Dearly Beloved by Jackie Ivie Read Free Book Online Page B

in on your secrets…and that could lead to mine.”
    “They will never find me.”
    “You fulfill the contract?”
    “Yes.”
    “How many involved?”
    “Six. No. Five.”
    There was a chuckle at his slip. Dominick’s hand clenched. He didn’t let it be seen.
    “You want to elaborate on that loose end?”
    “I do not have a loose end.”
    “You really should try putting contractions in your speech sometimes. You sound archaic, along with foreign. Both very identifiable features. Romantic. Considering you’re already very memorable when seen in person, it’s too much.”
    “I am never seen.”
    “Keep it that way. There’s not a woman around who wouldn’t remember you to a finite degree. Probably most men, too.”
    Dominick flushed. He could feel it. “Your point?”
    “You were paid well for this assignment.”
    “I am always paid well.”
    “Four-point-three-million. In full.”
    “So?”
    “So…I’m in a quandary here, Your Highness. I need to decide whether to launch an offensive against your island or not. There’s sensitive information that could get leaked. This means I have to take a chance and I don’t gamble. You’re not giving me enough information to make a decision. Perhaps you could find some communication skills and start talking.”
    Dom sighed. “I found her, Akron.”
    “Who?”
    “My
mate
.” His voice slipped on the word, revealing too much. He couldn’t help it. He still couldn’t believe it.
    A long whistle sounded. “You sure?”
    Dom leaned back in his chair as if considering an answer. Or the stupidity behind it. “Yes.”
    “This is a definite complication. She’s from the yacht?”
    “Yes.”
    “Hmm…reported missing is internet sensation Shawn Elliot, his personal secretary, three crewmen, and a rather uninteresting figure listed as Courtney Dwyer. That her?”
    Dominick nodded.
    “She see anything? Know anything?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Hmm. I see. I’ll keep in touch. Don’t ignore my messages again. Oh, and Dom?”
    Dominick stopped with his finger on the power switch.
    “I wouldn’t tell her you just killed her brother-in-law. Or that her sister paid for it. Never mind.”
    “What?” Dom’s forehead wrinkled in a frown.
    “She’s standing behind you. Catch her before she faints, will you?”
    The screen went black.
     

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
    Shock was an undervalued condition, especially the numb part that seemed to accompany it. Courtney was solidly in its grasp as she rounded the fourth circle of steps in her quest to get out. Her heart pumped madly and she panted from the exertion, but that was better than dealing with what she’d just heard and was expected to believe. No. Wasn’t true. Didn’t happen. Couldn’t be. Nothing like this happened in the world anymore. Well…maybe on some new cable show, but not to her. People from Seattle didn’t end up in some Mediterranean labyrinth; they didn’t have their world blown to smithereens about them; they didn’t wake up with millionaire princes; they wouldn’t fall heavily into passion-drenched lovemaking sessions with them; and they’d never be expected to believe that said wonder-guy was a real-life murderer.
    It was bad enough he had vampire delusions and acted on them. No. That didn’t happen either. None of this did. Courtney blinked against a blurred view that smeared the steps into one long snake built of stone. She wasn’t just denying this entire episode. She refused to believe it. Period.
    Numbness should’ve gotten her to the top of this damn spiral staircase. She should be racing steps, rather than watching the series of them distort, elongating before her eyes. There was a landing of sorts where the steps semi-vanished into what was probably another floor of his cave mansion. She’d passed three of them. Maybe four. The guy must have ten floors in here. That wasn’t fair.
    Fair?
What a joke.
    She blinked, clearing her vision again, and then she was at the next set of steps.