Vegas Vacation Read Online Free PDF Page A

and picked up the phone. He was relieved she’d covered up a little. This assignment was hard enough as it was without the added distraction of a beautiful woman flaunting herself at him, however accidental it may be. “This is Martin Ames in the Lake suite. I’d like two breakfasts of pancakes and fruit sent up please, with coffee and juice. Thank you.”
    “Pancakes for breakfast? What’s wrong with bacon, egg, sausage and beans?”
    “Yeah, pancakes.” He looked at her like she had a third eye. “Beans for breakfast? That sounds totally disgusting. What upset you?”
    Tamlyn sat on the bed and wrapped her arms around her middle. “Dad suddenly thinks I was the target and not Raleigh. He wants me to go home, or he’ll send Garth out. He doesn’t think you’re suitable.”
    Martin sat beside her. “Oh?”
    “I told him you were and not to send Garth, but that’s like trying to stop the tide coming in.”
    “I’ll call him. Whatever he may think, Raleigh got sick on US soil and that puts it squarely in my jurisdiction. Therefore you’re my case, no matter what.”
    “Thank you.”
    He studied her for a long moment, reading between the lines. Something he’d found increasingly easy over the years on the force. “You don’t get on with your father, do you?”
    Tamlyn shook her head. “Never have, but it’s just gotten worse since Mum died and I got sent to live with him.”
    “What happened?”
    She worried her bottom lip before she answered. “My parents divorced soon after my eighth birthday. Mum got custody, and we moved to the other end of the country. After Grandma died, we didn’t have any contact with Dad. He didn’t even write, or send birthday cards. We spent Christmases and summer holidays with my mum’s sister in Berkshire. Uncle Harry was the eldest son, but he died childless when I was fifteen, so Dad became the Earl of Warwick.” She pushed her hands through her hair. “I lost Mum in a car accident the day after my sixteenth birthday. Dad had a stab of paternal instinct, or guilt, and insisted I live with him.”
    “If you’re not happy, why not simply move out?”
    “I’ve tried, believe you me. But anyway, here I am, mid-twenties, and still under Dad’s thumb. I hate it. I planned this holiday down to the last detail and gave it to him as if it were a business proposal. Then I had to promise to stick to Raleigh like glue and phone home every day.”
    Someone knocked on the main door. “Room service.”
    “I’ll be right back.” Martin got up, leaving the room as rain began to pound against the window.
    The waiter stood at the door with the room service trolley. Martin took hold of the cart.
    “I’ll do that,” the kid said.
    Martin shook his head. “I got it.” He tipped the kid and wheeled the cart into the suite. It took him two minutes to set the table. “Breakfast’s ready,” he called.
    “I’m coming.” Tamlyn came into the main room and smiled as she saw the table set for two, a vase of flowers acting as centerpiece. “Very elegant. I feel totally underdressed.”
    “You’re in Vegas...there is no such thing as underdressed.” Martin pulled out a chair for her.
    Tamlyn sat down. “Thank you.”
    “Welcome.” He sat opposite her. “May I say grace?”
    She smiled. “I’d like that, thank you.”
    Once he had done so, he coated his pancakes with butter and poured maple syrup over them.
    Tamlyn paused, glancing over the array of fruit and bottles of syrup.
    “What’s up? Is something missing?”
    “There’s no lemon juice. I’ve never had pancakes for breakfast before or had anything other than lemon juice and sugar with them.”
    “Seriously? Lemon juice on pancakes and in cola?” He shook his head. “You Brits are weirder than the TV makes you out to be.” He shoved a bottle towards her. “Strawberries and syrup. Try it.”
    Cautiously, she did as he suggested, then smiled. “This is good.”
    “Can I say I told you so?”
    She shook