Patricia Potter by Island of Dreams Read Free Book Online Page A

even more dangerous to his fellow countrymen because they provided the guns and the airplanes and the ships. He had equated them, in his mind, with the memory of the powerful father he’d detested, making it easier for him to accept the role into which he’d been forced. But he liked Cal Connor with his blunt honesty and obvious affection for his family. He liked Elizabeth Connor with her soft manner and caring eyes. And Meara? At least she wouldn’t be involved in his plans.
    Or would she?
    The strategy was to take only the men in a lightning swift attack launched from a submarine, to take them and hold them as prisoners of the Third Reich. The members of the Jekyll Island Club controlled nearly one-sixth of the world’s wealth and were involved in nearly every aspect of the American war machine. The disappearance of even several of this group could cripple American production. The loss of these men, several of them advisers to President Roosevelt, would be incalculable. And the effect on American morale would be tremendous; the fact that Germany could stage a lightning raid on the coast would panic the entire east and west coasts of America.
    “More wine?” Elizabeth asked, breaking into his thoughts, and he noticed the Connors were exchanging questioning looks.
    “I’m sorry,” he said, realizing that the smile had fled his face, and his inattention had been quite obvious.
    “I’m the one who’s sorry,” Elizabeth Connor said. “I should never have mentioned…”
    She faltered, and he realized that she felt she had erred in mentioning the dying, assuming perhaps that many of his friends had been lost. Once more, he felt pangs of conscience and regret streaking through him. God, how he hated this whole affair. He would give his soul, or what there was of one, to be back on a ship.
    Connor broke in. “We’re having a barbecue tomorrow. We’d be pleased if you could attend.”
    “A barbecue?”
    Elizabeth laughed. “That was my reaction when I first started coming here. A distinctly southern tradition I think you’d enjoy. You can meet some of the other members and guests.”
    Michael knew he should feel a sense of triumph. But he didn’t. Only a sickness in his gut. He’d been accepted. He’d accomplished in one night what Canaris and his people had expected would take him days, even weeks. He forced a smile. “Thank you, I would,” he said, the sickness in him growing deeper.
    The betrayal had begun.

Chapter Three
     
    T HE EVENING SKY glowed over the marshes. There was no other word for it. The moon had never seemed quite as large or as perfect, even when he was at sea. The stars had never appeared quite as profuse or bright.
    The hour was late when Michael left the Connor cottage, and he did not expect Meara to be waiting. Reason hoped she was not.
    Lost in thought, in a certain empty desolation, he didn’t see her until he heard her soft voice call, “Michael.” For a moment he stood still. Michael, not Eric. Remember that. She was calling someone who didn’t exist.
    But despite that warning voice, he felt pleasure and warmth run unexpectedly through him. He spun around, nearly dropping the cane, and saw her sitting in a swing under a tree, her face and body obscured by shadows.
    As he approached, she looked young and infinitely vulnerable, and he wished he had never said anything earlier, had not asked her to meet him. She was lovely in the moonlight, just as she had been in sunlight. Her skin appeared translucent in the soft light filtering through the trees and flickering across her face as one foot nervously pushed the swing from side to side.
    Michael wondered why he was so drawn to her. He had always chosen sophisticated women before, often jaded ones, who expected nothing more than a few hours of pampering and pleasure. Innocence had always troubled him, and he’d believed cynically that its presumed value had no relation to reality, especially for a man who had no intention of