West of Paradise Read Free

. . . or there: Leavenworth, Kansas. And there on the corner across the street was the Silver Slipper, two doors down from the barber’s, just like Miss Adjani had said.
    Jack shoved his hat down on his head and walked across the street, trying not to stare at the wagons and horses jostling along the wide street. He stepped up onto the sidewalk and pushed the doors open. The smell of whiskey and cigars assaulted him.

Chapter Two 
Katherine
    K atherine was bored. It was a new experience. To be sure there had been moments of boredom, brief interludes that had passed before they’d really begun. But those moments had been tiny fragments of her life, fleeting bits of time that were over before they had a chance to settle.
    What she felt now was complete and utter boredom.
    She glanced over at the king-sized bed where her fiancé sprawled inelegantly beneath satin sheets, one arm draped over the bedside. Moonlight flooded the room and bathed his form in quicksilver light. Perfect , she thought. He was as perfect a man as she could have imagined, from his silky black hair to his manicured toes. What was there not to like? He was intelligent, funny, sensitive when it mattered, and an excellent lover. But the longer she studied him the more she realized that there was nothing about him she loved. She had no desire to snuggle close, no desire to kiss him as he slept, and not the slightest inclination to wake him and share her troubled heart.
    And she knew at that moment, despite the barrage of protests she would hear, she would not marry Antonio D’Salvatore. What had happened? What had made her lose interest in everything, including Tony? It was as if there was something missing. But what?
    Katherine sighed, wishing she could bring back her old self, the one that had been so satisfied with her life. Gazing at her fiancé only made it worse. He would be hurt and angry. But as much as she didn’t want to hurt him, she knew she couldn’t marry him. She would have to tell him.
    She dressed in silence, not bothering to pack, taking time only to scribble a note to Tony and feeling like the worst kind of coward for doing so. He would hate her once he got over being hurt. Her friends would have no explanation for her change of heart. There would be talk of another lover. And her grandfather . . .
    Katherine grabbed her purse from the living room, tiptoeing out to the elevator. There was no explanation, nothing she could put into words that anyone would understand.
    Down in the garage she found her Jaguar, parked in between a Porsche and a late model Rolls Royce. The key turned, and the motor purred to life. Moments later she slipped out from beneath the cool parking garage, racing along sleepy, humid streets.
    Seven hours later she pulled into the white-shelled drive and breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a long time since she had come here. She hadn’t used the house at all since she met Tony. He didn’t know about it. No one knew about it except her grandfather.
    Once inside Katherine wrote a quick note to Rose, her housekeeper, letting her know that she’d arrived and would be staying a while. Upstairs she took a shower, slipped into a short silk robe and then into bed, falling asleep to the sound of the sea crashing against the jetty.
    When she woke the next morning the sun was a hazy orb in the pale blue sky, glinting off the ocean. Downstairs she found evidence of Rose’s efficiency: a fully stocked refrigerator, coffee ready to go, and a message to call her grandfather.
    So, he knows already , she thought. Tony must have called him.
    She considered not calling, knowing she couldn’t explain properly, but even as she debated her cell beeped, and two minutes later there was a text from her grandfather saying he was ten minutes away. It almost made her a little mad, that he would just show up. Except she knew it was because he loved her.
    Five minutes later his limo was pulling in and she made him coffee and took him