Lost Art Assignment Read Free

for three weeks. Morgan wrapped a hand around the doorknob, turning it slowly. The door was locked, naturally, but in this case that was a minor detail.
    His partner, Felicity O’Brien, held the plastic card pass key. She had acquired it in the simplest way just as she had done so many times in her previous life as a thief. She simply bumped into one of the maids in the hall, switching her card for a duplicate that was identical in every way except that it wouldn’t open the hotel room doors. Brushing long red hair from her eyes with a thumb, she pushed the card into the lock, quickly withdrew it, and stood back out of the way.
    Morgan flung the door open and stepped inside. He had mentally written a wish list of what would happen next. He would find his quarry locked in a passionate embrace with the girl, under the covers. They would react slowly, both startled and frightened.
    He didn’t get anything he wanted. Young Tommy sat on the sofa, fully dressed. The shapely blonde across the room was fishing cigarettes from her purse. They looked right at him. Panic flushed into the boy’s face. Anger clouded thegirl’s.
    The man lunged at the newcomer in the doorway with all the power and speed he demonstrated last year as an all American halfback for Notre Dame. He was six foot two and two hundred forty pounds. Morgan’s height, with an extra thirty pounds of muscle.
    Morgan stepped forward, spun, and smoothly pulled his attacker into a hip throw. Tommy would have thumped the floor hard on his back, if that wall had not gotten in the way.
    Tall and lithe, Felicity slid past Morgan at the door, zeroing in on the raven haired woman across the room.
    â€œHalte, Nicole. Fermez votre valise,” Felicity said, but both women kept moving. Felicity hit the floor as Nicole, rather than closing her purse, pulled a small automatic pistol from it. She aimed at Morgan, who didn’t react. Felicity rolled across the plush carpet, smacking into the other woman’s shins. With a shriek, Nicole crashed onto the floor, face forward. When she looked up, Morgan’s Browning Hi-power was pointed at her head. Behind him, Tommy lay face up, legs pointed up the wall toward the ceiling.
    â€œIt’s over,” Morgan said quietly. “Don’t be stupid.”
    â€œO’Brien knows me,” Nicole said, rising. “I will not, as you say, be stupid.”
    â€œGlad to hear it,” Felicity said, brushing herself off. She shook her head at the condition of her clothes, as if she wished she hadn’t come to this job straight from her office.
    â€œYou are still the athlete, I see,” Nicole said, settling into an arm chair. “And your style has become more conservative since we met on the Continent, chère. Remember? You took the jewelry, I took the art. Are we in competition now?”
    â€œHardly,” Felicity replied. “Left that life, I did, although I still do the gymnastics to stay in shape. Instead of stealing, I run a security firm. This is me partner, Morgan Stark. Used to be a soldier for hire.”
    Nicole appraised his dark rugged face, light brown eyes, and short, crinkly black hair.
    â€œExactly what I would always want at my side in case of trouble,” Nicole said. “A big, muscular black man no sane person would want to mess with.”
    While she watched, Morgan turned and pulled Tommy to his feet with surprising ease.
    â€œAren’t you ashamed of yourself, Tommy?” Morgan asked in a rough baritone. “Stealing from your daddy like that. After all he’s given you.”
    The younger man, all Izod and Lacoste, lurched to the sofa, holding the side of his head.
    â€œWhere is it, Nicole?” Felicity asked. Her emerald eyes locked onto Nicole’s smile.
    â€œWhat is the ‘it’ in question, Felicity?” Nicole tugging at the hem of her too short leather skirt. Her smile didn’t waver when Morgan walked over and took