Read Online Tidewater Lover by Janet Dailey - Free Book Online Page A

while she was gone. Oh—" he suddenly remembered the sack he carried "—here're the steaks I promised to bring. I had the butcher cut them special. He promised they'd be so tender you could cut them with a fork. There's also a bottle of wine in here." He handed the sack to Lacey. "You'll probably want to open it so it can warm a bit before we eat."
    "Yes, I will." She started toward the kitchen, certain that Mike was following her. "Mike, there's something I have to tell you."
    Setting the sack on the counter, she waited for him to ask what. But when she glanced around, he wasn't anywhere in sight.
    "Mike?" She took the bottle of wine from the sack and opened it. Looking around again, she saw the door to the balcony standing open and hurried to it.
    "This is some view," he commented, turning as he heard her approach.
    "It is spectacular." Lacey rushed on before he could interrupt, "There's something I have to explain to you."
    "Look!" He pointed out to sea. "See that ship way out there?"
    Lacey glimpsed the silhouette of a large ocean-going vessel on the horizon. She saw it strictly by accident as she scanned the beach and the path to the house for Cole. He was nowhere in sight. She felt as if she were sitting on a time bomb with the seconds ticking away.
    "This is impressive," Mike nodded, his gaze sliding to the beach. "You practically have this whole area to yourself."
    "Not exactly," Lacey qualified. "I—"
    "It's fairly isolated," he reminded her. "Does it bother you to be here alone?"
    This was her opening. "Not a bit, because I'm not—"
    "Lacey!" Cole's voice sliced off the end of her sentence. She froze as Mike jerked his gaze to the interior of the house. "I rummaged around the garage and found Bob's grill." His voice was coming steadily nearer to the balcony door. "I decided that since you fixed breakfast this morning, it's only fair that I cook dinner."
    The time bomb had exploded. Lacey saw the shock waves reverberating through Mike as Cole stepped onto the balcony carrying the charcoal grill.
    Cole stopped, drawing his head back when he saw Mike. "Bowman," he identified him before his questioning blue eyes swung to Lacey.
    "I invited him over for dinner." She didn't add that she had forgotten. It was written in the look she gave Cole.
    Cole set the grill down. "I know the way this must look to you, Bowman, but, believe me, it's really quite innocent."
    "Are you staying here, Whitfield?" Mike frowned, his voice lifting to a pitch of disbelief.
    "I was going to tell you," Lacey inserted, trying desperately not to sound guilty.
    "I see." He sounded grimly skeptical.
    "I don't think you do," Cole joined in. "You see, there was a mix-up. Lacey's cousin asked her to stay in the house and her husband asked me. When Lacey and I discovered what had happened—" he fortunately didn't explain the circumstances of their discovery "—we couldn't decide which of us would leave. Finally we mutually agreed that we would both stay."
    "Do you mean—" Mike's frown deepened "—you two are living in this house together?"
    "I was trying to find a way to tell you," Lacey repeated, sensing his rising anger, "so that it wouldn't sound as if we'd come to some illicit arrangement."
    "We're sharing the house, not the beds," Cole stated bluntly.
    Mike turned away, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't believe this," he muttered beneath his breath.
    He glanced bewilderedly at Lacey. "You're actually living with the same man that just last week I heard you wish would take a flying leap into a dry lake?"
    Her darting look at Cole saw his mouth twitch, with amusement, a mocking glitter in his blue eyes. Even though she hadn't made any secret of her previous opinion of Cole, she wished Mike hadn't repeated her words.
    "I think it will be better if the two of you talk this thing out on your own, so I'll make myself scarce." Cole nodded briefly to Lacey, a rueful smile of apology touching the firm line of his mouth.
    Lacey nodded her