The Best Way to Lose Read Online Free PDF Page B

were plenty of small noises that night.
    His old bedroom was located next to the master suite. The floorboards creaked with each movement of that room’s prowling occupant. Three times in the night he heard the muted sound of the telephone being dialed. It didn’t take much guesswork to realize that Pilar was checking with the hospital.
    The house was quiet when he wakened to the rosy sunlight streaking through hiswindows around six in the morning. For another fifteen minutes he lay in bed, smoking that first cigarette and staring at the ceiling. After he’d showered, shaved, and dressed, he went into the wide hallway and started for the stairwell.
    The door of the master bedroom stood open, inviting his glance into the room. The satin coverlet was turned back on the canopied bed, but there was no evidence that the bed had been slept in. Trace paused in the hallway, then took a step into the room and searched it with a sweeping glance.
    Pilar was awkwardly curled into a narrow loveseat, sound asleep with her hands pillowed under her head. The sight of her pulled him into the room. Her long, sleek black hair tumbled in a rippling tide over her bare shoulders. The rose-colored satin of her nightgown followed the shape of her body, the roundness of her hips, and the slim length of her legs.
    An empty milk glass sat on the coffee table in front of the sofa, but a bite had been taken out of only one of the sandwiches on the plate. The line of his mouth thinned. His look ran back to her sleeping face. Her cheek was smooth, no telltale streaks of tears marring its classical line. She appeared to be huddled in a ball for warmth.
    After a second’s hesitation Trace crossed to the bed and removed the coverlet. Taking care not to disturb the sleep she so badly needed, he draped the satin quilt over her. But the soft weight of it seemed to jerk her awake. Theinstant she saw him standing by the loveseat, she sat bolt upright, stiff and braced for the worst.
    “Oh, my God, the hospital called.” The words came out in a quick rush of breath. “Elliot. He’s—”
    “No. The hospital didn’t call.” Trace quickly squashed that fear and watched her sag limply against the corner of the loveseat. Her hand lifted to tiredly comb the weight of her black hair away from her face.
    “When I saw you … I thought…” Her confusion faded into a frown as her puzzled gaze searched his face. “What did you want?”
    “Nothing.” His glance slipped downward to the buttonlike impressions the nipples of her breasts made in the satin material of her nightgown. She seemed unconscious of the fact, not fully awake to be aware of the revealing state of her nightclothes. “When I walked by your room, I noticed the bed was empty.”
    Pilar glanced at the bed, a forlorn light in her eyes. “I … just couldn’t sleep in it alone,” she admitted in a soft, anguished voice.
    Belatedly she realized the coverlet that belonged on the bed was draped on her legs. She lifted a corner of it, trying to remember whether she’d taken it from the bed.
    Trace read her bewilderment. “You looked cold.” His mouth slanted in a rueful line. “I didn’t mean to waken you.”
    Reaching out, she picked up the small, gold-cased alarm clock sitting on the coffee table to check the time. “It doesn’t matter.” She liftedthe coverlet aside to swing her bare feet onto the floor. “I wanted to go to the hospital early this morning anyway.”
    “Pilar.” He took a step to intercept her when she started for the dressing room.
    Halting, she swung around to face him with a blankly questioning look. From the perfect sweep of her eyebrows to the arch of her cheekbones and the soft shape of her lips, she was incredibly beautiful. For an instant Trace was absolutely still.
    Then his hands lightly stroked the bareness of her upper arms. “I’ll have breakfast ready when you come down. This morning you’re going to eat.”
    “Yes.” She agreed without an argument