Relatively Risky by Pauline Baird Jones Read Free Book Online Page A

bit plummy, over done. Maybe he thinks chatting me up will help him with you?”
    Sarah laughed as she shook her head. “He’s not interested enough in me to work that hard. Maybe it’s a Russian thing.”
    â€œAnd my inability to understand it is a Wyoming thing.” And a lack of experience thing. Nell grinned and then stretched. Rubbed her temples. Too many images vied for attention inside her head, the clamor growing almost to the point of giving the muse a headache. And she needed to eat. But the muse was usually harder on her head than her stomach.
    Sarah knew the signs. “You’d better go do some dump sketching or you’ll be mainlining Tylenol.”
    Nell collected her portfolio and headed for the door, remembered she hadn’t yet told Sarah about her adventures in crashing, but when she turned back, Sarah was already focused on the computer. She hesitated, but it wasn’t like there was anyone to tell on her. She could fess up later. And speaking of up, she needed up and sketching. In that order.

    H elenne St. Cyr sat in the chair that overlooked her garden and waited, with the calm knowledge that she waited for the last time. She was not impatient. The long years had bled it out of her. If she’d known how long when it started she might have turned aside. The young did many things they should not because they did not know better, because, even as they believed they’d live forever, they did not know how long forever could be. She was supposed to remember her youth now that she was old. She did not remember anything but hating Phineas. And him hating her.
    For so many years they’d been locked in a silent war to survive the other. To win. Neither dared to kill the other until—her lips curved in a smile. Today, she sighed, today he lost it all. How he’d hate losing. He’d hate that more than dying. He’d hate knowing he couldn’t take her down with him
    It must be done by now.
    Done. A small, neat check on the to-do list she’d almost despaired of finishing. Her revenge wasn’t just cold, it had almost dried to dust. Almost she’d given up.
    Phineas had kept his secrets well, had never trusted her or liked her. Oh, he’d wanted her for a few minutes. He was a man and she’d been beautiful. She hadn’t minded when he’d moved on. She’d never wanted him, just his power. Had needed it to strike at the man she had wanted. The man who hadn’t wanted her even briefly.
    If either of them had wanted anyone but her. Eleanor. Ellie. Her other mistake.
    How ironic that Ellie had been Phin’s mistake, as well. Now, at the end, she could be amused by that.
    If he hadn’t tried to match her son with Ellie’s child…
    No, she’d still have wanted him dead. Her hand trembled a bit and she gripped the sides of her chair. Even if her beautiful Phillip had—if, if, if. What was the point of looking back?
    What couldn’t be changed had been endured.
    And she’d made sure Phin hadn’t enjoyed the years either. She smiled, wondering what he’d thought today when the blow had fell. Had he known it came from her? His stupid, sentimental decision to take the sun in the French Quarter had made him vulnerable just when she needed it. How exquisitely ironic was that?
    She shifted her arm, just enough to see the time on the very expensive watch Phin had bought her for her last birthday. She’d hoped to feel it, to sense the moment his life ended, but she felt nothing, not even relieved. Perhaps she no longer could feel. She did not mind. Feeling was over-rated.
    She lifted her chin, as if sensing an arrant breeze. Almost she laughed. It seemed she could feel one thing. The tremor as Phin’s death swept out to take down Aleksi and Bett. She felt again the flash of anger that she’d almost missed it, too. But she hadn’t. The weapon was in her hand, not theirs.
    Speaking of which, he