Sensuous Angel Read Online Free PDF

“The kind signed in blood.”
    “Sounds like a pact with the devil.”
    “Does it?”
    “And you’re supposed to be a priest.”
    “I am a priest, Ms. Miro. Well, do you want my help or not?”
    Donna hesitated, wondering what she was getting into. Then she sighed impatiently, thinking that she should really be running as far from this man as she could get.
    “Let’s hear about this deal, Father,” she murmured.

CHAPTER THREE
    “I WILL HELP YOU to find Andrew. I think you should meet him. I can understand that you feel you must assure yourself that your friend is all right, but I don’t think that you can see Lorna. And you’ve stumbled into something that you shouldn’t have.”
    “Stumbled into—”
    “Never mind. Forget I said that.”
    “Forget! How—”
    “Because it’s the only way that I’ll help you. But this is the deal. You keep your mouth shut. You stop driving the police crazy, and you stop searching for Andrew McKennon.”
    “I can’t do that! You just said that something was very wrong. That I’d stumbled into something! And now you’re asking me to pretend that none of this exists—”
    “No, I’m asking you to keep your mouth shut. But I’m beginning to wonder,” he added dryly, “if you’re capable of doing that.”
    “Do you know, Father, you’ve been giving me comments just like that ever since I found you!” Donna protested.
    “I believe I found you, Ms. Miro,” he retorted politely.
    “Point well taken,” Donna acknowledged. “I meet you and discover that you do know this man that no one else has ever heard of. But I shouldn’t even be asking about a friend who disappeared. I’m supposed to forget all about it. I don’t trust you. But you’re going to help me. If I can learn to keep my mouth shut.”
    “In a nutshell, Ms. Miro.”
    “But I don’t know a thing about this McKennon! And everything that happened to Lorna must have started with him!”
    “Ms. Miro, I feel I should warn you now that Andrew McKennon is more than a parishioner. He is a…friend of mine. More than a friend. And if I’d done what I should have done, I would have denied that I knew him. Andrew has to decide what to tell you now, do you understand? I’m going on faith myself right now, Ms. Miro. I have to trust you to be discreet. I shouldn’t be doing this at all.”
    “Then why did you say you would help me? Why did you allow me to go on—”
    He stood abruptly, walking to the deep-maroon drapes and pulling them aside. Night had come to Manhattan, but gentle light from the streetlights warmed the tree-lined block in a soft glow. The priest stared out at the trees with their beautiful decking of fall colors for a moment before he turned and sat in the chair behind the oak desk. Then he spoke. “I allowed you to continue because I wanted to hear if you understood me. And I can only repeat that I’ll help you find Andrew. But I’d deny a thousand times over that he existed if you started pressing this thing.”
    Donna’s fingers tensed in her lap but she bit back anything she might have to say. Fine. All she wanted to do was find McKennon and then she would take it from there. She’d promise to keep quiet and then do anything that she could to find out where Lorna was. She had to. She had to make Lorna her main concern—even if it meant giving a promise that was a lie to a priest. There was something going on, and for all she knew, this particular priest could be deeply involved in…whatever it was.
    Could he really be a priest? she wondered for the thousandth time? None of it fit, none of it made sense. But it would have been impossible to plan it all. Mary and the home and the very priestly white collar. And it had been dark, but she was certain that she had seen the steeple of a church just down the street….
    Donna started, realizing that the priest was watching her, amusement still touching his features, even though he appeared to be in deep thought. Had he known what