Heart of the Raven

Heart of the Raven Read Free Page B

Book: Heart of the Raven Read Free
Author: Susan Crosby
Ads: Link
first name?”
    Cassie knew she didn’t have to pursue it. Another of Eva’s deceits. Was she really even pregnant? Was it all a scheme to squeeze money out of Heath? Prey on his vulnerabilities?
    â€œI’m sorry. Did you say Sorenson?” Cassie asked. “I wasn’t paying attention. I dialed wrong. My mistake.”
    She dropped the receiver into the cradle and stared sightlessly at the phone.
    â€œCass?”
    She roused herself as James Paladin rapped his knuckles on her desk. Like her, he’d been hired as an investigator nine months ago when the L.A.-based ARC Security & Investigations opened its branch office in San Francisco.
    â€œYou okay?” he asked.
    â€œYeah.” She straightened, paid attention. “Yeah. You need something, Jamey?”
    â€œTo brainstorm the Kobieski case, if you’ve got time.”
    She looked at her watch—five o’clock exactly. She didn’t want to tell Heath over the phone. He’d had enough heartache already. She could at least soften the blow in person. But the commute traffic from San Francisco across the bridge would be horrendous now. If she waited an hour or two…
    â€œSure,” she said. “I’ve got time.”
    Â 
    From a downstairs bedroom Heath watched Cassie walk from her car toward his house, her strides purposeful. She’d called a few minutes ago, as she was driving across the bridge, alerting him she was coming, an unnecessary thoughtfulness since he never went anywhere and she knew it.
    What had she found out? Something important or she would’ve told him over the phone. Something good, he hoped.
    He tried to turn off his appreciation of her as a woman, but he couldn’t. She was beautiful, pure and simple. And unaware of it. If she used makeup at all, it was minimal.She pulled her hair back into a simple braid. No fuss, no muss. Her body was athletic and curvy, a one-two punch to a man who’d recently convinced himself that celibacy should be the only path for him from now on, but who obviously wasn’t capable of such a sacrifice.
    Aside from her spectacular face and body she had a mind that appealed, too. And she didn’t giggle.
    The doorbell rang. He hadn’t meant to make her wait, but he’d been distracted by thoughts of her—didn’t want to be, but he was. This time, however, he would control his response, even though her passion-filled promise that she would find his baby was as seductive as her physical being.
    He set the little white teddy bear he’d been holding onto a nearby rocking chair and headed into the foyer. He opened the door, hope in his heart.
    All hope fled when he looked in her eyes. “Tell me,” he said.
    â€œCan we sit?” she asked.
    â€œTell me.”
    Her mouth tightened. “Are you sure she’s pregnant?”
    Not dead. Not dead, or she would’ve said so right away. Relief rushed through him like three straight shots of bourbon, hot and dizzying. “Yes.”
    â€œPositive?”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause Dr. Sorenson’s office says she wasn’t a patient. How do you know for sure she was pregnant?”
    â€œI felt the baby move.”
    â€œI don’t mean to question you on this, but—”
    â€œShe let me put my hand on her abdomen many times while she visited. Sometimes she lifted her blouseenough that I could watch the baby move inside her. I’ve been through a pregnancy before, Cassie.”
    She propped her fists on her hips and looked at the floor, blowing out a breath. “I thought she’d been toying with you. Playing you for—” She stopped.
    â€œA fool? A sucker?” he finished.
    She shook her head. “A decent, but vulnerable man. One with money.”
    He let the words linger for a few seconds.
    â€œWhat’s the next step?” he asked, ignoring the implications of what she’d said. “You can’t call every doctor

Similar Books

The Last Juror

John Grisham

His Unexpected Bride

Jo Ann Ferguson

Du Maurier, Daphne

Jamaica Inn

Ice Cold

Cherry Adair