “You were right. I have been miserable since you’ve been gone. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of you. Please give me a chance to win you back.”
    “I don’t want you back in my life. All I want is to help you with your foundation for abused kids and then once and for all say good-bye, properly this time.”
    Luc sat back down on the sofa and patted the cushion beside him. Skye ignored the silent invitation and seated herself across from him on the director’s chair.
    “Ah, but to do that, you need to hear the whole story, from when you left New Orleans to this very minute.”
    “Okay, then let’s start with why I should believe anything you say.”
    “Because you still love me?”
    “Buzzzz, wrong answer.” Skye crossed her arms.
    “Because you’re a fair-minded person?”
    “Strike two.”
    Luc opened his mouth and closed it. He repeated this several times before he spoke again. Finally he said, “Because you need closure so you can go on with your life, and until you and I really finish things, you’ll never be able to have another serious relationship?”
    She couldn’t believe her ears. Since when did Luc St. Amant know things like that? She couldn’t admit that he was right. It would give him way too much advantage. What should she say? When the answer came to her, she smiled thinly. She should say exactly what she had learned in graduate school:
Don’t let him assign feelings to you; make him own his own emotions
.
    Skye loved it when she could actually make use of her education. “So, you’re saying you’re having trouble moving on and need my help.”
    A strange look crossed Luc’s face, but he quickly smoothed it away. “Darlin’, I’ll always need your succor and support.”
    Skye ignored the twinge in her stomach. “Okay, I’ll listen to what you have to say, but I won’t promise to believe it. Let’s start at the beginning.”
    “Why don’t you come sit beside me?” He patted the couch cushion again.
    “No. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it my way. And my way is for you to keep your distance.”
    “You were always afraid of your own sensuality.” Luc got up and sat on the coffee table facing Skye’s chair. “Let yourself go, darlin’.”
    Skye moved her legs so her knees were not touching his. “That reminds me of one of our problems,” she said. “Anytime you didn’t instantly get what you wanted, you blamed a character flaw in me.”
    “You never used to think that way. You used to be grateful for my guidance.”
    “You don’t want to go down that road,” Skye warned. She got up and moved away from him. “It isn’t one of my more pleasant memories.”
    “What?”
    “Remembering how pitifully eager I was to fit into the mold you made for me. How I was willing to give up my own feelings, standards, even morals to be more like you and your crowd.”
    “When we first met,” Luc said, “you told me you wanted to be more sophisticated, more uptown. You said you were sick of your small-town, naïve persona.” Luc stood behind her, and put his arms around her waist. “You asked me to teach you how to behave around the ‘right’ people.”
    What he said was true, and it was a hard truth to swallow. Skye hadn’t understood the rules. She had read Miss Manners, but in New Orleans things were different. It was the unspoken edicts—the social conventions, styles, trends, what-is-and-isn’t-done-when—that had tripped her up. And she had desperately wanted to fit in. Now she was ashamed of how shallow she had been.
    She wiggled out of Luc’s embrace, unhappy with the image of her he was resurrecting. “As you said, I was naïve. It’s