Shadow Dance Read Online Free PDF

Morganstern. Happy now?”
    “I’m always happy.”
    She rolled her eyes. Oh, brother. The ego. “By the way,” she said, “Doctor Morganstern wasn’t serious. He was teasing to get a rise out of you and Nick. It worked too. You did get riled.”
    “The doctor never teases, and I never get riled.”
    “Okay, even if he wasn’t teasing, I still wouldn’t consider working for him.”
    He flashed a smile, and for a fleeting second she forgot how irritating he could be.
    “I didn’t think you would be interested.”
    Annoyed, she asked, “Then why are we having this conversation? If you knew the answer, why did you ask?”
    “Just making sure. That’s all.”
    They swayed to the music for a good half a minute, and she was actually feeling relaxed when he ruined it.
    “You’d be terrible at it, by the way.”
    “It?”
    “The job.”
    “How would you know if I’d be good or bad?”
    “You live in a comfort zone. That’s how I know.”
    “I’ll bite. What’s a comfort zone?”
    “It’s where you live. You never step outside your safe environment, your comfort zone,” he explained. “You stay in the shadows.” Before she could object, he said, “I’ll bet you’ve never done anything in your entire life that was spontaneous, or taken any risks.”
    “I’ve taken plenty of risks in the past year alone.”
    “Yeah? Name one.”
    “I sold my company.”
    “That was a calculated decision and you netted a huge profit,” he countered. “What else?”
    “I’ve been doing a lot of running. I thought I’d try for the Boston Marathon next year,” she offered.
    “It’s a regimen, requires discipline. Plus, you do it to stay fit,” he argued.
    He wasn’t looking over her head now. He was staring into her eyes, and he was making her extremely uncomfortable. For the life of her, she couldn’t think of a single spontaneous action or risk she’d ever taken. Everything she did was well thought out and planned down to the last detail. Was her life really that boring? Was
she
that boring?
    “Having trouble coming up with one?”
    “There’s nothing wrong with being careful.” Great, now she sounded like a ninety-year-old.
    He looked like he was about to laugh. “You’re right,” he said. “Nothing wrong with being careful.”
    Embarrassed because she had only just realized how dull she was, and guessing that he had already figured that out about her as well, she hurriedly changed the subject to get the focus off of herself. She blurted out the first thought that came into her mind.
    “Isabel has a great voice, doesn’t she? I could listen to her all night. Did you know she’s been hounded by agents wanting to make her a star? She’s not interested though. She’s only a freshman, but she’s already decided she wants to be a history major, then get her master’s and teach. Interesting, don’t you think? She’s giving up fame and fortune. I think that’s amazing, don’t you?”
    Noah gave her a piercing smile that went right through her, but he looked puzzled as well. No wonder. She was babbling like a toddler. She knew she should stop talking, but she couldn’t seem to make herself close her mouth. Thanks to his scrutiny she had a bad, bad case of nerves.
    For the love of God, Isabel, wind it up. Enough already.
    “And did you know that in a few years Isabel is going to inherit land in Scotland? It’s called Glen MacKenna,” she rushed on. “She invited the strangest little man to the wedding and the reception. I just met him, and he has all the information he’s collected in boxes in Texas. He’s a professor, you see, and he’s done quite a lot of research on a feud that he says has existed for centuries between the Buchanans and the MacKennas. According to the professor, Dylan and Kate should never have gotten married. There’s a legend about a treasure too. It’s fascinating, really it is.”
    She finally had to pause to take a breath or she’d pass out.
    He stopped