Read Online Power play by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online

into the leather seat.
    "A country club cowboy, hmm?"
    "A small personal rebellion, I'm afraid. I don't even play golf. My neighbors don't understand me."
    "I can imagine," she commiserated. "You don't exactly look as if you would fit into the country club set at the moment. Although," she went on thoughtfully, "in your normal work attire…"
    "As I said, a man of many aspects," he observed blandly.
    "Why did you buy a country club home if you don't enjoy golf and the atmosphere that goes with it?"
    He shot her a quick, slanting glance. "Because I'm going to make a killing on the condo in two years. It was a hell of a business opportunity. I got it after the developer had been hit by the housing recession. Picked it up for a song."
    "I should have guessed. A businessman to your fingertips."
    He shrugged. "And a photographer," he reminded her.
    "When did you take up that hobby?"
    "This year," he grinned. "Can't you tell that I've still got a novice's enthusiasm?"
    "I've always wondered what photography buffs do with all the pictures that must accumulate!"
    "Stick ‘em in drawers, make slides out of them, and file them, throw away the absolutely rotten ones. And show the best to visiting ladies, of course," he concluded lightly.
    The rolling fairways of a deliciously green golf course came into view and Kane guided the Lotus through guarded gates and up a winding drive lined with elegant homes and condominiums.
    He parked the Lotus in front of a gracious condominium designed with a modern flair tempered by the Spanish touch. Inside, walls of windows took advantage of the cool, green view of the golf course. Vaulted ceilings, a richly tiled entrance hall, and a plush, tan carpet provided the setting for the furnishings of brass, glass, and leather. A successful businessman's home, Talia thought as she trailed a fingertip along the edge of a coffee-colored leather chair-back. Suitable for entertaining. She ABC Amber Text Converter Trial v ersion, http://www.processtext.com/abctxt.html
    found herself wondering how many women had been entertained in these surroundings.
    "So you went swimming this afternoon?" Kane asked equably as he mixed tall, cool tequila sunrises in the well-appointed kitchen.
    "Oh, yes," Talia smiled, accepting her drink. "It was too hot to do anything else and I couldn't stand to sit in that hotel room waiting for a call from you!"
    He winced. "Am I losing my boyish appeal?" He led her out onto the landscaped patio where cool evening breezes were beginning to refresh the atmosphere.
    Talia ignored his question, asking politely instead, "What about you? What did you do all afternoon?"
    "I," he said, dropping his bombshell with negligent finesse, "spent most of it at the public library."
    Talia looked up from stirring her ice with her finger. "The library! What on earth were you doing there?"
    He met her eyes levelly. "Going through some old newspaper accounts of a three-year-old scandal." The easy-going humor was gone. The emerald eyes met and held hers in green chains, daring her to get up and run.
    That was exactly what she wanted to do, Talia acknowledged in harsh self-condemnation. Run.
    "Why would you want to do that?" she whispered tightly.
    "Maybe because I was growing more and more curious about my lady blackmailer. You want to tell me about what happened three years ago?"
    "Not particularly," she grated, her features composing themselves into the cool, aloof facade she adopted instinctively whenever the subject came up. "If you took the trouble to read the papers, you know all there is to know,"
    Her words were as cool as her composure, but inside the anger was simmering once more close to the surface. How dare he reopen those old wounds? He'd brought her out here, miles from the city, treated her as if they were enjoying a casual date, and then hit her with this!
    "I know what was being said about you and Hazelton. I know you resigned because of the not-so-subtle accusations and I know you left town.