Read Online Sweet Fortune by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online

case, how can I refuse?”
    “It's pizza,” Jessie warned quickly, her heart sinking. She could almost see the computer that served as Hatch's brain as it quickly reprioritized his afternoon. First things first. And item number one on his agenda was the courtship of Jessie Benedict, even if that meant taking an hour out of his precious schedule to eat pizza.
    “I'll try very hard not to get any tomato sauce on my tie,” Hatch said seriously.
    Jessie narrowed her eyes and decided he was not joking.
    “Jessie's going to tell us all about her new case,” Elizabeth announced. “She's going to start work on it right away while Mrs. Valentine is in the hospital.”
    “Is that right?” Hatch cocked a faintly mocking brow. “Going to help some little old lady talk to the shade of the dear departed, are we? Or maybe banish a few evil spirits from a haunted health club?”
    “No,” said Jessie, stung by the cool sarcasm. “As a matter of fact, I'm going to help rescue a young girl who's been kidnapped by a bizarre cult.”
    That wiped the condescension off Hatch's face. “The hell you are!”
    * * *
    His first, albeit vain hope was that she had been teasing him again, deliberately baiting him the way she so often did. If that was the case, he was reluctantly willing to admit that this time she had managed to draw a reaction.
    But as Hatch sat next to Elizabeth in the pizza-parlor booth and listened to Jessie talk about her new “case,” he realized this was no joke. He glanced at Vincent, silently willing the older man to put his foot down. Unfortunately, although Benedict looked singularly annoyed, it was obvious he was unable to think of any barriers to put in Jessie's path other than overwhelming disapproval. Disapproval was not doing the trick.
    Hatch glanced surreptitiously around. He felt out of place sitting in the garishly decorated pizza parlor. True, his and Benedict's were not the only two business suits in the restaurant, but they were definitely the two most expensive suits.
    Hatch knew full well Vincent had planned to work through lunch. Benedict always had lunch sent in unless he was doing business over the meal, in which case he usually took his guests to his club. Hatch knew the basic schedule because he followed a similar one.
    But today they were both sitting here eating pizza and listening to Jessie talk about a farfetched plan to rescue some idiot who'd gotten involved in a cult. As if Jessie knew anything about cults.
    Jessie and Elizabeth appeared oblivious of the fact that they were not garnering any male support for the crazy scheme. Hatch watched both females down vast quantities of pizza while nattering on excitedly about just how Jessie should start her investigation.
    “The library would be a good place to begin,” Elizabeth said seriously. “You can check the newspaper indexes to see if there are any articles on Dawn's Early Light or its leader.”
    “Good idea,” Jessie mumbled around a bite of pizza. She looked at her father. “I don't suppose you've ever heard anything about it, have you?”
    “Hell, no,” Vincent muttered. “Sounds like a bunch of damned tree-huggers. Stay out of this, Jessie. You've got absolutely no idea what you're doing.”
    “I'm just going to ask a few questions and see what I can turn up.”
    “You're supposed to be an assistant fortune-teller,” Hatch pointed out coldly. “Not some sort of unlicensed private investigator. Stick to learning how to read tea leaves and crystal balls. You've got no business researching cults, much less trying to discredit their leaders. People who lead cults don't take kindly to other people trying to prove they're frauds. You could be opening up a real can of worms here.”
    Jessie traded a meaningful glance with her sister. “You get the feeling we're doing lunch with a couple of real corporate wet blankets, Elizabeth?”
    Elizabeth grinned. “You said their main problem was that they didn't know how to have