Read Online Fair Game by Doreen Owens Malek - Free Book Online Page A

floor.
    “Can you remember the last time you ate anything?” Martin finally asked, rephrasing the question.
    Ashley sighed and shrugged.
    “I think I know how to solve this problem,” Martin said firmly, standing and taking her arm. He marched her directly to the hotel restaurant and confronted the hostess.
    “We’d like to be seated, please,” he said.
    “I’m sorry, breakfast is over and we won’t be opening again until twelve-thirty for lunch,” the hostess said smoothly.
    “This is Senator Joseph Fair’s daughter,” Martin said briskly, “and I am Lieutenant Martin of the Philadelphia Metropolitan Police.” He flashed his badge. “Miss Fair is a guest of this hotel, and I am here on official business. Miss Fair would like to be served, and we don’t want to deal with room service’s limited selection and the delay involved. I think you could find a way to accommodate her, don’t you?”
    The hostess gazed into his cobalt eyes for three seconds before capitulating. She unhooked the silken cord that barred their way and said evenly, “Please be seated anywhere you like. I’ll bring your menus shortly.”
    Martin followed Ashley to a table near the window and held the chair for her while she sat. When he was seated across from her she said, “Do you pull that macho-cop act very often?”
    “Only when it’s necessary.”
    “And it’s necessary now?” she asked.
    “To keep you from fainting, yes.”
    “I wasn’t fainting.”
    “Then what were you doing?”
    She thought a moment. “Stumbling?” she suggested.
    “Looked like it. You need food.”
    “Yes, Doctor,” Ashley replied meekly.
    The hostess returned with menus, and Martin asked her, “What would be fastest?”
    “A sandwich, or omelet, I suppose,” she said.
    He looked at Ashley.
    “An omelet,” she said.
    “With toast,” he added. “And some fruit.”
    “Anything for you?” the woman asked.
    “Just coffee.”
    “I’ll give your order to your server. She’ll bring your setups in a moment.” The hostess left, and Martin said, “You know, you should take better care of yourself. You won’t be of any help to your father if you land in the hospital.”
    “Missing a few meals isn’t going to land me in the hospital,” Ashley said dismissively.
    “How do you know? If you actually do pass out, where do you think they will take you? Disneyland?”
    A waitress arrived and deposited placemats with silverware and napkins on the table. When she left, Ashley said, “You’re an unlikely looking nurse, Lieutenant Martin.”
    “Just using common sense,” he said gruffly.
    “Do you provide this service for all the people you protect?”
    “I’ve never protected anybody before, but most people would have the good judgment to eat once in a while and not try to live on coffee.”
    “I do eat. Once in a while.”
    “No appetite?” he asked.
    “Not much.”
    “Why not?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. Busy, nervous. Something.”
    The waitress came back with the food, and Martin watched, sipping coffee, as Ashley dutifully plowed through the omelet, a slice of toast, and half an apple.
    Finally, she held up her hand in surrender and said, “That’s it. I’m full. I can’t eat another bite. Really.”
    “You did all right,” Martin said.
    “Thank you, sir. And thank you, too, for bringing me here. I do feel better.”
    He nodded. “Good.”
    “More coffee?” the waitress said at his elbow.
    “No, thanks. Just give me the check, please.”
    The waitress scribbled a total on her pad and ripped off the top sheet, handing it to him.
    “You can put that on my father’s tab,” Ashley told him.
    Martin put it on the table with several bills. “It’s on me,” he said.
    Ashley glanced at her watch. “Oh, dear, I’d better get going. My father will be back any minute.”
    She stood, and Martin followed her out of the restaurant. They rode back up in the elevator, and as she entered the Senator’s suite she