Read Online The Seductive Impostor by Janet Chapman - Free Book Online

Take this flashlight at least,” the first guy offered, holding out his hand.
    She stopped and turned. “Thank you,” she said, taking it from him. If it would get rid of these guys, she’d gladly take all their flashlights.
    She briefly shone it back at the group. The dog beside them was huge, dusty gray in color, and nearly invisible in the fog. He was staring at her, his head cocked to the side, watching her with eyes that glowed like pins of starlight. Rachel shuddered and turned her beam on the men.
    They were all brutes. And in the shadows of the night, they were every woman’s worst nightmare. She forced herself to smile at the lot of them.
    â€œTell Mr. Oakes welcome to the neighborhood,” she said, just before she turned around, gritted her teeth, and started for home again.
    Â 
    Kee stood in the shadow of the woods as he surveyed Rachel Foster’s house with a discerning eye. “It looks quiet. She must have gone to bed already,” he said to Duncan, inching his way up to the edge of the lawn.
    It was a good-looking house, well maintained and sturdily built, sitting on a shallow bluff overlooking the ocean. There was a large barn near the woods in the back, with a motor home parked off to the side. The truck parked in the driveway was a late-model sport-utility vehicle. There was a sea kayak tied to the top of it.
    Kee let his gaze roam the grounds, searching for anything that would give him a clue to who else lived here, just in case his background check on Rachel Foster had somehow overlooked a live-in boyfriend. He didn’t want or need any more surprises tonight.
    Kee knew Rachel Foster was thirty-one years old, the elder daughter of Frank and Marian Foster, and a licensed architect who now worked in a library. He also knew that Rachel Foster knew Sub Rosa better than any other living person.
    Guessing the reason for Kee’s cautious approach, Duncan chuckled under his breath. “Peter tried to find out if someone was home waiting for her. She wouldn’t answer him,” he told Kee, his own eyes scanning the area.
    Kee shot him a hard look at the reminder that his men had let the woman slip through their hands. “Which means she probably lives alone,” Kee said. “Women get in the habit of not advertising that fact.” He gave Duncan a grin. “It’s past time I properly introduced myself to Rachel Foster, wouldn’t you say?”
    â€œDammit, Kee. It’s two in the morning. This can wait until tomorrow,” Duncan said.
    Kee stepped onto the lawn. “No. We do it tonight. I want to know what the lady was doing at Sub Rosa.”
    Kee didn’t wait for Duncan to respond. He crossed the lawn and headed for the house, guided by the soft yellow glow of the porch light.
    The first thing both men noticed as they approached was that the screen door was shut, but the inside door was not. The second thing they realized was that they could hear soft sobs coming from the dark interior of the house.
    Without making a sound, Duncan slipped around to the other side of the house as Kee quietly mounted the porch stairs, both of them drawing guns from the backs of their belts.
    Kee silently approached the door. He slowly pulled the screen door open and used his foot to push the interior door wider. He listened for a full minute for any other sounds coming from deeper within the house. When he decided there was no one else there, he eased his way inside, felt for a switch, and flipped it, flooding the room with light. A panicked gasp rose from the floor, and Kee found himself pointing his gun at the woman he’d met in his library less than an hour ago.
    She was sitting on the floor of the kitchen, her scared hazel-green eyes the size of dinner plates. Her braid had completely unraveled, and her waist-length brown hair was a wild tangle of curls. There were mud stains on both of her knees and most of her sweater, and pine needles and dirt