Mysterious Read Online Free PDF

to look around the room. It looked like him, traditional, expensive, contained, and very masculine—except for a wondrously splendid giant wooden rocking horse in the corner. It was remarkable, she thought. And it didn’t fit with the room ... or with what little she knew about Jerome Mailer.
    For the first time that evening she realized she had assumed Jerome wasn’t married. Why? She had to find out about his involvements. "Do you . . . uh, live here alone?"
    "Quite alone." He approached and handed her a glass of brandy.
    Suddenly she knew. As open and charming as he might seem, he was really aloof. The quality was barely discernible, but it was there. Jerome Mailer kept himself to himself! "And you like to be alone, right?"
    "Drink this." He growled the order. "You look as if you need it." Sitting down beside her, he watched until she had taken a sip. Pale apricot color flooded back into her face, and inexplicably he reached out a finger to touch her cheek. Her flinch was barely perceptible, but he felt it and he withdrew his hand, frowning. "Are you ready to tell me what happened back there?"
    She concentrated her attention on the glass in her hand. "It might be better for you if you didn’t know. It really has nothing to do with you."
    Jerome thrust his hands into his jacket pockets and withdrew the two guns. Placing them on the coffee table, he bit out tightly, "These say it does."
    Jennifer took another swallow of brandy.
    "I’m a lawyer," he grated harshly. "That means I’m an officer of the court, and I just left two men knocked out cold on the floor of a hotel room I had rented."
    "But you didn’t rent the room in your name."
    "Smith? Don’t be naïve. By walking away from that scene, without notifying the police, puts my professional reputation in jeopardy. So you had better start talking or I will put in that call."
    Bending her head again, she said in a low tone, "It was ... my husband."
    Jerome went very still. "Would you mind repeating that?"
    She raised her head slightly. "It was my husband. He sent those men after me."
    Complete silence, then thunder. "You’re married!"
    She nodded, her brown eyes cautious as she watched his reaction.
    Jerome shot off the couch to stride to the bar and pour himself another drink. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Hell! He didn’t want to believe what he was hearing. This beautiful woman he’d come within a hair’s-breadth of making love to not even an hour ago was married! Tossing back the whiskey, he wheeled on her. "You had better start explaining, sweetheart, because if you don’t, I just might give in to this almost irresistible urge I have to wring that beautiful neck of yours. And you can start with your name."
    "My name is Jennifer," she began. "Really," she added when she saw his dubious expression. "Jennifer White. My—my husband’s name is Richard. Two days ago I. . . left him. It’s as simple as that."
    "Simple?" he roared, incredulous. "You’ve got to be kidding! Keep talking. For instance, why did you leave him?"
    "Listen. Are you sure you want to hear this? Because I can leave right now, and you– "
    "Talk, Jennifer."
    Reluctantly she nodded, then sighed. "Richard and I … had been married only a couple of months when I discovered that he was involved in some very shady business deals. I told him I was going to leave him, but he refused to listen." She shrugged. "First chance I got I left. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I left with only the clothes on my back and very little money. I had been on the run two days when I saw you."
    Jerome sat in a chair opposite the sofa and rubbed his forehead. Dammit! Why was he surprised? Hadn’t he suspected right from the first that there was something fishy about Jennifer picking him up? Of course he had. But he’d let his attraction to her rule him. And now he felt as if there were a knife twisting slowly in his gut?
    Nervously Jennifer laced her fingers together. "You’re in no danger