After the Music by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

track. And he kissed me again." She drew in a short breath. "Oh, my, oh, my, I guess it blew my mind, because when he started toward the bedroom, I followed. It was the shortest night of my whole life. Now I can't go home because he's still there, and I'm afraid to go to the office. I'm afraid he'll think I'm cheap, and I'm so much more in love with him this morning than I ever imagined I could be!"
    Sabina's face lit up as she laughed and hugged her friend. "He cares!" she said. "He does; he has to. You know Al, for God's sake! He'd never take you to bed on an impulse; he's too deep."
    "But he'll think I'm easy!" Jessica wailed.
    "Wanna bet?" Sabina went to the phone, throwing herself down into the armchair beside it. She dialed Jess's number. "No, you can't!" Jessica screamed, diving for the phone. Sabina struggled with her, grinning. "No, you don't. Be quiet!"
    It rang and rang until Al answered it drowsily. "Hello?"
    "Hi, Al," Sabina said.
    "Hi." He moaned, then all of a sudden, there was an exclamation. "Jess!" he burst out. "Sabina, is Jess with you? Oh, God, what she must have thought....Is she there?"
    "Yes," Sabina said, watching Jess hide her face in her hands. "She is. And feeling pretty low."
    "Oh, God, the fat's in the fire now," Al groaned. "Thorn will send her to Siberia the second he knows...Let me talk to her, please!"
    "He wants to talk to you," Sabina said, handing the phone to her nervous friend. "Go on. He sounds frantic."
    Jessica took it. "Hello," she said unsteadily, brushing back her hair. "Yes. Oh, yes." She began to calm down. She smiled. "Yes." Jess sat down in the chair and Sabina left the room.
    Sabina sipped her coffee in the tiny kitchen. Minutes later, Jessica came through the door, looking subdued and happy and sad, all at once.
    "I'm going home to talk to him," she said. "But it seems pretty hopeless. Thorn wants him to marry the oil refinery, you see." She shrugged. "I guess a divorced nobody of a secretary wouldn't be good enough." She looked up. "Listen, you weren't sweet on Al, were you?"
    "Al and I are just buddies. In the beginning he worked up this false engagement to get big brother off his back. But now it may serve a different purpose. As for being sweet on anyone...You know what it was like for me when I was growing up. You know I don't want involvement, and you know why."
    "Yes," Jess sighed sadly. "I understand. It's just that I wish you could be as happy as I am, my friend." She picked up her purse. "I'd better go. Al said he wasn't going to work until we talked. I think he and Thorn got into a spat yesterday over the refinery heiress again."
    "Big brother just radiates love, doesn't he?" Sabina said coldly.
    "He's trouble. Watch out."
    "You're the one who'd better take that advice," Sabina murmured. "I'm just the red herring. You're the fox." She grinned.
    "Some fox." Jessica laughed. "Don't take any chances. You're the best friend I ever had."
    "Same here." Sabina flashed the engagement ring. "I'll keep this warm for you," she added wickedly.
    Jess only laughed. "It wasn't funny when he first told me. But now, I think it's just great!"
    "I wish I could have seen your face."
    "It was a fascinating shade of purple," Jessica grinned as she headed for the door. "Thanks for the coffee!"
    "Any time," Sabina murmured dryly. "See you later." Jessica barely nodded, and then she was gone.
    But if Sabina thought that was going to be the end of it, she had a surprise waiting the next evening after her performance.
    Al and Jess were waiting for her, all eyes and expectations after she'd changed into her street clothes and grabbed her long secondhand cashmere coat and joined them at their table. "Hi." Jess grinned.
    "Yes, hi," Al seconded.
    She studied them with pursed lips. "You look like crocodiles with your eyes on a fat chicken. What have you cooked up that's going to get me in trouble?"
    "You volunteered," Al reminded her with a laugh.
    She glared at the engagement ring on her finger.