A Few Good Fantasies by Michele Bardsley Read Free Book Online

sounded reasonable. Play a little, harmless game then go back to the suite for room service and 1,000 words on the new manuscript.
    “Lissa?”
    “Sorry, I zoned out there. Finish wrestling that fax machine into submission and go have some fun. That’s an order.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    She hung up, plucked her rose and invite from the bar then laid down a twenty. After waving good-bye to Wendy, she left Kidd’s Kavern and crossed the lobby to the concierge’s desk.
    “Yes, mi’lady?” asked the thin man with graying hair. He was dressed in a stylish black suit. It was probably too much to ask a concierge to wear an eyepatch and sword and intersperse conversations with “yarr!”
    “When is the Pirate’s Pursuit?”
    “Tonight’s game begins at seven p.m.”
    Lissa glanced at the paper again. “Do you know what the Treasure Trove is?”
    “The shop is located in our mall. You go down the hallway until you reach the staircase. Go up the stairs, through the door is the first floor of our shopping center. It’s the third storefront on the left.”
    “Thanks.”
    Ten minutes later, Lissa entered the Treasure Trove. The small shop had paneled walls, red carpet, and low lighting. The store was filled with racks and racks of clothes and many shelves of hats, shoes, and accessories.
    “’Ello, luv,” said a large woman with brassy red hair and sparkling green eyes. Dressed like a gypsy, in layers of purple and white, her bell-laden belt jangled as she rounded the counter. “What can I do for you?”
    “I was invited to the Pirate’s Pursuit.” Lissa’s cheeks heated as she said the words. Oh, for heaven’s sake! Why was she embarrassed about indulging in an innocuous fantasy? She’d consider it research. Yeah. Research.
    “What’s your name, luv?” Her cockney accent was thick.
    “Lissa McClaskey.”
    Genessa reached into a rack of plastic-covered clothes and plucked out a dress. “Oh-ho. This here’s a good ‘un. Your pirate like his girls lusty.”
    Lissa accepted the costume. “What do I owe you?”
    “It’s been paid for, miss. All you need to do is wear it. Be sure you put on the colored sash—that’s how your pirate will identify you.”
    Well, shiver me timbers.
     

Chapter 2
     
    LISSA SAT ON the couch in her hotel suite and stared at the costume, which was draped next to her. Now that she’d had time to think about her impulse, she was chickening out.
    The last man she’d dated was Ian. That was … God, three years ago. He was a successful architect who was handsome, ambitious, and charming. Everyone had their faults, but Ian’s main flaw had been his obsession with his job.
    Lissa understood something about obsession—after all, she was a writer and often immersed herself in the fictional world to the point she eschewed showers, ate cereal for dinner, and lived in the same pair of sweats for a week.
    But Ian had needed a woman more interested in him and his career and Lissa had wanted a man who wasn’t a self-absorbed prick.
    They’d parted ways. And she hadn’t had a serious relationship since then. Oh, the occasional date, but nothing that had led to hot sex, much less a long-term relationship. In fact, the only man currently in her life was Sam.
    Sam was a nice kid. Cute. Really cute. Smart. Funny. What are you doing, Lissa? Sam, for all intents and purposes belonged to Janey. He was not a boy-toy. She sighed.
    According to Lissa’s mother, compatible was the most important relationship quality. Mom had told her numerous times that the first bright passion associated with falling in love faded with time. You find someone you can like for the rest of your life, she said. Sex is nice, honey, but decent conversation and a faithful heart is worth a lot more.
    Of course, her mother had been married four times in the hopes of finding a man who didn’t bore her to tears or cheat on her. So far, she hadn’t found him.
    Lissa needed to stop thinking that life was like a romance