Read Online Someone Irresistible by Adele Ashworth - Free Book Online Page B

Placing the lamp on a small wooden stool to her side, she began shifting small boxes around and out of her way until she stood in the farthest corner.
    It was there. Exactly as she’d left it.
    Lowering herself to her knees, Mimi reached out to touch the crate’s cold, dry wood. Then she placed her palms at the edges and shoved them upward—two times—before the top gave way and opened with a gentle creak.
    Here it rested, undisturbed after two years. Mimi stared at black velvet for several moments, then slowly lifted the soft edge to reveal her treasure. The chill in the room, pressed against her; the silence sliced through the night, and she centered her mind on the wooden floor beyond the attic door for the sound of a servant’s footsteps, her heart pounding loudly in her breast with the thought of being discovered, with the fantastic notion of what she’d now decided to do.
    At her fingertips lay the ancient Megalosaurus jawbone, stolen from Professor Nathan Price at the Crystal Palace. Large, sturdy, hidden, it remained the one piece of evidence that could restore the man’s lost reputation—or ruin them all.
    Gingerly she stroked the top of one of the greatest discoveries of paleontology, its worth immeasurable but not denied, noticing again how it felt like cool wood, the edges so delicate they could crumble if disturbed. It had taken her a weekend of careful consideration, but now Mimi had a plan. The jawbone had remained untouched all this time, but in a daring move she at last knew what to do without anyone learning the truth. Nobody could ever know what she knew.
    Nobody.

Chapter 4
    « ^ »
    M imi paced the floor of her studio, hands clasping her upper arms as she looked at the clock. Half past eleven, and Nathan had yet to arrive.
    She scolded herself for caring, too; she had other things she could do while she waited, perhaps even work on the Pteranodon, though she really didn’t have the desire. Certainly she didn’t need his approval or appraisal to begin a project, but so far this morning she’d had difficulty concentrating on the process ahead simply because he wasn’t there to oversee it. It disgusted her that she’d yielded her entire schedule to Nathan and his authority, or, one could argue, his cool, singular charm.
    Again, she glanced at the clock. Thirty-one minutes past eleven. Her preoccupation with the man and his lateness was getting ridiculous.
    Then again, she’d more or less told him to come at his convenience by not specifying that she wanted him there precisely at ten. He’d evidently read what he wanted into that.
    Sighing loudly with her impatience, Mimi dropped her arms, shook them out, and wandered to the west-facing oblong windows, resting her bottom on the back of the settee to take in the view of her small but orderly backyard. The autumn season had arrived at last, and leaves now showed a definite change to fall hues, from golden yellow to russet.
    Her workshop had been added on to the west end of the house, which was why her garden, where she spent much of her time in summer months, was so very tiny. Already her rather insignificant cluster of prized flowers had gone dormant. But the view from her studio still provided plenty of color, and she gazed with only half regard at a lilac bush that needed trimming. It reminded her again that she should be doing something worthwhile with her time now, like cutting back overgrowth for the coming winter, instead of waiting for a man to arrive so she could start her workday.
    She rubbed her temples with her fingertips. Stupid woman. Or maybe just stupidly obsessed.
    A blend of rustling skirts and footsteps echoed in the hallway suddenly, and Mimi turned to the doorway, her pulse quickening as the sound grew louder. At last he was here, she knew, because Stella had been given instructions that she not be disturbed in her studio until Professor Price arrived. She glanced again at the clock. Thirty-four minutes past eleven. The man