C's Comeuppance: A Bone Cold--Alive novel by Kay Layton Sisk Read Free Book Online

why? She forced her mind back to C. He was coming in at eleven. How exactly had that appointment happened?
    Okay, okay, Jemma, calm down, she told herself. He tells you to call him Charles, then he won’t let go, then he does, looking like rejection is a new experience, which he then told you it was. Why you, Jemma? Why is he so doggedly determined to disrupt your life?
    Focus! He accuses you of being gay, you order him off the desk, and he stands there and, well, he looks like he’s taking stock of the situation. Weighing the pros and cons, trying to decide which goal to pursue, trying to decide whether to go or stay, trying to decide whether to pick up the gauntlet or let it lie.
    Did you challenge him? You didn’t mean to. Truly. You just wanted him out. But why? Really, really why?
    Not going to be another notch on someone’s bedpost. Not going to give in like a starry-eyed groupie. Not going to give him the satisfaction—
    Jemma blinked. Not going to give any man the satisfaction. That was it, wasn’t it? It didn’t matter that he was Eddie C. He was a man, a man who seemed hell-bent on a course to have her or embarrass her. In any case, she’d still be alone.
    Her thoughts trailed off as the front door slammed open, bell clanging wildly. “Good morning!” Carolyn cheerfully called as she waved in Jemma’s general direction and headed for the coffeepot. “Got anything going this morning yet?”
    Jemma turned her attention to the computer. “Appointment at eleven. Looks like I’ll be out of the office the rest of the day.”
     
     

Chapter Five
     
    I t must be his day for challenges. While Eddie C couldn’t say the Blue Dream Inn had welcomed him with open arms, the old man at the desk had been more tolerant without an early morning warning call from Lyla. He insisted C take the last room in the back and preferred that the red car be parked around the side of the building and out of sight of the main street.
    C hadn’t been thrilled but had handed over the no-limit gold card and signed the register like a normal citizen.
    The motel room was depressing. The tiled bathroom had seen better days and the bed was lumpy. The place would do for a shower, but he’d go into Dallas to spend the night. Like he had thought about doing at two thirty this morning when he’d pulled into the hotel parking lot in a north Dallas suburb. But he hadn’t been inclined to register, so he’d simply settled the Porsche between two family minivans and leaned the seat back. He woke as the sun rose and the van on the right was slammed into gear. The fast-food place next door had done for breakfast and a quick toilette.
    Now he combed his hair back and secured it with a silver beaded band. He had no khakis, having consigned them to the realm of casual-Fridays businessmen and golfers, but there was a clean pair of jeans folded at the bottom of the duffel. The knit shirt was black, never worn. He looked good in dark colors, knew they showcased his blondness to the best effect, but they were damn hard to keep from fading. He’d finally just put in a standing order for three new ones every month from some Rodeo Drive boutique. They arrived like clockwork and his credit got to stretch its no-limits.
    He secured the leather sandals and then stepped back from the wavy mirror on the back of the bathroom door. Damn! If he didn’t know better, he’d say he looked like fit company for anyone.
    Even one Miss Jemma Lovelace, a woman whose time had come to join the Eddie C pantheon. She just didn’t know it yet. Showing her was going to be just the challenge he needed.
     
    ***
     
    The short list started with the Brady place and could have ended there if Jemma hadn’t scrolled through another screen and stopped on Norm Hudson’s property. He’d finally decided to sell out the remainder of the family farm. He had shocked the community six months ago by agreeing to sell the back two hundred acres to Lyla and T for their new home. No one