Read Online Engaged to Die by Carolyn Hart - Free Book Online Page B

of light. Annie smelled her gingery perfume.
    â€œâ€”it will be too bad. Do you like bats, Twila? Perhaps there will be bats in your room at night. That might happen. It might even happen tonight. You can dream about it when you go to sleep. Bats have tiny sharp teeth. Sometimes they’re rabid. I wonder what will happen when a bat is dropped into your bed? It takes almost a year for rabies to develop, and all the while you can wonder if that’s how you’ll die, rigid as a corpse, frothing at the mouth.”
    â€œI won’t tell her. I won’t.” Twila was sobbing now, hiccuping and crying.
    â€œOr a spider might get into one of your drawers. It could be a daddy longlegs. But it might be a brown recluse.”
    Her hand shaking, Stephanie reached out, banged against the door, yanked it open. She strode into her office, thrusting out her hand. “Give me your keys, J. J. You’re fired.”
    J. J. whirled toward them, his brown eyes feral. His glance moved past Stephanie, settled on Annie.
    Annie hated the look. It was as nasty as flipping over a flagstone and seeing slugs.
    â€œYour keys.” Stephanie held out her hand, her face set and determined.
    Slowly, like a snake easing over a bank, his hand went into his pocket. He pulled out the ring of keys. Snakes can jump, fast. His arm flashed and the keys flew toward Annie.
    Her hand rose. The keys, sharp and hard and painful, struck her arm.
    Brown took a step toward the connecting office, his big hands clamped into fists.
    â€œGet out. Or I’ll call the police.” Stephanie strode to her desk, grabbed up the phone.
    Brown rocked back and forth on his feet and stared toward the open door to the connecting office, the open door and Annie standing there. His moon face was heavy with fury. The words to Annie were a high silky whisper. “You’re going to pay, lady.”

Three
    A NNIE TOOK A DEEP BREATH , delighting in the swirl of fumes from beer on tap, sawdust-sprinkled wooden floors, live bait bobbing in salt-crusted barrels, chicken necks in battered coolers, and hot grease. Annie loved Parotti’s, the island’s oldest restaurant and bait shop, a combination unsettling to squeamish tourists. Since Ben Parotti’s marriage, the restaurant wasn’t quite as down home as it used to be, though live bait was still available. The menu now included quiche as well as chitterlings, the decor chintz curtains as well as sawdust. Ben was close-shaven and natty in a blue blazer and flannel slacks, a far cry from his former bristly cheeks, long underwear top, and stained corduroy trousers. Annie never ceased to marvel at the power of a woman. Or maybe it was more accurate to applaud the power of love. In the earlier days, Ben might have looked like a grouchy leprechaun, but actually he was a man waiting to fall in love with the right woman. In a moment, Ben himself would serve their table, bringing Annie a superdeluxe bowl of chili and Max an equally big bowl of catfish stew. Jalapeños and corn kernels studded the faintly sweet corn muffins. Annie picked up a muffin, warm from the oven, slathered it with real butter, and took a big bite.“Hmmm.” Sparks danced among the logs burning in the huge stone fireplace. Only a few tables were taken, and all the customers were islanders. Not many vacationers came to Broward’s Rock in January, and the windswept beaches and chill mornings were a time of peace and renewal.
    Max sat across the initial-scarred wooden plank table, his eyes soft when he looked at her. Dear Max. His wavy blond hair curled a little more tightly in the winter mist. She thought him the handsomest man she’d ever known. And yes, he had strong and regular features and a stalwart chin and fjord blue eyes, but what made him handsome in her view was the character that shaped his face, the honor and steadfastness and courage and goodness.
    He grinned. “Love you, too.”
    She grinned