Far Harbor by Joann Ross Read Free Book Online

wagging?” Lilith’s laugh reminded Dan of the silver wind chimes his mother had given him for a housewarming gift. She kissed Savannah’s cheek, then Dan’s. “Have fun, you two.”
    She left in a fragrant cloud, her skirt swirling around her still-shapely calves and her hips swaying in a way that caused a host of masculine eyes to watch her leave. Dan couldn’t help chuckling when one elderly man, apparently enthralled with this voluptuous goddess who’d suddenly appeared in their midst, actually ran his wheelchair into the wall.
    He exchanged a look with Savannah, who burst out laughing. Enjoying the sound that was half honey, half smoke, Dan realized that it was the first time he’d heard her reveal an iota of humor since she’d returned home.
    Savannah Townsend had been the quintessential small-town girl most likely to cause boys to hold their notebooks in front of their jeans: prom queen two years in a row, pep squad all four years, yell queen her senior year. The male membership of the senior class had voted her the girl they’d most like to be stranded on a deserted island with, and she’d been equally popular with the girls. The fact that her father had been world-famous bad-boy rock guitarist Reggie Townsend hadn’t hurt her reputation, either.
    Dan had recently represented Savannah’s grandmother Ida’s pregnant teenage foster child in an adoption case. When he’d met the family at the winery of the adoptive parents, he’d taken one look at Savannah, recently returned from LA, and decided that she was even more beautiful than he’d remembered.
    With her wild clouds of fiery hair, golden California tan, and emerald eyes, she’d resembled a member of some mythical race of women, forged in fire by a master alchemist. Yet, although she’d grown up to be dazzling, he’d sensed a sadness in her that had nothing to do with the solemnity of the occasion.
    They’d been thrown together again a few weeks later at his cousin’s wedding, where Savannah, wearing a dress that shimmered like moonlight on sea foam, had provided a dazzling contrast to the bride’s cooler, luminous beauty.
    Watching her closely, Dan had noted that even as her lush ruby lips had curved often, befitting the joy of this family event, the smiles had never quite touched her eyes. As the wedding festivities went on into the night, she’d grown more and more emotionally distant—almost ethereal, like the ghost of Lucy Hyatt, rumored to still reside in the lighthouse.
    But now, as she laughed, she reminded him of the Savannah he’d once known, the glowing girl who could make a guy renowned for his hit-and-run dating style think terrifying, forever-after thoughts.
    When her floral perfume slipped beneath his skin, creating an inner tug more complex than mere sexual attraction, Dan reminded himself that after a tumultuous and exhausting eighteen months, his life was finally getting back on track. The last thing he needed right now was a romance with a woman on the rebound. Especially one who, despite her apparent whim to settle down in Coldwater Cove, would undoubtedly soon find small-town life too confining for her big-city tastes.

4
    I da Lindstrom sat at the old oak rolltop desk she’d bought when she’d first begun her medical practice, right here in this very house, and stared down at a leather-bound address book stuffed with pieces of paper. The book, along with the telephone that was now buzzing with that annoying off-the-hook sound, was a sign that she’d been about to make a call. But to whom?
    “Think, damn it!” She pressed her fingers against her temple and forced her mind to focus on the clues at hand. She had, after all, become very good at following clues since her once razor-sharp mind had turned so uncooperative.
    “A waist is a terrible thing to mind,” she muttered, unwittingly falling back into her unconscious habit of malapropisms.
    Frustrated, she pulled one of the pieces of paper from the flap on the