No easy way out by Elaine Raco Chase Read Free Book Online Page A

crashing to the floor.
    She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to get a firm
grip on her frazzled thoughts. A decade-old demon surfaced and
humorously reminded her that this was like old times. It was no
different from the predicaments she had got herself into during
high school.
    I handled those easy enough, Virginia thought with cocky
assurance. Alex Braddock didn't flick an eyelash over me. I fooled
him.
    Feeling relaxed, confident, and in control, Virginia decided to
call Diane and laugh at the problem over lunch. She bent over to
retrieve the telephone.
    "Oh, Dr. Farrell-"
    Alex Braddock's mellow tones caught her off-guard; the receiver
slithered from her hand. She swallowed and turned her head toward
the door. "Yes?"
    His gray eyes locked onto a pair of wide sapphire orbs, and a
glowing face surrounded by a silken tumble of brown hair. His gaze
moved on to trace the totally feminine anatomy. From the symmetry
of her full breasts the supplely arched back to the rounded
derriere-this appeared to be a wholly different woman.
    Virginia clamped viselike fingers on the elusive telephone and
quickly straightened. "What was it you wanted, Mr. Braddock?" Her
own face mirrored his enigmatic expression.
    "I have some equipment arriving later this afternoon," Alex told
her politely. "I hope to keep the disruption to your work at a
minimum."
    "That's most considerate," Virginia returned with a curt nod.
Under his steady gaze she began to fidget uncomfortably. She
coughed and looked pointedly at the telephone still clutched in her
hands. "Was there anything else?"
    "Not right now." He gave her a wide grin before disappearing
into the air lock.
    CHAPTER FOUR
    "Spinach salad is the perfect tranquilizer." Diane exhaled a
smug, triumphant sigh as she and Virginia walked across the
employees' parking lot. "You see how easily everything is
explained? You've upset yourself for absolutely no reason."
    "You've explained it easily, but I ' m still
unsure." Virginia shook her head, then impatiently looped thick
brown waves behind her ears. "I thought I fooled Alex until he came
back to the lab." A cold shiver zigzagged down her spine. "If you
could have just seen the way he kept staring at me."
    Diane struggled to open an oversize steel door. "Even with your
new clothes and your hair loose, you don't come close to my
creation of Halloween night," came her breathless rejoinder. She
scooted into the air-conditioned building, leaving the heavy door
to hiss closed. "You just overreacted," she stated with dogged
determination, then cast a sidelong glance, "or were you, perhaps,
indulging in some wishful thinking?"
    Virginia leaned against the green painted concrete wall, her
eyes drifting aimlessly around the empty service corridor. "Maybe
you're right about both those statements," she admitted in a
reluctant, subdued voice. "Alex Braddock was very complimentary,
very easygoing, and very personable. I came off the classic
ego-inflated bitch." Her voice hardened, and her fist punched the
porous block wall. "Damn, I wish today had been the first time I
ever met him."
    "You mean you wish you hadn't turned from a rabbit to a chicken
at Quimby's party," Diane retorted. "Everyone had a good laugh at
the unmasking. I don't know why you had to turn it into a
life-and-death situation. Just maybe, you could have had more than
laughs with the Bandit."
    "That's just the point, I was having more than laughs," Virginia
snapped sarcastically. "Why do you think I ran?" She rubbed a heavy
hand over her weary features. "I should have taken off the mask;
running only made things worse. At that party and on that balcony I
forgot who I really was and became totally absorbed in a
fantasy."
    "So?" Diane replied with a shrug. "Everyone's entitled to a
little-"
    "No, Diane." Virginia cut her off with a vehement shake of her
head. "I'm not everyone, and I'm certainly not willing to
play with explosives just for the sheer thrill of it. My career, my
professional