Read Online Her Last Love Affair: The Final Journey by Clara James - Free Book Online Page A

she tried to nod, with her head tucked snugly
against the pillow. “It’s my only option now, and I’ve decided I don’t want to
give up without a fight.”
    “What made you change your mind?”
    Allie held her tongue thoughtfully between her teeth, while
she considered the question. “I don’t know,” she eventually sighed. “I guess
there’s just more at stake now.”
    The women’s focus was disturbed by the creak of door hinges
and the soft squeak of tennis shoes on a highly polished floor. Pulling her
face over her shoulder, Allie found Reece with a white Starbucks takeout cup in
his left hand. He held a thick newspaper beneath his arm and in his free hand,
he held something that looked very much like a glazed doughnut.
    “That better be for me,” Allie warned him, arching her
eyebrow.
    Reece’s eyes shifted warily from left to right, before he
glanced dramatically over his shoulder. Outside the open doorway was a
corridor, but it was completely empty. Lifting the hand that held his coffee,
he awkwardly extended his finger and placed it to his lips. Then, with a laugh,
he kicked the door closed before walking up to the bed. “You know, I will be in
so much trouble if they find out I’m feeding you crap like this,” he said, only
half joking.
    “I’ll say I forced you,” she promised, pushing her palms
onto the mattress. “Just tell them I threatened you,” she added, easing herself
into an upright position.
    Rosalind instantly got to her feet, gripping the pillow
Allie had been laying on and setting it up against the beds metal frame. She
then held it still, until Allie had settled her upper back on it. “I think
they’d have a hard time believing that,” she mumbled, chiming in with her view
of the master plan.
    “I don’t know,” Reece sighed, leaning over the bed, as he
released his arm’s grip on the paper. It fell onto the mattress, before he
lowered himself into the chair and sliding his hot coffee cup onto the table on
his left.
    Allie temporarily distracted from doughnuts, gazed down at
the half-folded newspaper draped over her legs. It was the Chronicle, but she
could only see the logo and the headline, ‘Renowned Philanthropist Arrested for
Fraud’. Beneath those words, in much smaller print was the byline: ‘Allie
Mclaren and Grant Cahill
    “I thought you said you hadn’t been working,” Reece said,
smiling as he noticed the concentration on Allie’s face.
    “I haven’t,” she replied. “I...This was something I was
looking into weeks ago.”
    “Hmm,” Reece nodded, his hands gripping the napkin wrapped
doughnut and breaking it in two. “Well, that guy called,” he explained,
separating the two halves. “I accidentally took your phone instead of mine
and-”
    “What did you tell him?” Allie blurted, interrupting.
    Offering her the slightly bigger piece of doughnut, he smiled.
“I just said you weren’t well. He didn’t ask for specifics, so there didn’t
seem to be any need to say more.”
    Silently, Allie’s fingers accepted the sticky, tasty object
and immediately brought it to her mouth. She allowed it to linger just long enough
to inhale its wonderfully sweet smell. She sighed contentedly, before opening
her mouth and nibbling a tiny piece. She closed her eyes as she savored it. She
couldn’t remember the last time she ate, and she certainly couldn’t remember
the last time food had tasted as good. She groaned happily, taking another
small bite. There was a drive to stuff it all in as quickly as possible, but
she wanted to make it last, so forced herself to linger over every morsel.
    “I feel like I should leave you two alone,” Reece muttered
shuffling uncomfortably in his seat, while he licked his stinky finger and
thumb.
    Rosalind laughed heartily, glad to see that Allie was
enjoying her breakfast, even though it wasn’t the healthiest thing she could
put in her mouth.
    “Anyway,” Reece continued. “Your pal Grant called and when I
told him you