Keeping Company by Tami Hoag Read Free Book Online Page A

nausea swept over her, leaving her feeling clammy and cold and looking for the ladies’ room.
    He was married. He was a daddy. He was a philandering lothario, a licentious libertine. And she had been about to agree to have dinner with him! Only to humor him, of course. It wasn’t that she was truly all
that
attracted to him or anything, she insisted, disregarding the wild humming of her hormones as she stared at him.
    Wasn’t looking for a relationship, indeed! No wonder. He already had a relationship, complete with little relationships attached! A nice, quiet, out-of-the-way restaurant. Right. So none of his in-laws could stumble across him!
    Anger swirled through her in a whirlwind,mixing with another emotion, one she couldn’t quite define. It was sort of like disappointment intermingled with guilt. She did her level best to ignore it and concentrate on fury instead. Fury was pure and uncomplicated and it hurt a hell of a lot less.
    Suddenly the front door burst open, and Jayne Jordan made a grand entrance. She was dressed as some kind of fairy, complete with gossamer wings and a sparkling wand. Layers of white chiffon floated over her petite form like a cloud. Her dark auburn hair was alight with silver and gold glitter. Right behind her was an enormous hairy creature who had to duck to get through the door. Once inside, he took his head off—or rather, his mask—and looked around, a pleasant grin revealing a space between his two front teeth.
    “Jeepers criminy,” Deputy Skreawupp muttered in utter disgust as he rose from his desk and moved to stand in front of it with his arms crossed above his potbelly. “Bunch of demented communists.”
    “Alaina!” Jayne exclaimed, her dark eyes wide with worry and wonder. She hurried through thelittle gate and rushed back to her friend, her wand bobbing. “Honey, are you all right? What happened?”
    “A slight misunderstanding,” Alaina said tightly, forcing herself to her feet and willing her knees to support her weight. She deliberately avoided looking Dylan’s way, riveting her icy stare on her friend instead. “First, let me say just briefly that, were I a vindictive sort of person, I would make your life a living hell for insisting I wear this costume. Since I love you like a sister, I’ll forgive you.”
    Jayne had the grace to look contrite, though she didn’t apologize.
    “There was a minor incident with my car, and Deputy Screw
—Skreawupp
came to the erroneous conclusion that I was a—er—”
    “Hooker,” the deputy said with a grunt.
    Alaina shot him a venomous look. “Thank you
so
much.”
    Jayne burst into laughter. She turned to the deputy. “Oh, honey, you couldn’t get much further from the truth. She’s Princess Andora of theZanatares, upholder of the Sacred Laws of the Seventh Galaxy in the ninth millennium.”
    The deputy’s beetle brows rose and fell like a pair of dancing woolly caterpillars. “And who are you? Tinker Bell?”
    “No,” Jayne drawled with an impish smile. “I’m Sarafina, high priestess of the fairies of the primordial forests of Mandrocona.” She gestured toward the hairy mountain standing behind her. “My friend Arnie is a Wookie. You know, like Chewbacca in
Star Wars
.”
    Arnie tucked his fake head under his arm and nodded at the deputy. “Ya, pleased to meet you,” he said in a heavy Austrian accent.
    “Jayne,” Alaina said through her teeth, “you’re not exactly helping my cause here. Vouch for me. As a human film critic from twentieth-century Earth.”
    The formalities were dispensed with quickly. Deputy Skreawupp seemed as eager to be rid of Alaina as Alaina was eager to get out of the jail—and out of Dylan Harrison’s tainted company. The instant the deputy told her she was free to go,she turned on her glittery spike heel and marched for the door.
    “What about Dylan?” Jayne asked, hesitating at the gate. She exchanged an odd look of concern with Arnie the Austrian Wookie.
    Behind them,