Read Online Almost Twilight by Teresa McCarthy - Free Book Online Page A

of pain. Loose
curls fell around her face, and he still couldn’t get a good look at her. He
figured she was young, perhaps in her twenties. The blanket was covering most
of her, except her legs. Yet there was something oddly familiar about her.
    “Miss,
we’re going to move you up to first class and see what I can do for you.”
    Her
head shot up, and for a split second, Rafe felt as if someone had kicked him.
    “You,
Dr. Clearbrook, can forget about help—” she hiccupped, throwing off her
blanket, “h-helping me anytime.”
    “Candy?”
Rafe stared back in shock. “For crying out loud, you’re plastered! And what did
you do to your hair?” It was curled into some frothy concoction, and he hadn’t
recognized her.
    Candy
leaned forward and fell against his chest. “I’m not d-drunk. I’m
clausta-cloisto—”
    “Claustrophobic,”
the Viking said, letting out an amused snort.
    Rafe
shot the man a hostile glare and swept Candy’s limp body into his arms as he
headed up the aisle to first class. When he dropped his gaze, he caught a pair
of big brown eyes inspecting his bottom lip.
    “You
have a tiny, tiny cold sore D-doctor. T-Too much str-str—”
    “Stress,”
he snapped. “Too much stress. And you Miss Richards are not helping matters
any.” 
    He
dropped her gently on the seat next to his and told the attendant he would take
care of the lady. There was no one else in first class except a little old
woman about three rows up.
    “I’d
like to ask you a few things, Miss Richards, but as I can see, you are not in
any shape to answer me.”
    Long
thick lashes flirted with him. He felt his heart throbbing in his ears.
    “And
what kind of shape am I in?” she asked with a captivating smile.
    Rafe
looked her up and down, from the skimpy sandals wrapping her dainty feet to the
sleeveless pink sweater hugging her womanly curves. Hadn’t he seen that sweater
on his sister-in-law? In fact, wasn’t that the one he had given Hannah for
Christmas?
    The
lady giggled.
    He
scowled, irritated by the way she affected him. “Why did you have so many
drinks?”
    A
fat tear slid down her cheeks. “I was scared.”
    She
slipped her hand through his fingers, her eyes locking with his. “But now that
you’re here, I’m not scared anymore.” 
    It
felt as if a hand had closed around his throat as he tried to calm the emotions
pounding against his brain.
    “And
why are you here?” he asked accusingly, “on my vacation?” Had she followed him?
    Her
eyelids blinked up at him. “Did Fritz give you free tickets too?”
    “My
father gave you tickets?” he asked, about to pop a blood vessel. “Airfare?”
    She
nodded, her lids closing.
    The
very idea sent Rafe’s blood boiling. If his father wasn’t the most interfering,
meddlesome matchmaker in the world, he didn’t know who was. The second he got
back from this vacation, he was going to tell his father a thing or two.
    “Fritz
said I needed a vacation since Roger was so mean to me.”
    Rafe’s
gaze narrowed on her delicate face. “Who the hell is Roger?”
    She
opened her doe brown eyes and stared at him. “Hmmm?”
    He
leaned closer, trying to ignore the way her dark lashes swept across her pink cheeks.
“I said, who’s Roger?”
    A
flash of something close to pain appeared in her eyes, then it was gone. He
made no attempt to conceal the fact that he was watching her every move, and
she angled her gaze toward the seat in front of her.
    “Oh...just
a man I know.”
    A
man? Of course, he was a man! But who the hell was he?
    “All
right then, let’s get back to my father giving you the tickets.”
    She
turned her face away again, but not before Rafe saw the tears streaming down
her cheeks.
    “I
didn’t know about you being on this plane,” she said with a hiccup. “I didn’t
know what Fritz was doing. What was he doing?”
    Rafe
wasn’t about to tell her that Fritz Clearbrook had planned this meeting, had
planned her vacation, and if Rafe’s