Lure of Song and Magic Read Free Page B

gagged.
    Apparently deciding what gagged him was good for her, she accepted a glass and sauntered outside, taking a lounge chair by the pool. Setting the glass down, she closed her eyes and turned her palms upward, absorbing the sun’s rays.
    Following her out, Oz rummaged in the cabana and dropped a tube of suntan lotion in her lap. “No ozone layer, remember. Redheads fry.” He threw a towel over her wet head for good measure.
    He was amazed at her self-control once she’d shed the hysteria. Any other woman on the planet would have blistered his hide. He probably deserved blistering. He could deal with that far easier than the silent treatment. Either way, he was determined to find out what she knew.
    â€œWhat will it take to make you leave?” she finally asked after tasting his unpalatable drink and grimacing. Her tone was dead neutral, emphasis on dead.
    â€œWhat will it take to persuade you to work with me?” he countered. “Name your price. Everyone has a dream. What’s yours?”
    â€œWorld peace.”
    â€œNot enough money in the universe for that. How about a UN ambassadorship? I could pull a few strings…”
    She lifted the towel from her head and shot him a stinging glare.
    Shifting over a second lounge so he could watch her, Oz hung his blazer over the back, pushed up his shirt sleeves, and took a seat. He sipped his gawdawful drink. “Don’t look at me like that. Senator Gordon Oswin is my grandfather. I have an uncle who does something mysterious and important on the UN Council. I have a fleet of aunts and great-aunts who know every senator and representative in D.C. Amazing what can be done when you know the right people.”
    â€œAnd what you choose to do is harass and threaten women?” she asked.
    â€œNo, I make deals. I’m damned good at it. Persistence is the key.” He prayed it was the key that would unlock this inscrutable female. If he were a superstitious man, he’d almost believe she could reveal the mysteries of the universe. All he wanted her to do was find his son. So far, he couldn’t see how that was possible, but giving up wasn’t in him.
    She began rubbing lotion on her long, slender arms, and Oz shifted uncomfortably. His bruised groin didn’t need added stimulation.
    â€œI have all I want,” she informed him, keeping her voice low and without inflection. “If you tell everyone who I used to be, then you’ll destroy my career as an author, and I won’t be of any use to you. I think that’s a stalemate.”
    ***
    Pippa knew how to hide her fear. She’d been doing it all her life. She rubbed in the lotion and observed her relaxed tormentor through the corner of her eye.
    He ought to have blood on his shirt front from where she’d smacked his nose, but the black silk knit concealed the stain. She suspected he would look preposterously sexy even with blood smeared ear to ear.
    He obviously detested the fruity drink he’d created—for her? It was undrinkable, but if he’d done it for her, he got Brownie points for trying.
    Despite her attempt to stifle the Voice, she’d thrown one of her fits in front of him—and he hadn’t collapsed into a craven, quivering hunk of raw meat whimpering for her approval. Odd, that. She hadn’t meant to have hysterics. She never meant to. They just happened , usually at the most inopportune moments. No one had ever thrown her in a swimming pool as a result, though.
    Annoyingly, he accepted her verbal gauntlet with an amused curl of his lip. She’d just spent half an hour coming up with her brilliant argument—while struggling with the horror of losing her anonymity and being forced to start over. And he thought her terror was funny?
    â€œYou’re looking at me as if I’m an ax murderer,” he said.
    He was more intuitive than she’d realized. That was exactly how she thought of him, except he