Enchantment & Bridge of Dreams Read Free

rescued. And yet who else but Trang could be behind the harassing phone calls he’d been getting? Who else but Trang knew the details of those last desperate days at Bhanlai and a woman who had betrayed him?
    One of the warlord’s men, perhaps? Or one of that motley horde of a hundred different nationalities who drifted around Trang, men of no allegiance to anything except themselves? And what did they want from him anyway?
    Nicholas’s hands tightened as he felt the old gnawing sense of powerlessness begin to choke him.
    â€œLord Draycott? Are you there?”
    â€œI’m here, inspector.”
    â€œAre you going to answer my question?”
    Draycott’s eyes were unreadable. “Just call it an instinct. Trang and I got to know each other pretty well up there in the jungle. I guess it’s often that way between captor and captive. And lately I’ve had the feeling…” That I’m being watched. That I’m walking right on the edge of a precipice.
    But Nicholas didn’t tell Jamieson that. It would only bring another horde of police flocking down to Draycott Abbey, and all he wanted now was to be left alone.
    â€œJust a feeling, Lord Draycott?” The inspector’s voice was sharp with disbelief. “You won’t be more specific than that?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œDid you know that Trang was supposed to have buried a fortune in jewels somewhere in those hills? Not one piece has ever been recovered, as a matter of fact.”
    â€œAre you calling me a liar, inspector?”
    There was a silence at the other end. “Not a liar. Not quite. But I think there’s a damn sight more that you’re not telling us, my lord.”
    â€œI can’t remember, damn it!” Draycott’s hand clenched and unclenched at his side. Even this much he hated to reveal.
    The inspector’s next words were slow and careful. “There are ways of remembering, you know. Relaxation techniques. Hypnosis.” A momentary silence. “Drugs.”
    Draycott cursed low and graphically. “And have my brain ripped open all over again, so that some stranger can pick through whatever bits he finds interesting? Thanks but no bloody thanks, inspector. I’m done with Bhanlai. All I want now is to get on with my life!” Nicholas’s fingers whitened on the receiver. If I ever can.
    â€œI’m sorry to hear that, Lord Draycott. Because I’m afraid there is very little we can do for you in that case. Not until you give us something more concrete to go on.”
    Nicholas’s jaw hardened to a rigid line. He’d expected nothing more than this, of course. Were he in Jamieson’s shoes, Nicholas supposed he’d have said the same. But time was running out, and he was nowhere nearer to an answer than before.
    â€œOf course, inspector,” he said flatly. “Good night.”
    After cradling the receiver, he stalked to the window and pulled aside the curtain. To the east, the valley was tinged with purple shadows, while the distant Wealden Hills beyond shone vermillion in the setting sun.
    And that’s when he saw her—a long, cool column of womanhood poured into a pair of expensive denims so favored by the bloody Americans. A mane of blond hair spilled about her shoulders. On her feet were a pair of lavishly hand-tooled leather boots.
    A muscle flashed at Draycott’s jaw as he watched the woman move around to the side of the house. In the slanting sunlight, her hair shone honey-gold, the color of the finest Burmese silk.
    He cursed, long and savagely. So she was another gossip hunter. Another maggot come to feed off the wounds of Bhanlai. When would they learn that his privacy was not for sale? That he refused to see his story become cheap copy to fuel tabloid sales? Photojournalists! A fancy word for voyeurs, he thought angrily.
    But this one would be no more successful than any of the others who’d come in search of a