Read Online If Looks Could Kill by Heather Graham - Free Book Online

from Bianca, along with a sleeveless thigh-length cover-up, and ready with a bag filled with snorkels and masks, suntan lotion, and clothing to change into for both her and Carrie Anne when the sun and salt became too brutal to bear anymore. The boat was complete with a shower in the head, so she wouldn’t have to suffer the salt. She packed several books, her own CD player and headphones and Carrie Anne’s tape recorder and tapes.
    Just in case they all ran out of conversation.
    Then, hand in hand, she and Carrie Anne walked down the hallway to the outside patio.
    She saw her father first. He was definitely a unique man, with something of a Hemingwayesque quality. His thick silver hair fell to his shoulders. He wore a straggly beard and his customary clothing—cutoffs, no shoes, no shirt. He loved the image of being an island bum. She knew that women still found him attractive, that his dark eyes were described in interviews and reviews as “brooding” and “charismatic.” Kyle—in cutoffs, as well—was in the chair next to her father. He was wearing dark glasses, but no baseball cap today. He wore his dark hair cut to a medium length, not too long, but long enough to curl slightly at his nape and leave enough to brush back over his forehead now and then.
    He was in very good shape. It was easy to see that now, with his chest bare. Lots of dark hair grew across that broad expanse. His shoulders, too, were broad and bronzed.
    Jassy was with them. Madison hadn’t known that her older sister was coming. Tiny and blond, but with her father’s dark eyes, Jassy was a dynamo. Despite her fragile appearance, she had gone into pathology and now worked for the Dade County medical examiner’s office. Jimmy had told Madison about the cops who initially didn’t want to take Jassy seriously; one look from her dark eyes and one sure swipe of her scalpel assured them that she was all business.
    Madison wouldn’t have minded observing the threesome for another few minutes, but it wasn’t to be. Carrie Anne slipped her little hand from Madison’s and went rushing out to Jordan Adair. “Morning, Grampa!” She sat right on his lap, took his whiskered face between her hands, wrinkled her nose and kissed him on the forehead.
    â€œHey there, munchkin!” Jordan said, giving her a fierce bear hug in return. “What are you doing up and about so early?”
    â€œI’m going out on the boat,” she said happily, smiling and squinting at her aunt Jassy. “With Rafe’s brother, who mommy says is very different, but nice, too. Are you coming, Aunt Jassy?”
    â€œWhere’s your mother?” Jordan asked Carrie Anne.
    â€œHere, Dad,” Madison said, stepping out onto the patio. A coffeepot and cups sat on the counter by the breeze-through to the kitchen. Madison helped herself to coffee and took the fourth chair at the patio table. Carrie Anne was still on her grandfather’s lap, but the three adults were staring expectantly at Madison.
    She sipped her coffee. Black. “Good morning.”
    â€œYou’re coming on the boat?” Kyle said politely. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. If he was pleased, he didn’t show that, either.
    â€œYou asked us.”
    â€œYeah, I did.” She couldn’t see even a hint of his eyes behind the glasses.
    â€œYou can’t come, Dad?” she asked her father.
    He shook his head. “I’m in the middle of some research.”
    â€œI told you I’d help you later, Dad,” Jassy said sweetly, winking at Madison.
    â€œWhen I need help from you, you little whelp, I’ll let you know,” Jordan grumbled.
    Jassy shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
    â€œAre you Kyle?” Carrie Anne asked, looking straight at him and inspecting him curiously, the way only children can.
    â€œCarrie Anne…” Madison murmured.
    â€œWe did forget to introduce