The Seduction Trap Read Online Free PDF Page B

upsetting her, she flicked her tongue around her dry mouth and tried to stay rational. There would be an ordinary explanation. Her mother had run out of milk. Lost a cat. Run out of petrol somewhere. Everything would be fine.
    ‘I have a key,’ she said shakily. ‘Mother sent it in case I arrived early. We didn’t know how long it would take me to get here. Perhaps I should let myself in and wait.’ He gave a shrug. ‘Let yourself in by all means. But don’t raise your hopes.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ she demanded, tension holding her body rigid. ‘And who the devil are you to know so much?’ The sardonic eyes chilled her bones. ‘My name is de Turaine,’ he answered quietly. ‘And this is my village. Or, rather, most of it is mine.’
    Tessa’s mouth fell open. ‘You’re the new landlord! The son of the man who didn’t care about his own village!’
    ‘Correct. I flew over from New Orleans two weeks ago. My father died two weeks before that,’ he said in a matter-of-fact tone. And, because he showed no sign of regret or sorrow, the flustered Tessa didn’t offer her sympathies. What kind of man was he, she thought, to dismiss his father’s death so casually? ‘In case you’re wondering, the neglect here came as a total shock to me,’ he went on tightly. ‘I hadn’t been near Turaine for half my lifetime.’
    While she digested that information he took the key , from her trembling fingers, thrust the door open and waved her in. Astonished, she obeyed his imperious gesture, finding herself in a chilly room which was so dark that she’ couldn’t see anything clearly. It smelt of damp, decaying timber and saturated stone. It was the same smell she’d encountered when working with the team of restorers on Kernow House, a run-down stately home in the Lynher’ Valley.
    The cottage must be in as bad a state as she’d feared. It was a depressing arrival, and awful to think of her mother living in dark, dank conditions like these. A concrete monstrosity would have been better!
    ‘Mum?’ she called desperately. ‘Mum! Where are you?’ The house lay as silent and as cold as a grave. She found a light switch and flicked it on, only to stand stockstill in dismay. ‘This
    place is awful!’ she exclaimed, her horrified eyes taking in the chaos. ‘And it’s been vandalised-!’
    ‘No. I think not. Mon Dieu! What a mess!’ muttered Guy, dumping the bike panniers on the floor and looking around at the tumbled furniture and scattered belongings, his mouth grim with disapproval.
    ‘How could your father let it get into this mess?’ she raged. ‘When I think of my mother struggling to manage-’
    ‘Your mother’s responsible for the state of this house. She owns it,’ he broke in tightly. ‘Though I expect to regain possession of it soon-and the two cottages next ~ door, which are also hers.’
    ‘I don’t believe you. No one would willingly live like this!’ cried Tessa loyally. ‘She’d slap on a coat of paint and wash the curtains-’
    ‘How the hell do you know?’
    That made her stop in her tracks. She didn’t. ‘There’s something odd about this,’ she insisted, though less confidently. ‘No one would leave furniture overturned.’ Her voice sank to a whisper. ‘Something awful’s happened.’ He fixed her with a piercing stare. ‘Damn right it has!’ he answered grimly. ‘Which makes me as keen as you to find her.’
    ‘Find her?’ Tessa looked at him blankly. ‘You think... she’s ... missing?’
    ‘No.’ The sculpted mouth took on a contemptuous curve. ‘She’s not missing-I’d bet my life on that. I believe she’s disappeared.’
    Tessa gulped. ‘Disappeared?’ she squeaked. ‘Of her own free will,’ he said tightly, and all the air rushed out of Tessa’s lungs in a soft ‘oh’. ‘When you said you’d come to meet her, I did hope that the rumours I’d heard last night were untrue. She and I have some unfinished business-the sale of her properties. But