A Gentleman’s Offer by Dara Girard Read Free Book Online

but this arrangement will benefit all of us. You can use this opportunity to get Le Chic Hounds more name recognition. You could talk me up with new clients. This is something you’ve always wanted and he gets to take the break he wants. It’s a win-win situation. Nothing could go wrong.”
    “He does have a point,” Madlyn said, with some reluctance. “Perhaps with a little polish you could understand the clients we are trying to attract and you would be better able to handle them.”
    Yvette wanted to say “I’ll never be a snob” but nodded instead.
    “I do have one question,” Madlyn said, looking at Yvette’s crossed legs.
    “What?”
    “Where did you get those stockings? I couldn’t help noticing.”
    Lewis laughed. “I’m sure others couldn’t help noticing, either.”
    Yvette forced a smile, not knowing what to say. “Umm, there was a client who gave me a pair because she had extra.”
    “Who was the client?”
    “I don’t remember. I…just took them and tossed them in my drawer and rediscovered them this morning.”
    Madlyn nodded. “Lucky girl.”
    Lewis lifted an imaginary glass. “A toast to new beginnings.”
    “Yes,” Yvette said. “And dreams coming true.”

Chapter 5
     
    N ate didn’t believe in “happy ever afters” or “dreams coming true.” Actually, he didn’t believe in dreams at all, and he didn’t have one that night. Instead the nightmare returned: the one that had been haunting him for years; this time more vicious and real than it had been in the past. He found himself in a room with no color and no exit.
    Everything from the walls to the door to the windows was a blinding, cold, austere white and he couldn’t escape. The white burned his eyes as he searched for a hint of color, crawling on his hands and knees looking for a crack in the walls or the floor, but found nothing. It wasn’t heaven; it wasn’t hell. It was a place of nothingness and it was turning him into nothing. Hollow and cold inside, slowly driving him insane.
    Nate jumped up from his nightmare, startling the two canines who shared the room with him. He fumbled for the lamp, desperate for light although he was now awake, because he found no comfort in darkness. When he couldn’t readily find the light, his movements became frantic. At last his fingers found the switch and light flooded the room. He welcomed the stinging glare of the bright light, his eyes eagerly drinking up the colors around him—the muted red walls, the wood furniture and impressionist paintings. He pushed the blankets away, his body trembling like a victim of aftershocks from an earthquake. He opened his bedroom window and took a deep breath, letting the cool early-morning air fill his lungs.
    Nate returned to his bed and sat on the edge. Soon the trembling subsided, but the memory of the nightmare remained in his thoughts like an echo.
    Queen jumped on the bed and began licking his face. The shock of her warm, wet tongue erased his morbid thoughts and he turned and patted her on the head. “Thanks. I needed that.”
    King jumped on the bed, too, and just stared at him. “Didn’t mean to wake you.” Nate ran a tired hand down his face. He couldn’t risk returning to bed. He grabbed his robe and walked barefoot into the kitchen, the cool tiles a welcome comfort beneath his feet. Nate didn’t cook, but knew how to heat up food, and Diana’s chef, DeKay, had left plenty for him.
    A few minutes later Nate sat at the dining table with a plate of stuffed eggplant and couscous. He didn’t turn on the radio or TV. He was a man who’d grown used to solitude and treasured silence and being alone. After he finished his meal, he roamed the apartment. Bored, he grabbed his sketch pad, which he’d left lying nearby, and began sketching Queen as she lounged in front of the fireplace. Sketching had become a habit he’d developed over the last couple of years that no one knew about. He was careful to keep his efforts hidden.
    After