The Fall of Maggie Brown by Anne Stuart Read Free Book Online Page A

the snakes he’d promised.
    Her stomach made a rumbling protest again, and she allowed herself a faint, self-pitying moan. She would have given anything to be back in Philadelphia, in her safe, comfortable bed. She would have given anything to have spent her entire life without making the acquaintance of Ben Frazer.
    She should be used to it by now. Her sister and mother had gotten her into more hassles than she could even begin to count, and ever since her father’s death all the responsibility for them had fallen on her own shoulders. Not that it was a heavy burden—she was used to taking care of things, of cleaning up after her sister’s mistakes, of soothing her mother’s melodramatic extremes. This was a little more strenuous than the usual, but chances were this wasn’t the worst trial she was ever going to face.
    She just wished she’d had a chance to call home again, just to make sure her mother was hanging in there. If Delia was as sick as she said she was, she might already be dead, with both of her daughters thousands and thousands of miles away. If she didn’t bring Stella back in time she’d never forgive her sister. If she didn’t get back in time she’d never forgive herself.
    Maybe she could just fall asleep, listening to the steady murmuring of her empty stomach. There was nothing she could accomplish tonight—she’d promised Ben that she’d stay put. Even if she went out in search of a public telephone there was no guarantee that she’d find a working one. And there was always the remote possibility that he wasn’t exaggerating the danger.
    She heard the soft, furtive footsteps above the noise of the city outside, coming down the hallway to her room. She sat up, all thoughts of sleep vanishing. She hadn’t gotten up to lock the door when Frazer had left her—she’d just lain on the bed and felt sorry for herself. Maybe if she moved really fast she could reach it in time to keep out whoever might be coming for her.
    She was halfway off the bed when the door opened, illuminating Elena’s voluptuous figure. She was carrying a tray, and from across the room Maggie could smell the onions and tomatoes and peppers, and her stomach knotted in anticipation.
    “Dinner,” she announced in her strangely accented English. Maggie was educated enough in Spanish and French to get her through most difficult situations, but the language of San Pablo was mostly beyond her comprehension. Throughout its troubled history San Pablo had been isolated from its neighbors but not immune from their influence. It was a strange combination of Spanish, French, Andorran and Basque traditions, and the language was a sort of mishmash. Every now and then she could pick out a word or two, but mostly it was as incomprehensible as ancient Egyptian.
    Elena set the tray down on the rickety-looking table, then took the seat opposite, clearly waiting for Maggie to join her. She’d brought some sort of savory stew, accompanied by a cold bottle of beer, and any thoughts Maggie had of resisting vanished.
    She was halfway through the stew when she looked up to meet Elena’s dark, curious eyes. “It’s very good,” she said lamely.
    “And you were very hungry. That’s not like Frazer—he usually takes better care of his women.”
    “I’m not one of his women,” Maggie protested. “I just met him.”
    Elena laughed, a throaty, sensual sound. “He had me on my back in less than an hour,
señorita.
”
    “I wouldn’t be bragging on that if I were you,” Maggie replied stiffly.
    Elena laughed again, unoffended. “You’re much too civilized. Here in San Pablo life is simple. You take love where you find it, because who knows when it will come again.”
    “Love?”
    Elena shook her head with mock pity. “All women love Frazer. And he loves them in return, with all the generosity of his heart.”
    “Trust me on this, he doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even like me.”
    Elena frowned. “Impossible. Frazer likes all