Fatal Wild Child by Tracy Cooper-Posey Read Free Book Online

people in the world have this number. Now there are thirty-one. If you ever have a need to reach me urgently and can't via normal channels, use this number. You will get my undivided attention."
    There was an inflection in Sherborne's voice, a note like a soft-blown trumpet call that made the hairs on the back of Seth's neck stand on end. Sherborne had not made any declarations about iron-clad promises, but Seth knew that the statement was as good as a death-bed promise.
    "Why me?" he asked.
    "You saved Gabrielle's life yesterday, Seth O'Connor. I'm also aware of what you've been doing all night." Sherborne paused. "Lunch is at noon, but be here by eleven. Have you got a jacket, O'Connor?" And he was gone.
    Seth pushed the red button to disconnect and called back the number. Cameron Sherborne's private cell phone number. Unasked.
    An invitation to a family lunch. Just like that.
    Cameron Sherborne was right. Seth didn't trust him an inch and wasn't going to start any time soon. But, damn, the man certainly had a way of getting what he wanted.
    He glanced up at the wardrobe door. A jacket, hmm? To run the gauntlet of his daughters and their spouses. That would include Gabrielle, of course.
    He'd been thinking of her all along—who had he been fooling?—but now an image of her as he'd last seen her leapt to the forefront of his mind. He could remember the feel of her hand clenched in his shirt, the small weight of it against his chest.
    How on earth was he supposed to deal with Gabrielle now? He was on active duty, and supposed to be ready to react to anything.
    But last night her eyes had followed him down into sleep, creating that heavy mass in his chest.
    And now even her memory was rousing him to a state that was almost painful. He eased himself off the bed. Time for a shower.

Chapter Five
     
    The beaded ivory lace dress had been a last-minute packing decision. Gabrielle had literally balled it up and shoved it in the corner of the suitcase. She was glad she had packed it, now, but even so, she donned the garment with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Her taste for grunge clothing had fled, but hadn't been replaced by anything else. The big family get-together today would ensure that her sisters would have their fashionista knives out, so Gabrielle went through the motions, knowing they would pick her wardrobe apart if they could. Why give them more ammunition than necessary?
    The dress stopped at mid-thigh, and she wore opaque tights to accentuate her legs, and dark stilettos. The dress was backless, scooping down to her waist, while the long sleeves flared out over her wrists and extended to her knuckles.
    She remembered buying the dress and feeling sexy in it, but now it was just a shield against her sisters' spiteful comments. She straightened her hair and backcombed the crown to make it lift and applied makeup to accentuate her eyes. Lots of black, blended-in, to make them smolder, like the movie make-up artists had shown her.
    Today was the nineteenth of December. In two week's time, exactly, she was flying out of here. Free to leave. She just had to survive the family hysterics until then.
    Gabrielle picked up her old digital camera, wrapped herself in her coat and headed for her father's cabin. It was another beautiful day. The sun was out, sitting high overhead and spilling light on the perfectly smooth, untouched snow blanket lying between the cabins. It was so white it looked blue at the edges, where the sun didn't touch it. It seemed liked no one at Jasper Park Lodge wanted to mar the perfection of the snow between the paths. Everyone walked only on the carefully shoveled pathways, leaving a fat white pillowy field between the paths, to dazzle in the brief hours of daylight.
    The cabins were located around the edges of the lake and the main building sat a good three hundred yards across from them all. The paths radiated out from the main building to all the cabins, and there was a wide path that ran from cabin