Read Online The Pawn of the Phoenix (The Memory Collector Series Book 2) by Jamie McLachlan - Free Book Online

then turns to face me and Keenan.
    He gestures to the young brunette clinging onto his arm. “I’d like you two to meet my fiancée. Christine, this is Mr. Edwards and Moira.”
    “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you two.” Her voice is extremely soft, and she smiles warmly at us both, surprising me. Either she has no negative feelings toward empaths, or Rick has spoken highly of me enough for her to be genuinely pleased to meet me. “Patrick has told me so much about you that I feel like we’ve already met.”
    Rick immediately blushes. “All good things, sir.”
    “Of course, Jamieson.” Keenan smiles politely at the young woman. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you as well. You have chosen a fine fellow as a husband.”
    “Thank you, sir,” says Rick. “I like to think so myself.”
    The Chief reappears by the detective’s side. “Sorry to intrude, but Mr. Harrison wishes to speak with you, Keenan.”
    Keenan bows courteously to Christine. “I hope we have the pleasure of meeting again this evening.” He turns to me, and there’s both an uncertainty and a warning in his eyes. He nods and adds in a quieter voice, “Moira.”
    I nod in response and quickly glance away to lessen the impact of his gaze. When he finally leaves, I sigh in relief. The air around me is now less tense with his absence, alleviating me of the constant weight of his emotions pressing upon me. A server walks by, and I snatch a glass of wine. Unfortunately, the white wine isn’t as appealing to me as the red wine from the other events. It’s fruitier, yet still pleasant enough.
    “Patrick has told me you’re Mr. Edwards’s personal blocker, and you sometimes help him with cases.” Christine’s face reddens slightly when my wandering gaze finally rests on her. She looks at my blue eye before turning to my hazel one. “You must be so very brave. I would be too squeamish. I feel a little ill when Patrick even talks about a case.”
    I look at Rick, and my brow rises in mild amusement. I’m not surprised he lied, yet I am a little shocked by his choice of a lie. Because of the delicacy of the case, telling his fiancée about the particulars of my involvement would breech protocol. At these events, I’ve always been introduced as Keenan’s concubine, not his blocker. So I’m a little stunned Rick chose to introduce me as the latter.
    I decide to go along with Rick’s lie, bending the truth slightly. “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m brave. It’s not like I go with the detective to a crime scene. I just help him by reading the minds of potential suspects.”
    “I find that so fascinating.”
    She abruptly averts her gaze, and her cheeks redden further. She’s embarrassed and rightly so. If she had expressed such enthusiasm to anyone else, she would have received awkward glances. I can taste her interest and wonder directed at my gifts as an empath, and I now know her polite attitude toward me isn’t entirely owed to Rick. The idea someone could read another person’s thoughts intrigues her almost as much as the notion that I—a woman—could work alongside the detective to solve cases. Maybe she’s not as timid as I had first thought. Nor is she as squeamish as she had suggested. I immediately like the woman more.
    “It is,” I say, offering her a welcoming smile. “Rick could bring you to the police station one day, and I could demonstrate my gifts.”
    Her confusion overrides her bashfulness. “Rick?”
    My gaze falls on a familiar face behind Christine, momentarily distracting me from the conversation. It would be nearly impossible for me not to notice the other woman, for her height towers over the majority of the women present and even some of the men. Her blond curls still barely manage to soften the sharp features of her face and that strong chin of hers. The last time I saw her, Mr. Harrison had introduced her as the new Pleasure House Instigator. Our interaction had been brief and was interrupted by the