Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson Read Free Book Online Page A

friend. Ann would say Kate’s best friend is Lisa or Rachel, but that’s Ann. Create a list with someone at the top, and Ann will put someone else in that role. She does it instinctively. She’s comfortable in the background and prefers it,” Dave began, then paused.
    â€œYou’d be good together,” Dave said abruptly. “I know you both. You would be good together. So I’ll answer your question, I won’t dissuade the interest, but I’m going to make incredibly sure you don’t blow this up in my face. Ann trusts me, she trusts Kate, and I’m crossing a lot of lines having this conversation. This isn’t one of my other friends. This is Ann.”
    Paul heard the sharp edge just under the warning. This was going to cost him a friendship if he didn’t handle this carefully. He found himself oddly relieved to hear it. Ann had a claim here. And he began to glimpse the truth of just how significant a lady he had met today. “I won’t hurt her, Dave.”
    â€œYou’ll try not to,” Dave agreed. “If I’m going to expect you to not make a hash of it, there’s a lot you need to know. I can’t unpack Ann Silver in a couple sound bites. She’s . . . where do I even start? There’s a reason I don’t do this, Falcon. Not with Ann.”
    â€œJust tell me about her,” Paul said before Dave could change his mind. “She doesn’t live here. Be a friend and help me out. It would take months for me to learn what you could simply tell me. Be her friend and tell me what I need to know.”
    â€œYou’ll need the help,” Dave agreed, “because Ann is the most private person I know. She is like this buried mine shaft with so many passages you don’t realize what’s there until you happen to fall into a new one. I know her well, and I’ll lay money I still don’t know all the turns she’s got tucked away. I’ll tell you enough of her background you won’t have to flounder around trying to figure it out, but I don’t know how you’ll avoid some of the rapids. With Ann, you’re suddenly in a turn you weren’t expecting to be there.
    â€œShe’s not seeing anyone. To be fair to the question, Ann’s gone out with lots of guys, and always parts friendly in a month or two. She dated the former VP’s Secret Service guy for a few years, and I thought it would be the one that lasted. He’s a good guy, the kind you’d want a friend to marry. She trusts him—you can see it when they’re together. But even though she still pulls him along for holidays when he’s at loose ends, it’s another of those relationships she’s closed off and keeps as a friend. She doesn’t let a guy stick. I don’t know why.”
    Paul stopped walking. He wanted to make sure he understood what Dave had just said. “She dates for short periods of time, keeps the friendship, but never gets serious?”
    â€œIt’s different than that, but yeah, that’s the pattern.” Dave thought about it and then shook his head. “I’m probably getting it wrong.” He started walking again. “The problem is she’s nice. Everyone asks Ann out. She’s good company, Paul. She’s the kind of lady that makes you glad you shifted your calendarto spend the evening with her. She gets asked out a lot. She’s too polite to say no.”
    It didn’t explain why she hadn’t settled down. It did suggest she had had plenty of opportunities to get serious about a relationship if she wanted to do so, and hadn’t taken that step. Paul wondered at the reason, or reasons, and wondered if he’d be one of the many with whom she parted friendly in a month or two. “What’s her background?”
    â€œShe’ll be forty in June, grew up poor in south Chicago, spent her summers with her grandparents on a farm in central