Mysterious Read Online Free PDF Page B

now."
    "If you’re waiting to hear me say how comforted I am, you can forget it."
    "I..." She cleared her throat. "1 knew those two men had been following me the last couple of days. I kept catching glimpses of them—you know, a man in the same color and style of jacket, another man with a certain way of walking. It was just too much of a coincidence." She shuddered, remembering how scared she had been. "There was something so menacing about them. Then as soon as they realized that I had become aware of them, they began to behave more aggressively."
    She lifted her hands in a graceful appeal and the red polish on her nails glinted against the white of her dress like fire dancing on snow. "Try to understand. I was desperate. I was nearly out of money and I was afraid to use my credit card any more than I had already. It would have been like leaving a trail of bread crumbs. I was positive I had lost them when I ducked into that bar. Then I saw two men come in. I couldn’t be sure, through the crowd and all, but I had a real feeling it was them. I tried to get out the back way, but the bar must have just gotten a delivery or something, because the exit was blocked. That was when I decided to come over to your table."
    "Ah, now we come to my part in the evening’s entertainment. Tell me." His voice was deadly calm. "Why me?"
    "I had noticed you earlier ..." Her voice faded briefly, but came back strong. "Who knows? I’m not sure I can tell you."
    "Try."
    "When you’re in danger and in a room full of people, you instinctively pick the person who looks as if he can help you. There was a strength about you, an integrity. And you obviously weren’t on the make. You were ignoring—"
    "Everyone but you."
    She tried to repress the shivers that swept up her spine at the husky softness of his voice. "I suggested a hotel because I thought it would be safe. I didn’t want to get you involved—"
    "Didn’t want to get me involved?"
    "I honestly thought it would be okay." She raised her chin defensively. "I reasoned that if we took a cab instead of your car there would be no chance for them to trace your license plate. And in the unlikely event that they found out where we had gone. I thought that registering under a false name would protect us."
    "Well, Jennifer White, obviously your reasoning leaves something to be desired." He drained the last inch of whiskey from his glass and stared at its bottom, feeling a sadness he shouldn’t under the circumstances. "Did it ever occur to you to confide in me and let me help you?"
    "I didn’t want to—"
    "I know." Jerome held up his hand in a gesture of resigned acceptance. "You didn’t want to get me involved. I’m sure your intentions were admirable. " He studied her for a minute. "I’ve got to ask. If it had come down to it, would you have gone to bed with me?"
    She raised her brown eyes and met his gaze with a sensual directness that threatened his equilibrium. "Yes." The one word went into him like a hot bolt of lightning. Jennifer stood up. "Look, I’ll just leave."
    "Like hell you will! Sit down."
    She sat down.
    Jerome rubbed the back of his neck tiredly. "So tell me. Mrs. White, what does Mr. White do that requires hired guns?"
    "I—I’m not sure. Not exactly. But there were too many things that happened that made no sense to me."
    As Jerome listened to her speak, he was again hit by the vulnerability he had first sensed in her; and, despite his anger at having been misled, it moved him as nothing had in years. There was very little outward sign of the vulnerability, though. Her spine was ramrod straight. Yet her fingers were twisting together in a wringing motion, and he knew if he were to close his hand around her throat, he would be able to feel her pulse racing wildly. It made him want to cover her hands with his, to still her disquiet, to take her in his arms. . .
    She was saying, "Strange men coming for meetings at all hours of the day and night. Money trading hands.