Uneasy Alliance Read Online Free PDF Page A

Period.
    The sensation was captivating.
    "Dinner?" he whispered urgently, his mouth poised just above hers.
    "Please?"
    "I… "
    "Please, Abby."
    She closed her eyes and did a quick rundown of all the reasons why she
    shouldn't and then she heard herself saying hesitantly, "All right, Torr.
    Dinner. Nothing else."
    "Thank you." The gratitude in his deep voice made her feel awkward, as
    if she had overreacted. "I'll pick you up at seven. We'll go to that new place
    downtown near the Benson."
    She nodded, not knowing what else to say as he named the new
    continental restaurant that had just opened near the landmark hotel in
    Portland.
    "Good night, Abby," he said softly.
    "Good night, Torr."
    He dropped his hands from her and she felt cool. It made her realize
    how enveloped she had been by the warmth of his body when he had been
    standing close. Without a word he turned to go and then his gaze fell on a
    colorful brochure lying on the kitchen counter.
    Abby bit her lip as he picked up the pamphlet advertising a resort on
    the Oregon coast.
    "Planning a vacation?" he asked mildly.
    "No!" she answered quickly, too quickly. "No, I stayed there for a
    weekend a couple of months ago. They sent out some advertising, I guess,
    and I was on their mailing list."
    "You went to the coast during the winter?"
    "It's very lovely in winter," she told him flatly.
    "I agree," he nodded, dropping the brochure back on the counter.
    "Perhaps we—" He snapped off the words quickly, apparently realizing he
    was about to go too far. "I'll see you tomorrow evening at seven, Abby."
    "Yes." Abby stared at the brochure as it fell from his fingers. "At seven."
    She locked the door very carefully behind him and then she went back
    into the kitchen and picked up the brochure. The Misty Inn. Enjoy the
    spectacular Oregon coast at any season. Open all year round, the pamphlet
    advised cheerfully.
    With grim care Abby tore it in several tiny pieces. It would be a long
    time before she returned to the Misty Inn. Probably never. She stuffed the
    pieces into a trash can under the sink.
    The only logical explanation for that advertisement arriving in her mail
    this afternoon was that the resort was sending out such brochures to all
    former guests.
    But even as she gave herself that argument for the thousandth time
    since the mail had arrived, Abby knew a sense of dread. She had been
    pushing it to the back of her mind all evening, but now it emerged to
    haunt her.
    She would have felt far more certain of her conviction if the brochure
    had been contained in an envelope carrying the letterhead of the resort.
    But it hadn't. The pamphlet had been stuffed into a plain white envelope
    and addressed on a typewriter. There was no return address of any kind.
    As she undressed for bed, Abby's thoughts were chaotic, torn between
    images of a strong, intense man who signed up for classes in Japanese
    flower arrangement and memories of a weekend in winter that she wanted
    desperately to forget.

TWO
    « ^ »
    She had accused him of appreciating subtlety but in truth he had been
    anything but subtle this evening. As a result he'd nearly ruined everything.
    Hell, Torr thought a little savagely as he guided the BMW up the winding
    hillside overlooking Portland. You'd think a man his age would have
    developed a bit of finesse when it came to handling a woman he wanted.
    Actually, he realized, he wasn't altogether certain why he had so
    completely abandoned his normal restraint. But something had happened
    to him tonight when he'd finally acknowledged that he wanted Abby
    Lyndon. It was as if, having accepted the inevitable, he had simply decided
    to grab it with both hands.
    He'd been a fool, no doubt about it. He should have taken everything
    much more slowly. Well, he'd been able to recover enough ground to
    salvage another date. That was something, at least, he told himself
    derisively. But he was very lucky she hadn't panicked altogether. What had
    made her so nervous of