Now You See Him by Anne Stuart Read Free Book Online Page A

hand through her hair, and he could see the distrust at the back of her eyes. He wanted to wipe that away—for purely practical reasons, he told himself. "Did he?" Her voice was skeptical.
    "He's quite a character, our Cecil," he said, leaning against the open doorway. "He got the Jeep towed to his cousin's repair shop last night, then he took off for the airport to bring the bags. He says he was wandering around here half the night, looking for a way in, but the place was locked up tight." He shook his head, a wry smile on his face. "Are most people around here so devoted to duty?"
    "He was here last night?" she asked carefully.
    You know bloody well he was, Michael thought. "I'd asked him to pick up my luggage, but I assumed he'd wait until morning. I didn't expect him to be wandering around on the beach during the small hours of the night." It had actually been before midnight, but he wasn't supposed to know that.
    Francey considered for a moment, and he could see her thin, tense shoulders start to relax beneath the robe. She shoved her hands into her pockets, and he wondered if they were shaking. "You know, I thought I saw someone out there last night," she said ingenuously.
    "You did? Why didn't you call me?" He really wanted to know the answer to that question. Why hadn't she tamed to him for help?
    "I didn't want to bother you. You'd been through enough in the past twenty-four hours. Besides, crime is practically nonexistent on St. Anne. Whoever was out there probably didn't mean us any harm. And if they did, this place comes equipped with the latest in security systems. They couldn't have gotten in."
    The security system Daniel Travers had installed was already out-of-date and any operative worth his salt could have gotten past it, but he wasn't supposed to know these things. "That's a relief. Not that either of us has any enemies. Do we?"
    Once again her face turned pale beneath her tan, and he wondered if she were simply better than he expected, or if she really was that vulnerable. "No enemies," she said in a slightly raspy voice. "Not that I know of."
    "Cecil says his cousin will have word on the Jeep by this afternoon. He'll stop back and let us know."
    "Can't he call?"
    "No phone."
    "Of course." She shook her head at her own stupidity. "Coffee or tea?"
    Or me, he thought irreverently. "Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon," he said. "Unless it's tea bags. Then I'll stick with coffee the whole time." He started toward the kitchen, moving slowly. He'd left his cane behind, and he had to do a creditable job struggling along without it. It was more of a prop than a necessity most of the time, but after the rigors of his day of travel and night of grand prix driving, he could have used the support. "I can make it."
    "You'll do no such thing," she said, suddenly bustling and maternal once more. "You go out on the veranda while I make a pot of coffee and something to eat. You need to take it easy, build your strength back." She'd already turned away from him, heading back through the butler's pantry into the kitchen, and he watched her go, wryly aware of his own conflict.
    By the time he got his bags up to his bedroom, managed a shower and a change into a pair of his old, baggy khakis and a loose white T-shirt, he could smell the coffee wafting upward. He took his cane this time and headed downstairs, moving a little more slowly than he had to. One problem with this hot climate was the skimpy clothing. There was no way he could hide a gun in what he was wearing, and assuming he stripped down to shorts or a bathing suit, he would even have to ditch the knife he had strapped to his calf. He didn't like the idea of being out there at the end of St. Anne without proper protection. But until he knew how far he could trust Frances Neeley, he wasn't going to be anything more than an invalid schoolteacher. One who certainly wouldn't be carrying his efficient-looking Beretta.
    "There you are," she said when he limped out