Fire And Ice by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

woman warned with a laugh. “He’s never taken such a violent dislike to anyone at first sight before. It could be an omen.”
    Margie’s eyebrows arched. “Is that anything like an incantation?”
    Victorine eyed the younger woman. “Cannon said you were a widow.”
    “Yes, I am.” She lowered her eyes. “My husband died in a plane crash five years ago.”
    “I lost my own husband about that long ago,” Victorine sighed. “The loss was devastating not only to me, but to Cannon, because he inherited all the responsibility. Andrew does help, of course, but Cannon is the corporation.”
    “A man under pressure,” Margie commented.
    “Under a great deal of it, and he doesn’t spare himself. Somewhere along the way, my eldest forgot how to play. He lost his sense of humor, too. There was a difficult marriage, and an even more difficult divorce. It was a blessing that there were no children involved.” She glanced at Margie. “Did you…?”
    “No,” she said curtly, much more curtly than she meant to.
    Victorine laid a delicate hand on her forearm. “Not a happy marriage?” she asked softly.
    Margie shook her head, and for just an instant the mask slipped.
    The older woman, in that instant, seemed to see it all. She turned away. “Let’s sit down and get acquainted. I have angina pectoris, and I find it difficult to move around too much, although I try.” She looked angry for a second. “I’m protected to death, you know. Cannon has the employees spy on me.”
    Margie’s eyes brightened. “He what?”
    Victorine frowned as she sat down on the sofa beside Margie. “He has me spied on, and if I do things he and that idiotic doctor say I shouldn’t, he gets furious.”
    “You do have your trials, I can see that,” Margie said. “Having to live with him must be the biggest of all.”
    Victorine smiled. She was going to enjoy this young woman. And she had a strange feeling that Cannon might eventually share that view.
    * * *
    The days passed lazily, with Cannon usually off on business meetings. Jan and Margie settled in, enjoying the sun and sand, talking to Victorine, watching television and enjoying the French cook’s delicious fare. It was the kind of break Margie had needed for a long time, and she found herself relaxing, taking things easy. She worked on the book at a leisurely pace, mostly early in the morning so she wouldn’t disturb the household.
    But always, she was aware of Cannon’s speculative gaze when he was in the house. He watched her the way a cat watches its prey, with a narrow, unblinking gaze that made her nervous.
    “Are you looking for warts?” she asked him on their third day at the beach house while waiting for the others to sit down to dinner.
    “Would I find any?” he asked lazily, leaning back in the big armchair that seemed to be his personal property.
    “Not where they show,” she mused.
    “Now you’ve intrigued me,” he replied, and his dark eyes did a slow, bold survey of her body. She was wearing a strappy little white dress and suddenly her body felt as if someone had stroked it.
    She wished she could give him the same kind of sensual appraisal, but she wouldn’t have dared. He was wearing a blue silk shirt, open halfway down the chest, with white slacks, and he looked good enough to star in any motion picture.
    “I’m having a group of men here tomorrow night for dinner and a business discussion,” he said out of the blue, pausing to light a cigarette and take a draw from it before he went on. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t hang from the chandelier or wear a backless gown.”
    “I don’t own a backless gown,” she informed him.
    One corner of his mouth curled up. “Not even to shock Mrs. James?” he taunted.
    “I have to draw the line somewhere,” she said defensively.
    He watched her hands pleat the wispy fabric of her skirt. “I like your hair loose like that,” he remarked, letting his eyes lift to the long, deliciously disheveled