Dream's End by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

night.” She hung up before he could answer and got up long enough to put the phone back on the table by the settee before she curled back up in the porch swing.
    Curry paused on the edge of the porch, leaning against one of the white columns to light a cigarette. He pushed the hat back away from his dark face and studied her through glittering eyes. The subdued light from the single fixture farther down the porch gave him a faintly satanic look. He looked as if it had been an unusually hard day. His shirt was completely unbuttoned and dark with sweat stains. His khakis were stained with grass and dirt. There was a cut on the back of one lean brown hand where blood had dried. And his face was heavily lined. He looked every year of his age.
    â€œTalking to Jim?” he asked carelessly.
    â€œI am allowed to do that, I suppose?’ she asked sweetly.
    He glared at her. “When you’re on your own time,” he agreed. “Did you finish those letters I dictated?”
    â€œEvery last one,” she said cheerfully. “I did the production reports on the new additions, too.”
    â€œSo efficient, Miss Perrie,” he drawled with underlying sarcasm. “How will I live without you?”
    â€œYou could live without anybody,” she said quietly. “You’re as self-sufficient as a Marine.”
    â€œI was a Marine, little girl,” he reminded her.
    â€œPoor Amanda,” she murmured. “She’ll never really feel needed at all.”
    â€œShe’ll feel needed, all right,” he said in a caressing undertone, and with a smile full of meaning.
    She flushed uncomfortably. “No doubt,” she said curtly, “but will it be enough?”
    He laughed deeply. “Don’t you know the answer to that?”
    It was a losing battle, and she knew it. She rocked the swing into motion, turning her attention to the dark silhouette of the trees in the yard, the insistent chirp of the crickets.
    â€œMr. King called today, by the way,” she said carelessly. “He said the plans for your new office complex had been completed by the architect and were ready for approval.”
    â€œHas Magins signed the property transfer?” he asked.
    â€œOf course,” she replied.
    His eyes narrowed as he took a long draw from his cigarette. “You never cared for my tactics, did you, honey? But they work. No man ever got anywhere in big business without being just a little ruthless.”
    â€œI can’t picture Jim being that way,” she said quietly. And it was true, she couldn’t. He was a gentleman, a caring man. Worlds away from Curry.
    â€œHe’ll never amount to a damn, either,” he said harshly. “That spread will never be any bigger than it is right now because he doesn’t have the ambition to grow. He’ll live comfortably, but he won’t have much to show for his investments.”
    â€œGood for Jim,” she flashed, defending him. “It’s nice to find a man now and again who’s satisfied with what he’s got!”
    â€œJust what has he got, Eleanor?” he asked quietly. “Charm? Sophistication? Personality? Or is he just good in bed?”
    She’d never felt such rage in her life. She trembled with it as she got out of the swing and walked past Curry toward the screen door.
    â€œI won’t take that kind of insult from you or anyone else,” she said icily. “You aren’t going to grind your heel into me.”
    His lean hand shot out suddenly, grasping her upper arm so hard that she couldfeel it bruising, and jerked her around. She felt the heat of his body at his nearness, smelled the fragrance of tobacco mingled with the masculine odor of sweat as he held her there under his glittering eyes.
    â€œYou’re getting damned sassy, little girl, and I don’t like it,” he said in a voice that cut. “You may stab Black with that sharp little tongue, but