Secret Assignment Read Online Free PDF Page A

her. “That’s your job. There’s a bucket outside and you can see the beach from here—”
    “Don’t let him tease you, Shannon.” Lydia entered through the nearest French door, carrying a handful of zinnia cuttings. She arranged the colorful flowers in a clear vase and filled the bottom with water. “The crabs and shrimp are in the cooler. A nice man delivered them to us this morning.” She set the flowers in the middle of the small dining table just beyond the kitchen. “Aren’t these lovely?”
    “Beautiful,” Shannon agreed. “I caught a glimpse of the garden from my window. It’s amazing.”
    Lydia smiled with pleasure as she washed her hands. “My husband loved to garden, so we made a habit of bringing in soil to fill the raised beds every spring.” She looked with sad fondness at Gideon. “Dear Gideon helped me this year. It makes me a little weepy, I confess, to think that I won’t be tending the garden next year.”
    “You’ll be able to have a garden where you’re moving, won’t you?” Shannon asked.
    Lydia retrieved a large pot from one of the lower cabinets and set it on the counter next to Gideon. “Yes. My sister-in-law tells me the backyard of my bungalow is perfect for gardening.” She sighed. “It won’t be the same, but I imagine it will be lovely anyway.” She went back into the garden again.
    “I made her sad,” Shannon said with regret.
    “Everything makes her sad these days,” Gideon said shortly.
    “Can I help you with anything?”
    “Well,” he said quietly, “how about we start with what you’re really doing here?”
    His question caught her off guard. “What?”
    “I did some checking into Cooper Security. You’re not the kind of outfit that hires out to help a rich widow pack up her house.”
    “What I’m here to do is a little more complicated than that.”
    He shot her a skeptical look. “Three months ago, Cooper Security helped put a high-ranking State Department official back in jail. And now I’m supposed to believe you’re just here to archive General Ross’s papers and collections? Really?”
    “We do a lot of different kinds of jobs at Cooper Security,” she protested.
    Lydia returned to the kitchen, carrying a large bucket of blue crabs and jumbo Gulf shrimp. “Hope you’re not allergic, Shannon. I suppose I should have asked before I planned the dinner tonight.”
    “Not allergic,” she assured her hostess. “And my stomach is growling already!”
    Within an hour, the pile of vegetables and seafood on the counter had transformed into a rustic dinner for three. It was messy and delicious, and by the time she helped clear the remains of their meal from the table, Shannon was stuffed and getting sleepy.
    “I believe I’m going to call it a night, my dears,” Lydia announced a little later, as the clock crept toward eight-thirty. “I have a Dick Francis novel waiting for me. He’s left the hero in quite a pickle, and we must get him safely out.” She waved her hand as Shannon showed signs of following her up the steps. “No need to retire at such an ungodly early hour. Stay and enjoy yourself. Poor Gideon must make do with just my company so much of the time. I’m sure he’d enjoy having someone new to talk to.”
    Lydia disappeared upstairs, apparently oblivious to the two wary, suspicious people she left staring at each other across the kitchen table.
    “You don’t have to stay,” she said after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
    “You want me to leave?”
    His scrutiny set her nerves on edge, but she wasn’t about to admit her unease to him. “Not if you don’t want to.”
    He walked over to the counter. “Coffee?”
    “No, thanks.” Her earlier sleepiness had fled once Lydia left her alone with Gideon. The last thing her jangling nerves needed was more stimulation.
    He returned from the kitchen empty-handed and waved toward the sofa in the front room. “Shall we?”
    She wished he would smile. She’d liked the way