The Golden Chance Read Online Free PDF Page B

dangerous human beings. The tenth is probably a wimp.”
    The vibration in the air around Phila was almost palpable now, and there were sparks in her eyes. Her engine was definitely shifting into gear.
    Having all that feminine energy focused on him was doing things to his groin region, Nick discovered—things that hadn't been done in quite a while. He could tell that Phila had no concept of how she was turning him on, and that was as amusing as it was frustrating.
    “Is that how you justify having been born into a privileged class? You pretend you're more noble than those who aren't as wealthy as you are? That you wouldn't stoop to some of the things a poor person might have to do in order to survive?”
    “There seems to be some misunderstanding here. The Castletons and Lightfoots are not Rockefellers or Du Ponts. When you look at me you're only looking at second-generation money and I, personally, haven't even had that for the past three years.”
    “Now I'm supposed to feel sorry for you?”
    “Look, Phila, I don't know what Crissie told you, but the fact is my father, Reed Lightfoot, and his buddy, Burke Castleton, were a couple of shitkickers who got an education in the Army when it turned out they showed an aptitude for electronics. When they got out of the service they had some big plans and big ambitions and the advantage of an inside view of the way the military works. They built C&L from the ground up. They were lucky. Their timing was good, and they turned out to be as shrewd about business matters as they were about electronic design.”
    “And they were smart enough to get into the death machine business,” Phila finished with satisfaction.
    Nick discovered he was enjoying the new enthusiastic gleam in Phila's eyes. He wondered if the expression was anything like the one she would have when she was lying naked under a man.
    The prospect made him feel a little light-headed while the rest of him began to feel heavy and tight. He realized just how long it had been since he had genuinely anticipated going to bed with a woman. He could remember the date clearly: September twenty-fifth, four and a half years ago. It had been his wedding night. Things had gone downhill from there until the divorce eighteen months later.
    There had been one woman since his marriage had ended, another shell-shocked veteran of the divorce wars who had been as terrified of the singles scene as Nick. They had consoled each other for several months in what had become a safe and comfortable, if totally uninspired, relationship.
    It had been a healing time for both of them. Neither had been looking for or expecting to find a great love. Five months ago Jeannie had put an end to the affair, saying she was ready to search for something more substantial and meaningful. Nick had been vegetating in peaceful celibacy ever since.
    Until tonight. Tonight everything was changing. Tonight he was relearning the simple masculine joy of sexual anticipation.
    With an effort, he pushed his sensual feelings aside and concentrated on looking for the key to Philadelphia Fox.
    “To be perfectly truthful,” Nick said, swirling the scotch in his glass, “I used to have a few questions myself about all the military contracts Castleton & Lightfoot handled. That was back when I was involved with the firm, of course.”
    “Really?” Phila looked skeptical. “What happened when you asked those questions?”
    “I was told I was in serious danger of becoming a left-wing liberal establishment dupe,” he said dryly. “I was also called a coward and potential traitor to my country. Among other things.”
    Phila's shocked expression was priceless. It warmed Nick to the core because it told him he was on the right track. To catch a wary little liberal Fox, one used bait that was bleeding from the heart.
    “How dare they call you that just because you stood up to them?” Phila demanded, instantly indignant on his behalf. “Is that when you left Castleton &