Whirlwind Read Free Page A

Patti swallowed, her face lifted and her eyes meeting Laird Montgomery's briefly.
    'Could you drop me first? I've got a date tonight.'
    Anna saw the flash of surprise in his hard face, the frown and narrowing eyes.
    'A date? What are you talking about?'
    Patti moistened her lips, very flushed. 'I'm meeting someone in Wolfstone Square, at the hotel.'
    'Wolfstone Square,' he repeated drily. 'I see—the hotel, you said? Right.'
    The engine purred into life and Anna leaned back, luxuriating in the scent of expensive leather, the deep upholstery, the smoothness of chrome and polished wood under her hand.
    'How did the rehearsal go today?' asked Laird Montgomery over his shoulder.
    'We survived,' Anna told him, aware that Patti was staring out of the car window in a fixed way as if trying to pretend she wasn't really here at all. Anna had seen birds do that when a cat was on the prowl, freezing and trying to become invisible, only the nervous glitter of their eyes betraying them. She stared at the back of Laird's head angrily. He was a ruthless, selfish bastard, and for two pins she would tell him so. Couldn't he see Patti was too young to cope with someone like him? Or was that the real attraction? Did he get a perverse kick out of making her shake like a leaf whenever he smiled at her?
    The car was heading west, the streets much more elegant now, wider and better lit. Why on earth had Patti asked him to take her to this neck of the woods? Had the name just popped into her head? Anna wondered. Patti was in a state of panic, that no doubt explained it. She hadn't been thinking too clearly.
    The car slowed and turned into Wolfstone Square to draw up outside a palatial white fagade. Anna stared curiously at the portico, expecting to see a uniformed doorman spring down the steps to open the door of the Rolls for Patti, but there was no sign of anyone. Patti clambered past her, saying hurriedly, 'Goodnight, Anna, see you tomorrow.' The door opened, blowing Anna's red-gold hair into a wild tangle. By the time she had brushed it down the door had closed again and the Rolls was swishing round the gardens in the centre of the quiet square. Anna turned to look back, but there was no sign of Patti on the pavement; she must have entered the hotel at a run.
    'What's your address, Anna?' asked Laird Montgomery, and she looked back at him, their eyes meeting in the mirror over his head.
    She gave him the address tersely and as he turned the limousine northward again she debated whether or not to say something to him about Patti. Was there any point? He wasn't likely to take any notice of her views. She frowned, staring out of the window. On the other hand, Patti was much too nice to get mixed up with a man like this.
    She leaned forward and he shot her a quick look, then glanced back at the busy road.
    'She's just a kid, you know, why don't you leave her alone?' Anna said bluntly. 'She doesn't know the score yet, she's as green as grass—why not leave her that way?'
    She saw his wide shoulders stiffen under that cashmere overcoat and his hands tighten on the wheel as the car slowed at traffic lights on red.
    Turning, he asked harshly, 'What on earth are you talking about?'
    She laughed with deliberate disbelief. 'You don't know? Come off it, we both know what you were after! She's half your age, you know, and quite out of your league.'
    His eyes glittered. 'But you're not?' Anna froze as his stare ran insolently over her. 'Are you offering me an alternative entertainment for the evening?'
    'No, I am not!' she broke out, her face burning.
    'No?' His derisive smile got under her skin; her hands curled into fists.
    'No!'
    'I was planning a candlelight dinner for two,' he drawled. 'It would be a pity to have to eat alone.''That's tough,' Anna said wrathfully, turning to the door. 'You can forget that idea!' As her hand reached out, the traffic lights turned green and the Rolls moved off smoothly, at speed. She sat on the very edge of the seat, her