I'll Find You by Nancy Bush Read Free Book Online

wasn’t lying. Please, God, let him hear the truth. Don’t let this be the time he doesn’t believe me. “I was at the pier, and then I was driving around.”
    “Something bothering you?”
    “No . . .”
    “That child?”
    Her gaze flew to his face. He knew how she felt about the Cantrell boy? It had been so long since she’d had an actual conversation with Andre that she didn’t trust this was real.
    “It won’t be long now,” he whispered, running his hands down her arms.
    Andre always promised that this life with the other handmaidens was temporary, that there was some ultimate goal that only he and she would share. But she sensed he told the rest of them the same thing.
    “Ever since the accident, I’ve lost heart,” she admitted carefully.
    “You know it had to be done. You know why.”
    She nodded. Jonathan Cantrell had become a problem for Andre.
    “You’ll enjoy it again.”
    Teresa felt a quiver go down her legs. The worst of it was that he might be right. The high that came from fooling men, using them, bringing about their downfall . . . even the regret she felt over the Cantrell boy and other deaths she’d caused might not be enough to stop her. She had to stop herself or it wouldn’t happen.
    To do that, she had to get away from Andre’s encouragement.
    “You’ve lost your cross,” he said.
    Her hand flew to her throat. No, she hadn’t lost it. She’d squirreled it away in a safe place. She nodded, afraid to speak because she was the only handmaiden to whom he’d given an ankh. It was an honor and a privilege . . . except she didn’t believe in any of it anymore. She didn’t believe in Andre.
    His hand clasped hers, hard, and he led her away to his bedroom. The thought of having sex with him made her feet slow, and for once Teresa wished one of the handmaidens was waiting in the room as well, but it was not to be. She and Andre were alone.
    As he stripped off her clothes and slipped the chain over her head, she thought of the money and passport she had hidden away. She had to leave soon or forever be in this limbo, away from her son, away from any chance at a normal life.
    In her mind’s eye she was inside a silver bird, flying far, far away.
     
     
    The Bakoua Beach Hotel was renowned, a bit exclusive, and the perfect place to dissuade West from making any more threatening moves. She could even check in for the night if she had to, Callie reasoned. Whatever it took to keep West from Tucker.
    She tried to dust herself off as they walked back toward the main road.
    “You want to change?” West suggested, but Callie shook her head.
    “All I want to do is sit. If you could get a taxi . . . ?”
    He probably thought it was odd that she wasn’t concerned with vanity. Maybe he would believe she was just too undone and passive to care. Whatever the case, he didn’t argue. Instead, he suggested that Callie sit on the curb as he signaled for a cab. Eventually, one of the drivers spied them and motioned that he would pick them up after he dropped off his passengers.
    A few minutes later the taxi pulled up beside them. West tucked a hand under Callie’s upper arm and helped her to her feet. As soon as she was upright she pulled her arm from his grasp, catching sight of the driver’s faint smile. Probably thought it was a lovers’ quarrel. She couldn’t wait to hear West’s apology when he found out she really was Callie Cantrell.
    “Bakoua Beach, s’il vous plaît ,” Callie said before West could give any other instructions. She didn’t trust him, though she sensed he wasn’t really interested in harming her. Or was that being too trusting?
    He climbed in the backseat beside her, and, as the taxi pulled away, Callie let her muscles go limp and leaned her head back against the cushion. The drive was a little more than thirty minutes. She kept her eyes closed throughout the trip, only opening them once to catch a glimpse of the blue-green water of Fort-de-France Bay and the