Read Online Behind the Green Curtain by Riley Lashea - Free Book Online

good reason for her to be there, she’d wanted Caton gone, and Caton was
gone. Yet, she could hear the traces of disappointment in her own voice, and
was grateful for the fact that Jack didn’t care enough to notice.
    “Why?” he returned. “What did you
do?”
    Staring across the bar at him,
Amelia felt the antagonism set in, eradicating any residual pleasure. “I guess
I made it impossible for her to work here,” she replied.
    “Why? What did you do?” Jack posed
the question again, and Amelia was on the verge of answering him in graphic
detail when Caton walked through the doorway.
    “Did someone quit?” she asked, and
Amelia wasn’t sure if it was fear of Jack or of her that slowed Caton’s steps
and sent her eyes skittering away from both of them. “Sorry I’m late. There was
an accident.”
    As Caton’s eyes at last flitted to
hers, albeit fleetingly, Amelia felt more than one emotion she hadn’t felt in
some time lurch within her. Fear, desire, and something she couldn’t identify
beyond the disturbing sensation that it was more.
    “Well, good morning.” Jack made
even the simple greeting sound like a pickup line.
    “Good morning, Caton,” Sole added.
    “Good morning,” Caton responded,
doing an impressive job of ignoring Jack and keeping an eye on him at the same
time.
    “Do you want some coffee?”
    “It’s a little crowded in here.
I’ll come back for it,” Caton responded, sending another brief glance Amelia’s
way. “If you need me, you know where to find me.”
    Then, Caton retraced her steps out
of the room, and Amelia heard the door to the basement open and close softly
from the foyer. Feeling oddly unbalanced, she put her hand on the bar and took
several deep breaths that did little more than fill her head with thin air.
    After watching Caton, or, more
likely, certain parts of Caton, depart from the room, Jack turned back to
Amelia with a gleeful expression. “Whatever you did,” he prodded, “I guess it
wasn't enough to scare her away.”
    Not sure if she was relieved at the
fact, or if scaring Caton away was exactly what she had intended, Amelia
returned her gaze to the blender. “So, it would seem,” she conceded, pressing
the button again and watching the tornado of color spin inside the glass.
     
     

Chapter 11
     
    Triumph had come with so little
effort, Jack had to question it.
    With few weapons in her arsenal,
Amelia didn’t win many battles between them, but she didn’t forfeit them
either. He had expected more fight out of her, another proclamation about what
an inconvenience it was to have Caton imposed upon her life.
    Clearly, there was conflict,
though, if Amelia believed she had run Caton off, and conflict was exactly what
Jack was counting on. Caton being as disagreeable and sharp of tongue with
Amelia as she had always been with him would teach his wife a lesson she
wouldn’t soon forget about asking for things she didn’t really want.
    That thought, above all, was what
put the smile on Jack’s face as he walked into the more casual of the club’s
two restaurants. Looking through the sea of sport coats and plaid golf pants,
he spotted Mr. Taylor at a table at the far end of the room, engaged in what
appeared to be a lively conversation with a man Jack had never met.
    Exchanging greetings with other
club members as he passed them, Jack made it to the edge of the table before
Mr. Taylor’s amused eyes caught on him. “Jack, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you come
in.” Mr. Taylor rose to his feet to give Jack a firm handshake. “This is Mark.”
    Upon his introduction, the stranger
stood too, standing inches taller and broader than Jack, his muscles pushing
against the fabric of a long-sleeved polo, looking so much the part that Jack
took his offered hand without second thought.
    “Slater,” the man added. “Marcus
Slater.”
    Recognizing the voice before the
name, Jack pulled out of the handshake, watching Slater try to cut an imposing
figure on