Still Waters Read Free Page A

days.”
    “Understandable.” He cocked an eyebrow. “What about a boyfriend?”
    “There is no boyfriend.” Somehow saying it out loud sounded far worse than simply knowing it. She hadn’t been in a serious relationship in more than a year. Maybe there wouldn’t be another one. Who had time? More important, who cared? She had everything she needed. If that’s so, why the sudden need to justify your status?
    He made a knowing sound as something like surprise flashed across his face. “A girlfriend then?”
    “No girlfriend.”
    He made one of those male grunts that could convey surprise as easily as indifference. Either way, the sound got on her already-frazzled nerves.
    “Your degree is in mass communications,” he said, changing the subject. “When did you decide you preferred working in front of the camera versus behind it?”
    “I didn’t decide. The journalist I assisted during my first assignment was in a car accident. Everyone was on the scene except her and the cameraman told me to get in front of the camera and do the job. The audience responded well to me, so that’s where the powers that be decided I should be—on-screen.”
    “But you had aspirations?”
    Amber nodded. “I had my heart set on hosting one of the big entertainment news shows.” She laughed, remembering the horror on her parents’ faces when she’d told them. “It wasn’t exactly the career my family had hoped for.”
    He smiled. It was nice. Really nice. Too nice, damn it. “Your parents and your sister are all doctors.”
    “Yes. I’m the black sheep.” The realization that her words had never been truer stole the air from her lungs. Now she was a potential suspect in a homicide.
    The doorbell saved her from going down that pity path. She stood to go to the door, but Douglas moved ahead of her and checked the security viewfinder.
    “It’s Mr. Teller.”
    Douglas opened the door, and Teller came inside. He’d already been introduced to the man who would be keeping watch over her. There was just something wrong with calling him a bodyguard. Particularly since she continued to have a bit of trouble keeping her attention off his body. The foolish reaction had to be about sex. She hadn’t been intimate with anyone since she and Josh had ended their relationship.
    Her gaze drifted to the man assigned to protect her. Don’t even go there.
    “We should speak privately,” Frank Teller announced before saying hello. He looked from Amber to Douglas and back.
    “I’d like him to stay,” Amber countered. Douglas and his boss would need to be kept up to speed anyway.
    When Teller relented, Douglas insisted on serving the coffee. Amber was happy to let him do the honors. Her knees were feeling a little weak as she sank back into a chair. Maybe it was the grim expression Teller wore.
    He placed his briefcase on the coffee table and opened it. “The news is not good.”
    Amber’s stomach did the sinking now. “What sort of evidence could they possibly have? I don’t even know this man! He...he made deliveries to my house and the station a couple of times.” Maybe more than a couple of times. Still, the whole thing was incredible.
    “Amber.” Teller closed his briefcase and placed the folder he’d removed atop it. “I’ve known your family for most of my life. Your father is my father’s personal physician. Your mother was my pediatrician. I, of all people, know this is wrong. You couldn’t possibly have harmed this man. Yet the evidence is enough to make even me have second thoughts.”
    The trembling she had experienced that morning after the initial shock that no one was playing a joke on her started anew. The police had mentioned evidence without providing the details. “What evidence? I don’t know how they could find evidence that leads back to me in a home where I’ve never been...on a body I’ve never touched.”
    “They found a teacup with your prints on it.”
    “What?” The situation had just gone