Turner's Vision Read Free Page A

shoved it back in among the others.
    Someone who could wrap a man around her finger.
    Claudia grinned, her fingers running over the gold dress’ rich velveteen. She pulled it out. Someone who could make a man think he was the only man in the world for her. Someone who could make him think she had little brains, so he would tell her important facts without fear of her understanding them.
    Hurriedly, she pulled on the low-necked gown, sucking in her breath as she worked the buttons up tight in front. The dress’ deep cut forced the little endowment of her breasts fully up into the v-cut of the bodice. The sleeves clung to her arms, all the way down to her fingertips. She stepped into soft kid slippers, scooped her hair up into a loose chignon, letting some tendrils hang down to her bare shoulders. Closing the door in front of her, she smiled at the vision of her newest creation. She craned her head from one side to the other, fanning herself in practiced coyness. This woman was just the one she needed to take on Micah Turner.
    The dim-witted debutante was born!
     
    * * * * *    
     
    Claudia almost laughed when she swept into the parlor. Micah surged to his feet. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought she was society’s raging beauty by the look on his face. But the amazement on Henderson, Joey and Adam’s faces surprised her. She took their astonishment as a compliment. None of them had seen this costume before. If the occasion arose, she would use it again.
    “Please be seated, gentlemen. How is Laura, Mr. Turner?” She smiled as she sat on the settee opposite him.
    He settled back into the chair, not quite as sure of himself as before. She fought her own amusement.
    “When I left her, she, her husband and the children were well, ma’am.”
    Claudia blinked, trying to think like she really was a dimwit, but finding her heart touched by Laura’s newfound family instead. “Children. So she had the baby then? All went well?”
    “Yes, ma’am. And Master William is about the most pleasant baby I’ve ever had the pleasure of holding.”
    “William.” The name slipped out before she could hide the wistfulness in her voice. No, no, the debutante would not become weepy over the mention of children, she reminded herself. She looked up at Henderson. “She sounds very happy.”
    “That is good to hear, Miss Claudia.” The older man nodded briefly. “Does she say anything about Nigel Blackwood?”
    “Apparently he is dead.”
    Both boys let out war whoops.
    “The crum is dead!” Joey shouted.
    Adam grabbed him by the arm and they danced an impromptu jig. “Yippee!”
    Claudia stared at the man across from her. The noise from the boys faded away. Her eyes slowly took in his appearance, starting at his feet in new boots up over the dark suit, barely concealing the powerful thighs beneath the material. His broad chest in the suit coat and the starched white shirt stretched beneath. His bearing appeared relaxed, but power radiated from behind his posture. Her eyes traveled upward, across his strong jaw, and the thick, darker-blond mustache, then up over his Romanesque nose, which bent just slightly as if broken in a fight. Her breath left her when her gaze collided with his intense grey eyes. Her soul stood bare before his gaze. Time seemed to drift all around her. She sensed his strength—and something else—a well-controlled dominance. She inhaled deeply as her pulse quickened.
    A cough from the doorway broke the spell. Claudia glanced at Henderson once more. “Did the letter say how Blackwood died, Miss?” he asked.
    “No. No, it didn’t.” Her gaze shifted back to the man across from her. This time he didn’t hold her quite so entranced.
    Flirt , she needed to flirt with this man.
    She tilted her head to the side, smiling inanely. “Were you there, Mr. Turner?” That sounded silly, even to her own ears.
    “Please call me Micah, ma’am. And yes, I was.”
    “And?”
    He shrugged off her