Read Online Lover's Bite by MAGGIE SHAYNE - Free Book Online Page B

aren’t you?”
    â€œThat is not the answer to my question, Mr…. Adams, is it?”
    â€œYou haven’t aged,” he muttered. “That photo I ran of you was ten years old. I couldn’t find any more recent ones—”
    â€œThere aren’t any more recent ones.”
    â€œBut you haven’t changed…except—”
    â€œI’m paler, I know. I am not, Mr. Adams, pink. Now, will you tell me what I need to know?”
    He shook his head. “No. I…I can’t.”
    Sighing, she looked at Jack. “Make him tell me, Jack.”
    Nodding, Jack said, “I was getting hungry anyway.” Then he bared his fangs and jerked the man out of bed by the collar of his pajamas. Jack held him a foot above the floor.
    The man’s scream was pathetic and loud.
    Jack gripped Les’s chin and tipped his head back, moving closer to his throat.
    â€œDon’t! Don’t. I’ll tell you! It was Argent.”
    Topaz blinked in shock. “Kimber Argent? The woman who owns Avalon?”
    â€œNo. Her husband, Albert. He recognized you as soon as he saw you.”
    â€œWe never met face-to-face,” she said.
    â€œHe’s right next door in the apartment. Besides, he has cameras all over that place. He feeds me stories all the time. Makes more money for me than any other source. Hell, that villa of his is bugged till hell won’t have it. There’s video surveillance, too, but Argent says it’s malfunctioning or something. Celebrities stay there all the time, and I get a ton of gossip on them from him.”
    Topaz muttered, “I should have guessed. So who broke in there tonight? Was it you, looking for more dirt?”
    â€œSomeone broke in?” he asked, wide-eyed.
    â€œYes, someone broke in. Was it you?” she repeated, growing impatient.
    â€œNo!” He swung his gaze from her to Jack and back again, afraid, she thought, that they didn’t believe him. “I wouldn’t need to break in, Argent would let me in if I asked him. But I haven’t asked. And I won’t.” He was clearly terrified. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were—whatever the hell you are. I’ll fix it. I’ll print a retraction, say it was all a mistake.”
    â€œI’m afraid the damage has been done, Mr. Adams,” Jack said. He dropped the man back onto the bed. “You’ll sleep now. You’ll remember this as a bad dream, nothing more. And you won’t run any more stories about Tanya DuFrane, no matter how tempting those stories might be.”
    â€œI won’t. I promise. I—”
    â€œSleep.” Jack said the word firmly, with a piercing gaze, and the man sank back onto his pillows. His eyes fell closed. “It was a bad dream,” Jack whispered, leaning closer. “It was nothing but a nightmare. We were never here.”
    Topaz touched his arm. “You could have used that same technique to get him to talk in the first place, you know.”
    â€œOf course I know. But scaring the hell out of him was much more fun. Besides, he had it coming. Bottom-feeding slug.”
    She didn’t entirely disagree with him, she thought as they walked out of the man’s house.
    Â 
    â€œWhere are you taking me?” she asked as Jack drove through the rapidly fading night. “This isn’t the way back to Avalon Mansion.”
    â€œIt’s almost dawn. Surely you don’t want to spend the day there.”
    â€œThat was the plan.”
    He sent her a look of disbelief. “We’re completely defenseless when we sleep. You have no idea who broke in there, and they could come back.”
    â€œWhat for? They already searched the place and took what they wanted.”
    Jack drew a breath. “Unless what they wanted was you.”
    â€œDon’t be melodramatic.”
    â€œI’m not. Topaz, consider what you’re doing here. You’re trying to