Amaryllis by Jayne Castle Read Free Book Online Page B

mean?”
    “Nothing.” She gave him a bracing smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get deep and mysterious. Maybe these relics are having an effect on my mood.”
    Lucas frowned. “Why did you leave the university?”
    “You know how it is.” She turned back to the display case. “People change. I felt it was time to try a new direction in my career.”
    Lucas was the first to acknowledge that he had no great gift for intuition, but he had a strong suspicion that there was a lot more to the story than Amaryllis implied. He wondered if a man had been involved. Then he wondered why he should care if the answer was yes.
    Wrong place, wrong time, wrong woman.
    “What is Miss Locking doing now?” Amaryllis asked.
    Lucas scanned the crowd and spotted Miranda. “She just stopped to shake Madison Sheffield’s hand.”
    The professional detachment vanished from Amaryllis’s gaze in a heartbeat. “Madison Sheffield is here tonight?”
    “Just one thrill after another when you focus for me.”
    She ignored the sarcasm. “Where is he?”
    “Who? Sheffield? Over there by the buffet table.” Lucas gave her a sidelong glance. The keen interest in her face irritated him. Everything about her was beginning to bother him, he concluded. The sooner this evening was over, the better. “You can’t miss him. He looks like he’s trying to sell used cars.”
    “Don’t be rude.” Amaryllis stood on tiptoe in an effort to see over the heads of the crowd. “Madison Sheffield will very likely be our next governor.”
    “Probably won’t be any worse than the present governor,” Lucas said philosophically.
    He was well aware of who Madison Sheffield was. His secretary had instructions to toss the unending stream of solicitation letters from the ambitious city-state senator’s office. It was nothing personal. She also had orders to chuck the campaign fund requests from the incumbent, Tyler Wingate. Lucas was not particularly interested in politics or politicians.
    But he was not surprised to learn that Amaryllis was excited by the sight of Madison Sheffield. It figured, he told himself. Sheffield was just the sort of politician who would attract the vote of an upright, prissy little prism who was overly concerned with ethics and other vague academic matters.
    Sheffield was making a bid for the governor’s seat on the Founders’ Values ticket. He was running on a platform that emphasized a return to the supposedly sterling virtues of the First Generation colonists. People were responding to the Sheffield campaign in droves. The man had charisma.
    “He’s even more impressive in person than he is on television,” Amaryllis declared.
    Lucas eyed the senator. It was fair to say that Sheffield was tall, lean, and possessed of a nose and brow that would have done credit to any founder. His aquiline features gave the impression of a man who was ascetic in his habits. His expensively styled brown hair was tinged with just enough silver to add a distinguished touch.
    Sheffield’s tailor had taken care of the rest.
    Amaryllis’s dress fluttered again. Bored with the sight of Sheffield shaking hands, Lucas found himself distracted by the movement. The rational, intellectual side of his nature considered the perplexing question of how the gown could both reveal and conceal at the same time. It was a frustrating problem, one which only served to heighten his irritation.
    Apparently having lost sight of Madison Sheffield, Amaryllis came down off her toes and turned back to the array of artifacts in the display case.
    “These are incredible,” she said. “Whatever the metal is, it survived, which is saying something. The alloys and hightech materials that the founders brought with them from Earth rotted away within months. They had to learn to use native materials. I wonder why these didn’t disintegrate.”
    Lucas forced himself to stop watching the drifting scarves long enough to glance down at the silvery relics. “The researchers