Shadowed Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page A

stopped gaping and turned to Claire. “I’d
like to stay until your car arrives. I’ll check it out for
you.”
    And she’d thought knights-errant had
been extinct for eight hundred years. Certainly the past two years
of her life had been distinguished by their absence. Her debt to
this stranger was growing by the minute. What was that old line
from Streetcar ? Something
about depending on the kindness of strangers. Was that
what she’d come to? The broken-down, over-the-hill female
dependent? Claire felt a little sick. But she’d never let him see
it. Pride, that cold bedfellow, was all she had left. And, besides,
she’d probably never see him again.
    It was not the comforting thought it should
have been.
    “ Thanks, that’s great,” Claire mumbled,
swallowing the choking sensation in her throat.
    Never having ridden in a pickup before,
she descended from the cab with caution. When she turned to help
Jamie, Claire discovered he was being swung down on driver’s side
by a pair of strong arms encased in classic blue chambray. Blast! He’d gone to a stranger
instead of to her. To a man. Of course, to a man. Claire turned
blindly toward the house, leaving the males to follow.
    Brad found himself with an armful of clinging
child, thin arms wrapped firmly around his neck. Not the worst vote
of confidence he’d ever had. As Claire plunged beneath the sturdy
stilts that supported the Bentley house and started up an L-shaped
ramp, Brad paused, once again staring up at the towering structure
above him. A cracker house. Boca Grande style. Key West. Whatever
you called it, this was the natural way to beat the Florida
climate. Now the latest environmentally correct darling of
avant-garde architects, this house had been built forty years ago
when new construction in Golden Beach consisted of two-bedroom
stucco ranch homes with carports.
    “ What’d you stop for?” Jamie
demanded.
    “ Sorry. Just admiring your
grandmother’s house.”
    “ Great-gramma.”
    “ Right.” Still carrying Jamie, Brad
climbed the wooden ramp that led to the granddaddy of all
greatrooms. The entire bay side of the house was one long room, a
three-sided panorama of glass. He drank it in, mentally rearranging
the floor plan of one of his model homes. Jesus! He was thirty-eight years old and staring
like a starry-eyed kid.
    “ There’s beer in the fridge,” Claire
said. “Help yourself while I get Jamie to bed.”
    Brad slid Jamie down onto the gleaming white
tile floor and held out his hand. “It was a pleasure to meet you,
Jamie. You were very brave tonight. In a tight situation it’s
important for people to do exactly what they’re told. And you did.
I hope I get to see you again.”
    The look he got as Jamie Langdon solemnly
shook his hand made Brad’s stomach churn. He’d thought there was
nothing left in this world that could faze him, but abject,
brimming gratitude in the eyes of a small boy was something he had
never encountered before.
    “ G’night.” Jamie’s lips quivered but
the words were clear. “And thanks.”
    Brad swallowed hard. No little boy should
have to be so solemn, so determined to be the man of the family.
“Okay, off to bed with you now. And don’t worry, I’ll check out the
car when it comes back.”
    Brad stood for some time, looking down
the hallway toward the door that had closed behind Claire Langdon
and her son. Something in his head went click . Like a key turning on a new life, shutting
out the past. All he had to do was . . .
    Remember he was a developer. Building houses
like Virginia Bentley’s on a jungle river out back of beyond.
    And forget what he’d been before that. A man
of violence who shouldn’t be allowed in the same room with people
like Claire and Jamie Langdon.
    Brad crossed the width of the greatroom, slid
open the glass door and stepped out onto the broad covered deck
that ran around all four sides of the house. Far to the west
lightning still flickered over the Gulf, but