Key West by Stella Cameron Read Free Book Online Page A

when he brought you over. I’d say you got him interested enough to be ruffled, all right.”
    There hadn’t been any discussion since Chris Talon had all but marched her to the back door of the Rusty Nail in the small hours of the morning and hammered with a fist until Bo appeared, with Roy close behind him. Talon had thrust Sonnie at the two men and told them she needed a bed, and that she needed “to be saved from herself—and me if she tries to make me responsible for her again.”
    She grew hot all over at the thought. Roy couldn’t be farther from the truth about Talon’s feelings about her. He considered her a nuisance. She said, “Thank you for putting up with me. I’ve been such a burden to you.”
    “Nope.” Roy shook his head. He’d removed the hat, and his red hair was still damp from the shower. “Not a burden at all. There’s plenty of room, and we like company. Sonnie, why don’t you stay on with us until you’re on your feet again? Chris was right to bring you to us last night—this morning. We didn’t talk much, but you were so scared.”
    “I was embarrassed at disturbing everyone. Thanks, Roy, but I need to make myself settle in here.”
    “I don’t push people. And my brother never used to. You must have hit a nerve. But you can change your mind and come to us anytime. Pick up the phone and I’ll come get you. Understand, now?”
    “Thanks, Roy, but I—”
    “Don’t say what you won’t be doing. Just leave it that you can. Okay?” He looked at the box in her hands. “You going to open that? I’ll be takin’ a look around the house before I go.”
    She started to protest but he was already starting up the stairs. “Your brother must have said something to you about me being scared,” she called after him, annoyed that Talon would wait until she was shut away in Bo and Roy’s guestroom, then spill everything she’d told him in confidence. “It’s not true.”
    “All Chris said was that you might be a bit too uptight to be alone here yet. That’s all. And how you’d gotten jumpy here last night and gone to him.”
    Increasingly irritated, she followed up the stairs. “In other words, he did say I was frightened.”
    “You were, weren’t you?” He’d reached the landing that circled the second floor.
    “No.” Why pretend? “Yes, I was. But I...Well, when I met him last night I hoped he would help me, and when he wasn’t interested, I think I was confused. I went back to see if I could convince him I wasn’t a flake. Hah! Great job I did. Look, Roy, this isn’t your problem. You’ve already done too much for me.”
    “Good ol’ Chris is going to help you. You’ve got to be patient with a fella like him. Give him time to convince himself it was his idea to work with you all along. You two will be just dandy together. You heard a door slam up here?”
    Good ol’ Talon had spilled all the beans. She bit back what she’d like to say about confidentiality and told Roy, “I’m sure the wind blew it shut.”
    “I didn’t notice if there’s a floor above this.” He studied the domed skylight with a chandelier suspended from its center, and the high walls that rose on all sides of the second story.
    “Just the attic. I’d considered raising the roof to build more rooms—” She stopped. She’d wanted it converted to more rooms for the children she’d hoped to have. “Don’t worry about me, Roy. The daylight makes everything look very normal.” White on white paint glistened. Plaster medallions at the centers of beaded panels bore yellow roses.
    “Night always follows day, kid. That’s one of those absolutes. It’ll come around again. Just let me put my mind to rest. I’ll take the tour—if you don’t mind.”
    “I don’t mind. I think you’re just about the nicest man I ever met.”
    “You don’t know Chris well enough yet.”
    She wouldn’t tell him she thought his arrogant, rather nasty brother was emotionally crippled and she didn’t