The Bedroom Barter Read Online Free PDF Page B

considers she's one of the features of the place. That people come just to see her.'
    'Well,' he said softly, 'she could be right. After all, something brought me here this evening. So let's hope that her ego keeps her right there in front of her admiring public'
    'Why? What are you going to do?' she asked.
    'Break into that desk, of course.' His tone was almost casual.
    Her jaw dropped. 'Are you crazy?'
    'Well, we can hardly take the damned thing with us. People might notice.' He gave her a dispassionate look. 'I'm surprised you haven't tried to get into it yourself.'
    His faint note of criticism needled her. 'Because I wouldn't know how,' she said tautly. 'Unlike you, it seems.'
    'Merely one of the skills I've acquired along the way.' He shrugged, apparently unfazed. 'For which you should be grateful.' He gave her a questioning look. 'I hope there's a back way out of here?'
    'Yes, but that's always locked too, and Manuel has the key.'
    'Well, that shouldn't be a serious problem.' He got to his feet, and Chellie rose too.
    She said breathlessly, 'You don't know him. He's always hanging round—and he has a knife.'
    'I'm sure he has,' he returned with indifference. 'I thought when I saw him that serving drinks couldn't be the entire sum of his talents.'
    She said in a low voice, 'It's not funny. He's really dangerous—worse than Mama Rita.'
    He said softly, 'But I could be dangerous too, songbird.' He paused. 'And don't say that hasn't already crossed your mind.'
    She stared at him, the silence between them crackling like electricity. He knew how to break open a desk, she thought, and he wasn't scared of knives. Just who was this man— and how soon would she be able to get away from him? And, most of all, how much was it going to cost her? Her throat closed.
    She said huskily, 'Perhaps you just seem—the lesser of two evils.'
    'Thank you,' he said, his mouth twisting. 'I think. Is Mama Rita's office on this floor, by any chance?'
    She nodded. 'Just along the passage. You—you want me to show you?'
    'It could save time,' he said. 'Also it might stop me intruding on anyone else's intimate moments. I presume this isn't the only private room?'
    'No,' Chellie said. 'But this is reckoned to be the best one. It must have cost you plenty to hire it.'
    'Well, don't worry about it,' he said. 'I expect to get my money's worth in due course.' He looked into her startled eyes and grinned. 'All that home cooking,' he explained softly.
    He kicked the blonde wig out of sight under the sofa. 'You won't need that again.' He looked her over. 'Do you have other clothes? Because you could change into them while I'm breaking and entering.'
    'I haven't very much.' It was humiliating to have to make the admission.
    'Then grab a coat from somewhere,' he said. 'We need to make an unobtrusive exit, and you're far too spectacular like that'
    As Chellie went to the door she was crossly aware that her face had warmed.
    The passage outside was thankfully deserted, but there was a lot of noise drifting up from the floor below—music with a strident beat, and male voices laughing and cheering.
    He said softly, 'Let the good times roll—at least until we're out of here.'
    The door of Mama Rita's office was slightly ajar, and the desk lamp was lit although the room was empty. Apart from the desk there was little other furniture, and most of that, he saw, was junk, with the exception of a nice pair of ornately carved wooden candlesticks standing on a chest against the wall. The air was stale with some cheap incense, and he grimaced faintly.
    He said, 'She doesn't seem to worry about being robbed.'
    'She doesn't think anyone would dare. Besides, she has a safe for the money.' Chellie pointed to the desk. 'That's the drawer.'
    'Then I suggest you leave me to it while you go and change. I'll see you back here in a couple of minutes. And bring the stuff you have on with you,' he added. 'If they believe you're still somewhere on the premises, it will give us