The Baron Read Online Free PDF Page A

crowd had already gathered near the edge of the lake when Halley, breathless and disheveled, arrived. “What is it?” She said, panting. “I heard a scream!”
    Herb Harrington stood nearby in an elegantly tailored smoking jacket, every gray hair in place and a finely carved pipe held comfortably between his fingers. He looked over at Halley with a pleased smile. “I do believe we have a crime on our hands.”
    Halley looked more closely into the circle of people. A male figure was prone on the tiny strip of beach that bordered the lake, his head resting sideways on the sand. Halley recognized the dramatic flash of white hair and the aquiline nose as belonging to one of the guests she had met earlier.
    “A … a … of course, a murder!” Realization swept over her, along with a rush of embarrassment. “Oh, Lord, I thought … I really thought—” She began to shiver as the adrenaline slowed and the night breeze chilled her arms. When she peered closer at the man, she noticed a slight rising and falling of his chest and caught the small smile that flickered across his lips just a moment before uniformed men lifted him onto a stretcher. Halleygrinned back at him, convinced he had gotten the best part to play. At least he got to sleep.
    The deep, husky words that tickled her neck came from directly behind her. “And where were you, miss, at approximately 12:02 A.M .?” Nick’s broad hands covered her bare shoulders.
    Halley turned around slowly.
    Nick was still dressed in his tuxedo, but the jacket was flung over one shoulder now, and the stiff, white shirt sleeves were rolled partway up his forearms. The dark thatches of hair on each arm contrasted with the moonlit white of his shirt.
    She smiled. “I definitely wasn’t cut out for the life of a contessa, Baron, nor this life of murder and mayhem. I almost called the police. For real!”
    Nick laughed. “Well, it was a bit eerie, the scream and shot and all.” He took her hand and pulled her slightly away while actors dressed as policemen edged their way through the crowd of guests. A small, mustached man talking like the famed Hercule Poirot seemed to be in charge.
    “It’s too bad this crime wasn’t planned for the Orient Express,” Halley said as she watched the questioning of the guests. “That’s always been a secret dream of mine.”
    “Well, then, if that’s a secret dream of yours, we’ll do it,” Nick said.
    She chuckled. “Of course. And my glass slippers will be waiting in Istanbul.”
    “And anything else your heart desires.”
    Halley felt his gaze lower to her heart and was suddenly aware of the scant clothing that only partially covered her. She quickly crossed her arms over the filmy lace that stretched across her breasts.
    “Cold?” Nick smiled.
    Halley wet her bottom lip. She felt silly and embarrassed, standing in the moonlight in her nightgown. And she felt cold.
Freezing
, in fact.
    “Yes.” Her fingers wrapped around her upper arms. “I think I’ll head back.”
    “Before being questioned?” Nick touched the back of her neck and lifted his fingers into her hair. One thick brow lifted in reprimand. “Contessa, you may end up in jail!”
    Halley tossed her head and smiled at him. “At least I won’t have pneumonia! ’Night, Baron.”
    She turned and strode off into the night.
    Nick followed. Several long strides brought him to her side. “I don’t think you should walk back alone. Not with a murderer on the loose,” he murmured.
    Halley looked at him out of the corner of her eye and said, teasing, “How do I know I’m safe with you? Do
you
have an alibi for 12:02?”
    “Well, I, ah—” He appeared confused.
    Halley looked at him more closely, and the expression on his face answered her question. The Baron
did
have an alibi, and she was most probably curvaceous and lovely—one of the gorgeous lady guests who had showered such lavish attention on him earlier. She nodded knowingly and ignored the strange