The Heartbreaker Read Online Free PDF Page A

Handmade.”
    â€œBecause you don’t trust me to come through?”
    She met his gaze. “Let’s just say I don’t trust the situation. I haven’t seen you in eight years, Mike. I don’t know you anymore.”
    As a hotheaded twenty-two-year-old he would have left the studio in disgust, but living among the primitive rain forest tribes had taught him many things, including patience. “Can you stall Huxford for a while?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    The rain came down harder, drumming against the windows. “Why don’t you see if you can buy two weeks? We’ll know a lot in two weeks. If I’m a disappointment in any way, then you can take the Handmade offer.”
    â€œA two-week trial isn’t going to satisfy Ernie, if what you say is true about his dedication to this project”
    He noticed the phrase if what you say is true and gritted his teeth. Trust would be a scarce commodity for a while. Two weeks might not be long enough, but he’d have to make do. “If it’s okay with you, we’ll keep the two-week trial between us and just tell Ernie I’m taking over the operation. That way we’ll buy him two weeks of healing time before anything more has to be discussed.”
    â€œI—”
    Crack! The glare of lightning filled the studio, and then everything went black.
    Instinctively he reached out. “Beth, don’t be afr—” “I’m not afraid.” She pushed his hand away. “Stand right there while I get a candle. If you move around in the dark without knowing the place well, you might break something.”
    So thunder and lightning didn’t frighten her anymore, he thought, standing perfectly still in the very dark room while he listened to the rain lash the outside of the building. Even the streetlights had been knocked out.
    A glow emerged from the workroom in back, and Beth came out carrying a glass and tin lantern with a slender candle burning inside. Mike recognized the lantern, which Beth’s father had bought across the border in Mexico. As kids they hadn’t been allowed to play with it, but whenever possible they’d smuggled it into their hideout anyway, so they could tell ghost stories by candlelight. He and Alana had told ghost stories, at any rate. Beth had cowered under an old quilt and listened, her eyes huge in her pale face.
    She set the lantern on the counter and Mike walked over toward the circle of light. “You used to hate thunderstorms,” he said.
    She glanced at him. “I learned there were a lot worse things than storms.”
    â€œYeah, there are.” He was sure she was talking about Pete’s death. Mike had been working in a machine shop in Manaus when Ernie had called to tell him Pete had died of a particularly fast-working strain of pneumonia. The two men had been friends and business partners for years, ever since they’d met in a group counseling session for widowers. Pete had been the artist and dreamer, while Ernie had balanced the relationship with a dose of practicality.
    It had nearly killed Mike not to come home for the funeral, but after some agonizing he’d finally decided the best thing for everyone was for him to stay in Brazil and not chance opening old wounds at an already traumatic time.
    Beth leaned an elbow against the counter and gazed at him across the circle of light. “Do you ever wish you could be six years old again, as free as a bird, with no idea that bad things can happen?”
    â€œSometimes. There’s a tribe in the rain forest who lives like that. The forest provides everything for them, and they literally have no problems.”
    â€œI’m surprised you didn’t just disappear into the forest with them.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t work. I already know too much about the so-called civilized world to be happy the way they are.”
    â€œTwo weeks, huh?” she asked.
    â€œTwo