Face of Danger by Roxanne St. Claire Read Free Book Online

not golfing.
    It would take some expertise to turn her into a movie star.
    He could hear her voice. “C’mon, Lang, it’s the oldest form of security in the world…. Bait the killer with a decoy….”
    The vibration of his cell phone jerked him out of the thought he didn’t want to have anyway.
    Did you need me for something, Agent Colton Cautious Lang?
    Yeah, hell if he’d ever admit it to her. But right now, he needed her to tell him exactly where she was, without giving away the confidential information he had. No easy task with her investigator’s nose for anything suspicious.
    Just want to be sure you’re not doing anything you shouldn’t be doing
, he wrote. He avoided adding
anything like trading places with Cara Ferrari.
    Waiting for her response, he strolled in the direction of the golf course, but only to tell his golfing buddies that an emergency case had come up and he’d have to take a rain check on the game.
    They weren’t happy. But not as unhappy as he was every time he checked his phone for an answer or sent another
What are you doing?
text to Vivi.
    Finally, the phone vibrated.
    Just doing what I always do on a Sunday, Lang. What are you doing?
    What did she always do on a Sunday? Skateboarded in a park and went out to Sudbury to her family’s house for dinner.
    Golfing
, he wrote.
    Oooh. Super fun!
    He laughed, imagining the tease in her tone, the light in her eyes. What if she took some crazy risk and someone snuffed that light out? An old familiar band tightened a little around his chest. Stuff like that happened. To women with less of a wild streak than Vivi.
    Still, it was too early to tell her anything and if he pushed, she’d guess. She was so smart. And capable. And cute, damn it.
    He wrote:
You watching the Oscars tonight?
    Her response was lightning fast.
Of course!
    Did you sell that cockamamie idea to the new client?
He hit Send with a little too much force, like he could make her answer. With a resounding “No.”
    Cockamamie!
    What the hell did that mean? Before he asked, she wrote again.
    Gotta run, Lang. Nice to know you miss me. See you soon.
    Maybe
, he typed, then deleted the word. He had a better plan.

CHAPTER 3
    I have to tell you something, Vivi.” Cara Ferrari leaned across the open space of the limousine, the fiber-optic light casting a blue glow on her pale skin.
    “What is it?”
    “I’m scared.” Her voice cracked with admission as she closed eyes unadorned by anything but purple circles of sleeplessness, magnified because her long hair was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail.
    She’d been silent since they’d climbed into the limo together in the garage of Cara’s Brentwood home. A second limo followed, carrying the rest of the entourage. That included Bridget, the stylist who’d taken such great pains to turn Vivi into a carbon copy of Cara Ferrari; Marissa, the assistant; and a publicist named Leon who followed Cara everywhere. A third vehicle was full of bodyguards.
    Only Joellen Mugg joined Vivi and Cara in the limousine, the quintessential hanger-on sister who, as Bridget had warned, seemed to spend the days and nights in aconstant state of pretty much toasted. She appeared to be languishing there now, curled into a corner with earbuds in place, an iPod in her hand, eyes closed. She still used the less glamorous last name the two of them had been born with, and she still called Cara by her birth name, Karen.
    They looked nothing alike, but Joellen used every opportunity to say the words “my sister” when talking about Cara. But mostly she hid behind a bottle and an iPod, and Vivi had tried to avoid her as much as possible.
    “Don’t be scared,” Vivi replied to Cara’s admission. “We have a plan, and it’s a good one. You’re safe.”
    Cara looked doubtful, more vulnerable than Vivi had seen her in the past week. “What about you?”
    “I’m a professional,” Vivi said. “We’ll be sealed up in Nantucket, making just enough appearances