The Alpha's Choice by Jacqueline Rhoades Read Free Book Online Page A

around the room.
"There'll be no more carryings on in the parlor."
    "Schoolroom," Kat corrected without thinking
and then blatantly lied, "That wasn't what we were doing."
    "You're the housekeeper." Charles was clearly
bewildered.
    "What you were doing is as plain as that
paint on your face… and elsewhere." The woman stared pointedly at
Kat's chest. Swiveling her head to Charles, she said, "Of course
I'm the housekeeper. Who else would I be?"
    Yeah, who else? Kat looked down at her chest.
A perfect yellow handprint like the kind children make with finger
paints was emblazoned on her chest completely
covering her left breast and the hand that made it was clearly
not a child's. Well, damn. The evidence was pretty
incriminating.
    "You aren't the housekeeper,"
Charles was saying and it took Kat a minute to realize he was
talking to her, "Who the hell are you?"
    "I think you'd best be on your way, young
woman, to do whatever it is you're supposed to be doing. And you,
young man, better get back to work. This place will be full up
tomorrow and the Alpha expects it done."
    "I never said I was," Kat answered. "I'm the
teacher," she explained, though at that point she wasn't sure
anybody was listening or cared. "I'm supposed to be here."
    "I am the Alpha!" Charles snarled at
the woman. "No, you're not!" he turned on Kat.
    "Yes, I am." Who the hell did this guy think
he was?
    "Good God Almighty," the woman breathed.
    Having said pretty much the same thing when
she met him, Kat almost rolled her eyes, particularly since the
woman's hand went to her chest in the same heart protecting way.
She would have laughed if she hadn't been so angry at the man who
caused such a reaction.
    The woman winced as she peered more closely
into Charles' yellow face. "It is you." She took a step back and
looked him over once again and shook her head. "Well ain't that a
fine howdy-do."
    Charles looked more closely at the
woman. "Mrs. Gregory?" he asked, looking a little shaken
himself.
    "What was. It's Martin now. After Bill died,
I married Stuart Martin and went north to live with his folk. Now
he's gone, too," the woman said with a hint of defiance as if
daring Charles to ask another question.
    Charles didn't ask it. "I remember now," he
said instead and then he smiled his most charming smile and Kat was
amazed to see the older woman thaw under his warming gaze.
    What was it about this guy that he could melt
the drawers off every woman he met?
    "I didn't recognize you either," he
continued, "Good God, how many years has it been? It must be
twenty-five at least."
    Mrs. Martin suddenly closed her eyes and
swayed dangerously. The woman's mouth opened and closed and opened
again. Her eyes popped open and her face paled. She swayed
dangerously. The predator had become prey; a gasping fish out of
water.
    Kat ran to catch the woman before she fell.
"Don't just stand there. Help me get her to the chair," she snapped
at Charles.
    Charles did more than help. He scooped the
woman up and carried her to the chair where he set her down gently
and knelt on the floor in front of her.
    Mrs. Martin took a deep breath, shook her
head to clear it, and opened her eyes to the kneeling Charles.
This seemed to upset the woman even more. Fanning her
hand to shoo him away, she tried to rise.
    "Don't need to sit. I got work to do. I'm
fine," she insisted. She tried to rise and quickly sat back down.
"Just give me a minute."
    Charles lifted her chin with the knuckle of
his index finger. In an odd gesture, he leaned forward almost as if
he was zooming in for a kiss and sniffed sharply, twice. "When was
the last time you ate?"
    "I'm fine. You go clean up and leave me to my
business. It's almost lunch and I got work to do. Leave me be," she
said bossily.
    "When was the last time you ate?" Charles
asked again, his tone demanding an answer.
    Maybe it was the tone of his voice which now
sounded deeper and more commanding or maybe it was the way he stood
up and over her that made