Read Online Kissed by Moonlight by Dorothy Vernon - Free Book Online Page A

was especially comforting to have found a friend in Bob.
    She hadn’t known, until Bob let it out, that the three of them – David, Ginny, and Bob – had been locked together in this project for the full three years since it was taken over from her father. That was a lot of testing-out-theories, sharing-ideas, and getting-to-know-each-other time.
    Even though she could go them one better than that – she had known David all her life – somehow it wasn’t the same. She had been the little girl he tolerated because of a long-standing family friendship.
    When things had gone wrong, David’s father had been her staunch and loving ally, and somehow David had inherited from his father the feeling of responsibility toward her.
    She didn’t want to be a burden or a responsibility to anyone. Had she been wrong in accepting David’s proposal? Despite what he thought, she hadn’t married him to get out of a tight corner. She would have made out. She was too much her father’s daughter to be out of the running forever. She had married him for that most corny and wonderful of reasons: she loved him. She always would. If only she knew for sure why he had married her. Had it been only to satisfy the attraction he felt, or was there something more ...?
    All the time she’d been thinking, she’d been walking. The temporary cessation of her thoughts was marked by an unhappy sigh and the knowledge that she had arrived at the hotel shopping area. It was not just one shop, but a mini-precinct of its own that catered to just about every need. There was a shop that sold film and sunglasses and lipsticks and lotions and a shop that sold trinkets and souvenirs, from baubles for the ears to child-high donkeys. There was a hairdressing shop and a newsstand, and at the very end of the arcade was a ladies’ fashion boutique displaying a pile of sun hats.
    She went in. After trying on several, she settled for a pale parchment-colored wide-brimmed hat in squashy straw that could be pushed into a beach bag and still come up smiling. Her eyes had been straying toward a charming and artistically arranged collection of lingerie, but they- quickly came back to base when she realized that Justine Hyland had entered the shop. Petrina had been toying with the thought of buying a more attractive nightgown to replace the two functional cotton ones she’d brought with her, but she was certainly not going to choose anything so intimate while that woman was watching.
    She managed to make it known to the assistant, a pretty little Spanish girl with laughing, liquid eyes and the sweetest manner, that she was going to wear the sun hat and didn’t want it wrapped, but when she opened her purse and tried to pay for it the girl became quite excited in her refusal. Petrina was at a complete loss to know what she was doing wrong. Was she offering insufficient money? She wasn’t used to the currency yet. If she’d erred on the generous side, surely the girl could give her the correct change. Unless she was out of change. Was that it?
    â€œI think you need help,” Justine Hyland finally came forward to say.
    Petrina nodded helplessly, although she wished the offer to act as interpreter had come from someone else. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
    â€œThe assistant has recognized you as David’s wife. She doesn’t dare take your money because David has instructed her that anything you want must be charged to his account.”
    â€œOh, I see. Thank you. I didn’t know.”
    â€œDidn’t you?” Justine’s elegant black eyebrows rose in eloquent meaning. “Something else David has been remiss in telling you.”
    Petrina chin lifted. “As he was remiss about telling me of your existence? Is that what you mean?”
    Justine’s smile was sweetly gloating, but she said nothing.
    Petrina’s eyes glanced across to where the little