A Damaged Trust by Amanda Carpenter Read Free Book Online Page B

Carrie darling, I didn’t see you sitting there!” Erica cooed with a false note of surprise.
    Honey, she thought, you wouldn’t, if I’d seen you first. She opened one eye to take in the slim posture of a vibrant redhead who hovered near Gabe’s lounge chair. “Hello, Erica. How’s tricks?”
    Gabe’s head shot around and he started to shake silently, out of Erica’”s range of vision as she smiled unpleasantly at Carrie. “Oh, I daresay I have something up my sleeve,” she replied sweetly. “How are things with you?”
    “Passable, passable. Business is good.”
    Erica looked vague as she appeared to grope for a fleeting memory. “What is it you said you do, dear? You’re a secretary, or a clerk, or something?”
    “Photographer,” Carrie supplied helpfully. “I take pictures.”
    “That’s right, of course. How forgetful of me!” Having established to her own satisfaction just what she thought of that, Erica smiled. “Really, I must have Daddy give you a call to see about getting some portraits of the family, or something. It’s been positively years since the last ones.” They smiled at one another, and Carrie mentally muttered, bitch.
    The other woman turned to Gabe, and this time her smile was very much more sweet. “Honey, I’m absolutely starved! Would you like to come and get a bite to eat with me, love?” Pouting prettily, she stared up into his dark and expressionless eyes as he stood swiftly.
    He smiled down into her limpid green ones, but it wasn’t a smile that Carrie would have liked herself.
    “That sounds delicious, Erica.” He turned to Carrie and asked smoothly, “Would you care to join us?”
    She looked for a moment into Erica’s glittering eyes and knew that if she accepted, the supper would be enough to curdle her digestion. “No, I don’t think so, thank you anyway. I believe I’ll wait until later on to eat.”
    Gabe nodded, his dark hair ruffling in the breeze. “I had a nice time,” he said, that flash of white streaking his attractive face. “Thank you for listening.”
    “My pleasure.” Relaxing back in her chair, Carrie watched the two walk over to the tables laden down with food. Then she turned her head and closed her eyes, drifting away in thought.
    Gabe instantly came to mind, and she spent quite a bit of time mulling over her different impressions of the man. Something, some subtle thing, didn’t jar quite right, and she couldn’t figure out what. Then it came to her, a trifling thing, but she worried at it anyway. Her strongest and lasting impression of Gabriel Jackson was that he seemed to be a man who was very much in control of his own actions, with a fine and decisive sense of purpose. He seemed to let no move go to waste and had an economy of power that she appreciated. Every action tonight, from his seemingly careless charm to his every gesture, had been for the purpose of first setting her at ease, then extracting information about her, and finally persuading her to give at least partial consent to his plans. His motive had been clear: he wanted something from her in a professional way.
    Then why had he wasted the time and the energy (in her mind) to stop in the middle of a hot summer’s day, when he was tired to begin with, and offer to help her, a stranger, who had shown every evidence of competence, and no evidence of injury? And why, in the devil’s name, was she spending such a ridiculous amount of time worrying about such an irrelevant incident?
     

Chapter Three
    The barbecue did end up lasting most of the night, but Carrie didn’t stay around for the latter part of it. She had had quite enough around twelve and after stopping to wish Elu Thingol a good night’s sleep, she returned to the house and went to bed.
    When morning came, she was down fixing herself some coffee in the kitchen when Ralf stumbled in, yawning hugely and rubbing the back of his neck tiredly. “I feel like I died,” he moaned, slumping against the counter as