Somebody To Love Read Free Page B

the reason she’d been so rattled? If he guessed at her idiotic attraction to him, she would have to leave at once.
    He tilted his head as he scrutinized her, as if viewing a questionable work of art. “To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”
    She straightened her already poker-straight back when she heard the hint of sarcasm. Honor of this visit—by his sister’s ex-cook. All thoughts of asking directly for aid for Olivia dissolved like smoke. She would take an indirect route, feel him out. “I thought perhaps you could give me some advice. I’ve come seeking a favor.”
    How on earth could she explain to Griffin Calverson that she wanted a man who could act as threatening and remorseless as . . . well, as Griffin Calverson?
    “A favor that your employer, Mr. Kane, cannot grant?”
    She grimaced. “No.”
    “Tell me, what will happen if I don’t help you?”
    His slow voice insinuated some sinister meaning. She pulled on her gloves and tried to smooth the wrinkles from them, stalling for time. Calverson waited, as tranquil as someone with all the time in the world.
    “I don’t know. Nothing, I suppose,” she admitted. “But a dreadful wrong won’t be corrected.”
    “A wrong against whom?”
    “I can’t tell you.” Olivia was Kane’s mistress. What if Griffin’s anger toward Kane encompassed those in Kane’s immediate circle?
    “Yet you come to bargain on this person’s behalf?”
    When he put it like that, it seemed absurd, bshe would still say nothing more. Araminta nodded.
    “And if I don’t do as you ask, you will tell Mr. Kane that you saw me in the corridor when—”
    “Oh! You thought I was threatening you?” She felt absurd and wished she had not come. She despised feeling foolish in front of him.
    Olivia’s safety was paramount, she reminded herself, worth suffering some uneasiness. “Of course I won’t tell him, even if you choose not to help me. I came today because I am worried about a friend of mine. And I thought . . .”
    She clamped her lips tight rather than blurt out the request she’d considered. I thought you might convince the horrible Mr. Kane to go to the devil.
    He wore his usual rigidly bland expression, but he could not hide the striking details. His skin was tanned almost to the same soft golden-brown color as his hair—not so much lighter than her own skin, really. Perhaps the reason he appeared too vivid was the sheer energy of the man, an icy glow to him.
    His eyebrows raised slightly. “It appears you are agitated, Miss Woodhall. Perhaps you might take a moment to catch your breath before telling me what you thought. And this, ah, friend. What sort of trouble is she in?”
    She heard mocking amusement, or perhaps mere scorn. The tone of a man who knows his effect on a woman. Good heavens—perhaps the scorn was for her friend because he assumed a woman in trouble could mean only one thing.
    Reckless Araminta, her mother had fondly called her. And in Griff in’s vivid presence she could see now that this was yet another ridiculous impulse. She did not want to be in debt to this man for anything, particularly if he sensed her reaction to him.
    There had to be another answer for Olivia’s plight. She could ask Timona for another name. Her sociable friend had many acquaintances in this city.
    “Please excuse me, sir. I don’t think you can help me after all. I was wrong to bother you. I bid you a good day.” She picked up her beaded bag and made ready to stand.
    He held up a hand in an imperious gesture. “Not yet.”
    Araminta, normally not a dithering weakling, found herself sitting down again.
    “I interrupted a meeting to see you,” he said. “I expect you might at least tell me what it is you require.”
    She scowled, but did not answer.
    “When we met in Minnesota, Miss Woodhall, you had no trouble telling me my family’s business. You expressed your opinions on any number of issues. And yet you will not tell me now what you want? Why is