Read Online Hidden Talents by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online Page A

cottage with a considering expression. “I could sleep on your sofa.”
    “No.”
    “It's big enough.”
    “No.”
    Caleb's brows rose. “Not even for one night?”
    “No.”
    “What's the matter, Serenity? Do I make you nervous?”
    “Yes.”
    “It's all right.” His gaze was intent. “I'm not going to jump on top of you.”
    “I can't be certain of that, can I? After all, you think I'm a slut. No telling what you might do.”
    “I don't think you're a slut,” Caleb said wearily. “I think you're naive. Having gotten to know you during the past three weeks, I can understand how Asterley might have talked you into posing for him. He probably fed you a line of bull about doing it for art.”
    “How very generous of you,” Serenity said. “But I should probably warn you that I don't care for your second opinion of me any more than I cared for your first. You make me sound like a mindless nitwit.”
    “I'm trying to take a tolerant, open-minded view of the situation,” he said tightly.
    “Gosh, I'll bet that's really hard for you.”
    “You're in a hell of a mood, aren't you?”
    “Can you blame me? I've had a rough day.”
    “I know,” Caleb said. “Like I said, I'm sorry.”
    “Tell you what. You can work on your tolerance and practice your new open-minded attitudes while you look for a motel.” Serenity glanced pointedly at her watch.
    Caleb looked at her. “You're not really going to force me to find my way back down an unfamiliar mountain road in this fog, are you?”
    “Well, you certainly aren't staying here.” She was determined to stand her ground. Unfortunately, she also knew that he was right. And she did not want the responsibility for his safety on her shoulders. “I suppose you could spend the night at Julius's house. He wouldn't mind.”
    “Who's Julius?”
    “Julius Makepeace. He's my father. Sort of.”
    “Your father .” Caleb looked taken aback. “I'm not so sure that's a good idea.”
    “Don't worry about it.” Serenity got to her feet, relieved at having found a reasonable answer to her dilemma. “Julius and Bethanne are out of town.”
    “Where are they?” Caleb stood up, looking wary.
    “On their honeymoon.”
    “Their honeymoon?”
    Serenity plucked the keys to Julius's cabin out of a small ceramic bowl. “It was love at first sight, if you ask me. Bethanne roared into town on a Harley-Davidson one afternoon fifteen years ago. Julius took one look at her and he was a goner. They've been together ever since.”
    Caleb frowned. “They're finally getting married after being together for fifteen years?”
    Serenity shrugged. “Bethanne said it was time.”
    “Don't you think that's a little odd?”
    “Not in Witt's End,” Serenity retorted. “How long did your father and mother know each other before they got married?”
    “They didn't,” Caleb said in a strangely neutral tone. “Get married, that is.”
    Serenity blinked. “Your parents never married? Neither did mine.”
    “But you just said that your father finally married this Bethanne person.” Caleb paused. “Who arrived in town fifteen years ago. I see what you mean. Bethanne isn't your mother.”
    “And Julius isn't my father. His name just happens to be on my birth certificate. I think of him more as an uncle. The same way I think of Montrose and Quinton and Blade.”
    Caleb gave her an unreadable look. “You've got a lot of uncles.”
    “I've got several aunts, too,” Serenity said. “My biological parents are both dead. They died before they could get married. My father died when my mother was still pregnant. He was killed in a military training accident when he was in boot camp. My mother died the day I was born.” She touched the little metal griffin at her throat.
    “You're adopted?”
    “By the town of Witt's End,” she said, trying to clarify things for him.
    “No offense, but that doesn't sound entirely legal.”
    “Who cares about details like that? I've got a family, and