The Golden Chance Read Free Page B

different from the other two who called me.”
    “How am I different?”
    “Smarter. More dangerous. You think before you choose your tactics.” She spoke carefully, giving him the truth. She was accustomed to relying on her instincts when it came to judging people, and she was rarely wrong. She had developed survival skills, too, just as Crissie had. But she had not been born with Crissie's looks, so those skills had taken a different twist.
    “Are you complimenting me?” Nick asked curiously.
    “No. Just stating obvious facts. Tell me, who will the Castletons and Lightfoots send if you screw up your assignment to browbeat me out of the shares?”
    “I will try very hard not to screw up.”
    “How's your track record in that department?” she taunted, although she suspected it was excellent.
    “Not perfect. I've been known to screw up very badly on occasion.”
    “When was the last time?”
    “Three years ago.”
    The apparently honest answer surprised her, and thereby threw her off guard. “What happened?” she asked, with somewhat too obvious curiosity.
    He gave her a slow, remote smile. “We both know that what happened to me three years ago doesn't matter a damn right now. Let's stick with the issue at hand.”
    She shrugged. “You can stick with it if you like. I've got better things to do.”
    He studied the brochures on the table again. “Are you sure you want to go to California?”
    “I think so. I feel the need to get away, and it would be a sort of memorial trip in honor of Crissie. She loved Southern California. We were both born and raised in Washington, but she always said California was her spiritual home. She went down there to work as a model after she graduated from high school. It seems fitting somehow to spend some time there. She would have wanted me to have some fun.”
    “Alone?”
    Phila smiled, showing her teeth. “Yes. Alone.”
    Nick appeared to consider that for a moment, and then he switched back to the only topic that really mattered to him. “Are you going to fight the Castletons and Lightfoots every inch of the way, or is the word cooperation a part of your vocabulary?”
    “The word is there, but I use it only when it suits me.”
    “And right now it doesn't suit you to cooperate by selling those shares back to the families?”
    “No, I don't think so.”
    “Not even for a great deal of money?”
    “I'm not interested in money right now.”
    He nodded, as if she had verified a personal conclusion he had already reached. “Yeah, well, that settles that.”
    Phila was instantly wary. “What does it settle?”
    “My job is done. I was asked to approach you about the shares. I've done that, and I'm convinced you aren't about to cooperate with the families. I'll report my failure, and that will be the end of it.”
    She did not believe what he said for a moment. “You said you were going to try very hard not to screw up.”
    “I gave it my best shot.” He looked hurt that she would think otherwise.
    Phila grew more alarmed. His best shot, she sensed, would never be this ineffectual. “You never answered my question about who they'll send next.”
    “I don't know what they'll do. That's their problem.”
    She put her glass down on the table and eyed him narrowly. “That's the end of it as far as you're concerned?”
    He shrugged. “I don't see that I have much option. You've made it clear you don't even want to talk about the shares.”
    “You're not the type to give up this quickly,” Phila stated.
    His eyes widened. “How do you know what type I am?”
    “Never mind. I just do and you're not acting true to form at the moment.”
    “Disappointed?”
    “No, but I am very curious about what you're up to.”
    “Yeah.” His smile came and went again. “I'll bet you are. And I'm equally curious about what you're planning to do. But I guess we'll both find out all the results eventually, won't we? I'll look forward to hearing about whatever trouble you manage