The Welcoming by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page A

himself as he unfolded the first letter. A room with a purple teddy bear wasn’t seductive, he told himself.
    The date showed him that they had been written when she had attended college in Seattle. From her grandfather, Roman realized as he scanned them. Every one. They were written with affection and humor, and they contained dozens of little stories about daily life at the inn. Roman put them back the way he’d found them.
    Her clothes were casual, except for a few dresses hanging in the closet. There were sturdy boots, sneakers spotted with what looked like grass stains, and two pairs of elegant heels on either side of fuzzy slippers in the shape of elephants. Like the rest of her rooms, they were meticulously arranged. Even in the closet he didn’t find a trace of dust.
    Besides an alarm clock and a pot of hand cream she had two books on her nightstand. One was a collection of poetry, the other a murder mystery with a gruesome cover. She had a cache of chocolate in the drawer and Chopin on her small portable stereo. There were candles, dozens of them, burned down to various heights. On one wall hung a seascape in deep, stormy blues and grays. On another was a collection of photos, most taken at the inn, many of her grandfather. Roman searched behind each one. He discovered that her paint was fading, nothing more.
    Her rooms were clean. Roman stood in the center of the bedroom, taking in the scents of candle wax, potpourri and perfume. They couldn’t have been cleaner if she’d known they were going to be searched. All he knew after an hour was that she was an organized woman who liked comfortable clothes and Chopin and had a weakness for chocolate and lurid paperback novels.
    Why did that make her fascinating?
    He scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets, struggling for objectivity as he had never had to struggle before. All the evidence pointed to her being involved in some very shady business. Everything he’d discovered in the last twenty-four hours indicated that she was an open, honest and hardworking woman.
    Which did he believe?
    He walked toward the door at the far end of the room. It opened onto a postage-stamp-size porch with a long set of stairs that led down to the pond. He wanted to open the door, to step out and breathe in the air, but he turned his back on it and went out the way he had come in.
    The scent of her bedroom stayed with him for hours.

Chapter 3
    â€œI told you that girl was no good.”
    â€œI know, Mae.”
    â€œI told you you were making a mistake taking her on like you did.”
    â€œYes, Mae.” Charity bit back a sigh. “You told me.”
    â€œYou keep taking in strays, you’re bound to get bit.”
    Charity resisted—just barely—the urge to scream. “So you’ve told me.”
    With a satisfied grunt, Mae finished wiping off her pride and joy, the eight-burner gas range. Charity might run the inn, but Mae had her own ideas about who was in charge. “You’re too softhearted, Charity.”
    â€œI thought you said it was hardheaded.”
    â€œThat too.” Because she had a warm spot for her young employer, Mae poured a glass of milk and cut a generous slab from the remains of her double chocolate cake. Keeping her voice brisk, she set both on the table. “You eat this now. My baking always made you feel better as a girl.”
    Charity took a seat and poked a finger into the icing. “I would have given her some time off.”
    â€œI know.” Mae rubbed her wide-palmed hand on Charity’s shoulder. “That’s the trouble with you. You take your name too seriously.”
    â€œI hate being made a fool of.” Scowling, Charity took a huge bite of cake. Chocolate, she was sure, would be a better cure for her headache than an entire bottle of aspirin. Her guilt was a different matter. “Do you think she’ll get another job? I know she’s got rent to