See Me in Your Dreams by Patricia Rosemoor Read Free Book Online Page B

for a younger uniformed man to come forward and move the
Jaguar.
    In a low voice,
Keelin said, "No reason you need to see me to my door."
    When Tyler
insisted, "Of course there is," she had the distinct feeling that he
meant to do more than escort her to her suite and leave. Not wanting to argue
the point before the hotel's employees, she spun on her heel and through the
hotel's entry.
    Tyler followed
her inside, past a lobby decorated in champagne and gold with touches of palest
pink. Her suite was decorated in similar fashion, the sofa and two chairs in
her sitting room identical to those in the lobby. The walls were a subdued pink
with a gold sheen, warming the flawlessly appointed setting. And the coffee
table held a spray of matching pink tiger lilies as did the chest in the
bedroom. When he stepped inside, she noted Tyler's raised eyebrows and assumed
he was calculating the expense.
    Trying to be
subtle, she said, "I really am very tired."
    "I
imagine you are," he said, continuing to wander through her temporary
living quarters.
    All right, so
she had to be more direct. "I'm trying to end the evening."
    "Consider
it ended." He dropped onto the sofa.
    Keelin shut
the door so their words wouldn't echo down the hall. "Not with you
here."
    While she was
willing to put up with the man for his child's sake, she wouldn't allow him to get
too close for her own. He kept prying under her skin, poking and prodding at
her innermost being. Knowing he had secrets of his own, Keelin suspected he was
exactly the type of man who could get what he wanted from her if he kept at it.
    The type of man
she made a point of avoiding.
    "I'm not
going elsewhere," he stated.
    Keelin feared
the consequences if she didn't set boundaries. Drawing closer, she crossed her
arms over her chest. "You cannot stay in my rooms."
    "You
certainly can't expect me to drive back to North Bluff. If you have one of your visionary dreams, it would take me
better than a half hour to get back here, even in the middle of the night. Then
how would we get to Cheryl in time?"
    Unable to miss
his sarcasm even as he made a sensible point, Keelin settled into a high-backed
chair opposite him. "So what are you proposing?"
    "That I
spend the night on your sofa. Don't worry, I have no desire to invade your
bedroom."
    "That
never occurred to me," she hedged, the vision clear in her mind the moment
he put words to it.
    "No?"
His eyebrows lifted fractionally, as if he knew better. "You seem
tense." He looked around the room, his gaze settling on a drink cart.
"A little brandy would do us both good."
    Did he hope
liquor would loosen her up? Or loosen up her tongue? Keelin thought the latter.
Let him try. He couldn't wring from her a truth he suspected she was hiding,
not when she was innocent of any wrongdoing.
    While he
decanted the brandy, the red glow on her telephone finally caught her eye.
Realizing a message awaited her, she picked up the receiver, read the
instructions and punched in the code to retrieve it. So many technical advances
in this America of her relatives...and her used to a far more simple life.
    "Hey, cous , Skelly here. Call
me first thing in the morning, would you? I've got some info on Tyler Leighton
that I think you need to know."
    A beep was
followed by an electronic voice telling her she had no more messages.
    What could her
cousin have learned about Tyler? she wondered. Something she needed to
know...And Skelly's tone had seemed a bit ominous.
    She hung up
just as Tyler made himself comfortable on the sofa and handed her a glass.
    "Who was
that?"
    "My
cousin. Family business."
    Feeling the
heat creep up her neck, Keelin cursed her inability to tell the smallest of
untruths without telegraphing the fact. But if Tyler noticed the flush
spreading up into her face, he didn't say a word. His expression blank –
purposely so? she wondered – he seemed content in his silence until her glass was
half-empty.
    "So why
don't you make an effort to convince me?" he