Paradise Burning Read Online Free PDF Page B

in
school. Jeff had just recruited Peter right out of the Boston
University School of Journalism, and the young agent had hit AKA
running. As if Heir Apparent were already stamped on his forehead.
A street-smart kid with a steel-trap mind who had created his
ever-so-slightly rough-edged persona out of imagination, a sharp
eye, and sheer determination.
    And there it
was . She’d come to the end of the road, and above her
head rose a huge house on stilts, enclosed on three sides by a
screen of tall trees. Oh.
My .
    Peter was home, or at least there was a
4Runner parked beneath the house, with room for another car beside
it. The rest of the ground floor area was walled with white wooden
lattice, evidently concealing some kind of storage area. A large
neatly asphalted circle in front of the house provided guest
parking. Sweeping double staircases led up to an elaborately carved
front door, and to a wraparound deck that put residents straight
into the heart of old Florida.
    Wow! There was
no other word. Mandy gaped. This was where Peter expected to live.
If she weren’t the most stiff-necked, stubborn, prideful idiot ever
created.
    Ah, well . . . time to face the music.
Hoisting her purse and laptop to her shoulder, Mandy got out of the
car.
    The front door burst open. Peter charged out,
braced both arms on the deck’s decorative railing. “Goddamn it,
Mouse! Where the hell have you been?”
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    Dejà vu . She’d
already lived this bit. More than once. That fateful moment in
Manhattan. The day Peter walked away from AKA. The weeks and months
before that when they’d argued, Peter raging, Mandy stubbornly
resisting, usually ending in tears.
    Nothing had changed.
    Oh, yes, it
had . The mouse was working on becoming a lion, and
they were both older, hopefully wiser. Which didn’t keep Mandy’s
knees from turning to jelly and her heart from ping-ponging inside
her shell of a body in a frantic attempt to escape. She wasn’t
ready. She couldn’t handle it. She wanted to leave. Now.
    Peter was nearly upon her. Incredibly, Mandy
stood her ground, drinking him in like some toxic brew she knew
wasn’t good for her, but couldn’t resist. Except for the scowl, he
looked . . . good. Scrumptious. There were more pounds on his
six-foot frame, but he’d been lanky, appearing undernourished no
matter how much he ate. Now he had broad shoulders, a solid chest.
His stomach was still flat, his hips lean. And he still wore his
dark curls cut ruthlessly short. The glowing amber eyes hadn’t
changed either. Always alert, always examining, analyzing.
Unfortunately, at the moment they were flashing a bit more
lightning than Mandy could have wished.
    And, yes, life had etched more lines above
his square chin and around his eyes. Those eyes that tilted up ever
so slightly, a genetic gift from some ancient Asian tribe on a
rampage in Europe. In short, he was Peter. The epitome of an
adventurer. Exciting and dangerous.
    Peter, who’d once been hers. And she hadn’t
been woman enough to hold on. Hadn’t loved enough to come down on
the right side of divided loyalties.
    Obviously, his temper hadn’t abated. He
looked ready to eat her alive. Standing on the first step, towering
above her, he was casting off glints of rage like a sparkler on the
Fourth of July. “I’ve been calling AKA ten times a day to find out
if they’d heard from you. Blast it, Mouse, you can’t just leave
some silly message saying you’re fine, then disappear off the face
of the earth.”
    Mandy stepped back. She’d been close enough
to smell his shaving cream, and that wasn’t good. Cool. No matter
how violent the churning inside, she had to be cool. “I checked in
every day. There was no need to worry.”
    “ No need!” Peter mocked. “I expected
you three days ago. I had the house cleaned, your room ready,
groceries, the table set for two. You didn’t even call me. I waited
and I waited, pictured you mangled on the highway,