The Case of the Missing Secretary by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page A

noises you hear…” “Guy!” Emmett exploded.
    “And most of all, if he’s been drinking, don’t get in front of him on account of he might fall on you,” Amy finished. Emmett put his hands over his face.
    “You should be ashamed!” Tansy muttered, glancing at him. “Reprobate! You really are the black sheep of the family.”
    “He isn’t black, Aunt Tansy,” Polk said. “He’s dirty. He always looks like that when he’s been in the barn with the horses.”
    Kit had to wipe her mouth suddenly, but over it her eyes twinkled with unholy glee.
    Emmett looked up, and the sight of those very blue eyes in mer-riment made him feel suddenly younger. He blinked and began to smile.
    Uh-oh, Kit thought. She wiped the smile off. Here was one complication she could do without. “You’re fighting it, Kit.” Emmett sighed. “I told you, you can’t have her,” Tansy reminded him. “There are plenty of women in Houston,” he began.
    “I’ve been working on this one for three years. Eat your barbecue, which is rather good, by the way. Did I ever tell you about the Russian count I met at Maxim’s in Paris the last time I was there?” she added, waxing reminiscent. “He was one of the last of the Ro-manoffs, and he actually remembered the siege of the Winter Pal-ace.” Emmett looked at the barbecue on his fork and began to pale.
    Tansy shot a covert glance at him and continued. “There were fires everywhere. Some of the soldiers were thrown into them…”
    Emmett put a hand over his mouth, dropped his food, and ran from the room. “No guts,” Guy said disgustedly, looking after him. “Disgraceful.” Polk nodded. “Whatever are we going to do about him?” Amy sighed.
     
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    “You did it last time,” Tansy reminded them while Kit sat, dumbfounded. “Bringing that…that ‘not alive’ thing in here on a dustpan to show him.”
    “Yeah,” Guy chuckled. “He didn’t even make it to the bathroom that time!”
    “You ought to see him at the rodeo if there’s any blood,” Amy piped in. “He goes green and white, all mixed up, and his stomach churns.”
    “Except if it’s him that’s bleeding,” Guy pondered. “Weird, ain’t it? Never bothers him if it’s his own blood. And if it’s ours, and an emergency, he’s never sick. But sometimes you can turn him green real easy if you talk about something yucky.”
    “What a terrible way to treat your poor father,” Tansy chided them. But her eyes were twinkling.
    When Emmett came back, his eyes were glittering with imminent retribution.
    “Great barbecue, Dad. We’re going in to watch that new survival show on the educational channel, okay?” Guy blabbered. He and the others murmured excuses and ran for it. “Little monsters!” he called after them. “I’ll get you for this!”
    “Why do you let them do it to you?” Tansy asked. “You know it’s terminal to show weakness to children.”
    “Well, look who started it off,” he said, narrowing his eyes at Tansy. “Couldn’t resist it,” she sputtered. “You are a case, Emmett.”
    He picked up his fork and forced himself to eat a bite of barbecue. Amazingly it stayed down.
    Kit listened to the conversation without taking part in it. This man was one of the more interesting people she’d ever met. She wondered what was going to become of him.
    Logan Deverell was sitting on the doorstep of the Lassiter Detective Agency the minute it opened the next morning. “I want to see Kit,” he told Dane.
    Dane lifted both eyebrows. “You can’t. She’s out of town running your mother to the ground.” “Where out of town?”

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    Diana Palmer
     
    “San Antonio.” “Oh, no! Why in God’s name did you let her go there?” Dane didn’t move. “It’s only your cousin, Logan.”
    “No, he isn’t only my cousin, he’s got these three pint-sized assassins and they hate women! They’ll burn her at the stake. And if they don’t, Emmett will have her in