The Switch by Sandra Brown Read Free Book Online

looked from her to the stranger and, responding in a territorial male fashion, hugged her even closer against his side.
    Smiling helplessly, she stammered, "I-I'm sorry, I don't..."
    Suddenly embarrassed by her failure to recognize him, the man swallowed hard, making his knobby Adam's apple appear even more prominent. "Dale Gordon. I work at Waters." "Oh, yes, of course. Hi."
    He looked from her to Chief. His myopic gaze took notice of Chief's hand at her waist and stayed fixed there for several seconds. Then he looked back at her with something akin to wounded puzzlement.
    The situation was fast becoming awkward, and she had no idea why. Brightly, she said, "It appears everyone's hungry for tacos tonight."
    "Huh?" Dale Gordon seemed to have forgotten where he was. She indicated the sack he was carrying out. He looked at it in confusion for a moment, then stammered, "Uh, oh, yeah. I wanted a, uh, snack."
    "Well, enjoy."
    "You, too."
    Chief gave her a slight nudge forward. They continued into the restaurant and joined the queue of people waiting to place their order at the counter. "Friend of yours?" he asked. "And what was that he called you?"
    "He obviously mistook me for my sister, Gillian. It happens all the time. In this instance, it was easier to pretend that I knew him than to explain that I wasn't her."
    "You look that much alike?"
    "Identical twins."
    His expression went deadpan. "You're kidding." "No. I'm an identical twin."
    He conducted, a visual survey of her hair, her face, settling momentarily on her mouth. Her face grew warm under his frank appraisal. When his eyes came back to hers, he murmured, "How could there possibly be two women with eyes that shade of gray?"
    Smiling up at him, she asked, "Is there a compliment somewhere in there?"
    "Oh, yeah. And just so there's no misunderstanding of my meaning, let me make it clearer, Ms. Lloyd. You're a very attractive woman."
    "Thank you, Colonel Hart."
    "I find it hard to believe that... Gillian?" She nodded.
    "That she's as attractive as you."
    His eyes held hers, and together they sank into a long and evocative stare, which wasn't interrupted until the woman taking orders greeted them. "Hi, folks. What're y'all having tonight?"
    Chief seemed to shake off his daze. He cleared his throat.
    "What would you like, Melina?" "I'm invited to supper?"
    "It was implied."
    "Then whatever. I like it all."
    While he was placing their order, she glanced back at the door through which they'd entered. The man who'd introduced himself as Dale Gordon was no longer there. But he had left her with a creepy feeling—like she'd walked through a cobweb, like someone with fetid breath was blowing on the
    back of her neck.
    However, by the time Chief unlocked the door to his suite at The Mansion and motioned her to go in ahead of him, she had forgotten the incident. "I'm glad you suggested this because I just realized that I'm famished, too. I didn't eat much of my dinner, either." Making herself right at home, she stepped out of her heels, then went around the suite's sitting room switching on table lamps. "It smells delicious."
    They decided to picnic on the coffee table. While she unwrapped the food and divided it, he poured each of them a drink at the bar, which had been stocked with his brand of bourbon in advance of his visit. "Branch water?"
    "And ice, please."
    He came to the table with a drink in each hand. He passed one of the drinks down to her, then lowered himself to the floor across the low table from her. He raised his glass. "To fat grams and high cholesterol."
    She clinked her glass with his and sipped. "Hmm. Add to that good sipping whiskey."
    They dug in and were soon laughing over the ravenous way they were consuming the food. The crunchy taco shells fell apart, so they were reduced to scooping up cheese, lettuce, and spicy meat with their fingers.
    "You'd think I hadn't eaten in a month," he remarked. "Or that I'd just completed a mission. Soon as I can after leaving