The Summer Bones Read Free

joke.
    â€œI will.”
    â€œSo where do you think she is?” Michael, never slow, had not just been drinking wine while she talked. He’d been listening closely. And he seemed disinclined to go back to his knee. There was a betraying tightness around his mouth that belied the casual tone. He was annoyed.
    â€œEmily? Hard to say. She’s always been a bit unpredictable.” Victoria fingered her empty glass, glancing up from under her eyelashes. “Michael, I’m so sorry … I just knew that Ronald would keep on calling and calling—”
    He interrupted shortly, “You don’t seem worried. Three days is a long time.”
    So
, she thought with resignation,
he is going to pout
. She felt more relief, tinged with more guilt.
    â€œShe’s staying with a friend, I’m sure of that. Em has the unique ability to convince sane people to do things against their better judgment—such as lying to Ronald. I adore her, but she can be … exhausting. She’s just that way—emotional, thoughtless, but also very charming. You should meet her. People just fall at her feet.”
    Outside, the rain had finally stopped. She could hear the swooshing of tires on the wet pavement and the faint sound of sirens headed to some disaster.
    Disaster. Emily.
She felt a faint tremor, quickly squelched.
Three days is a long time. Even for Emily.
    â€œYou don’t sound much alike,” Michael commented.
    Her smile was unwilling, a glimmer. “Thanks a lot.”
    â€œI simply meant she sounds flighty and insubstantial. Not like you at all, Victoria. You go the other way, my dear.” His tone was deliberate, a bit sardonic. “Your curse is that you overthink things. Overcomplicate them. Not everything can be a certainty in life. You have to take a chance or two.”
    A pause. Awkward. She felt the childish urge to chew on her fingernails.
    He added blandly, “It isn’t like we’ve rushed things—quite the opposite. We’ve dated for some time now.”
    So he
had
known. Sensed her apprehension, felt all the churning uncertainty. Damn, lawyers were hard to fool.
    She shook her head and tried desperately to think of what to say.
I want to say yes, Michael. I want the ring, the wedding, the life we both imagine. I’m just not sure you’re the one.
That would hardly do.
    Michael solved her dilemma. “Maybe next week, we’ll have dinner again,” he murmured. “I have this wonderful French Cab I found a few months ago. Is it a date?” His gaze was direct. His expression said that he was willing to wait, but not forever. Another week was plenty of grace.
    A week. Time to think. That’s what she needed, wasn’t it—just a little time?
    â€œYes,” she murmured in a stammer. Dipping her head, she skimmed the edge of the tablecloth with her finger.
    â€œVictoria?” Michael smiled finally, relaxing his shoulders against the back of his chair.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNext week … unplug the phone, will you?”
    She smothered a nervous laugh with the back of her hand.
    * * * *
    Mitchell Williams leaned back in his black leather chair, ignoring the protesting groan of the springs. He wore out more chairs that way—tilting them backward beyond their capacity to bend. He did it out of habit, and of his habits, it seemed the least offensive to bother exerting effort to cure.
    â€œCigarette?” He eyed the young woman across from him, opening the gold case on his desk as he spoke. When she shook her head, he studied her face for signs of overt disapproval, and seeing nothing but polite attention, lit one for himself.
    â€œYou wanted to talk to me?” he asked genially. The request had been a little surprising.
    Michael Roberts had made it quite plain that an engagement was in the works, so if Victoria Paulsen had a problem, it seemed logical that she would go to Michael, or even her future