Read Online True Colors by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online Page A

at him. Without the aid of her glasses his features weren't as clear as they might have been, but she had no trouble distinguishing the flare of displeasure that appeared in the tawny eyes.
    "Jamie, hush. You don't know what you're saying."
    "Oh, yes, I do, Cade. I know exactly what I'm saying. And I know what I'm doing." Taking a deep breath and a firm grip on her wayward emotions, Jamie pushed herself free of the treacherous embrace.
    She didn't know where she got the strength to summon up the cool little smile, but it came from somewhere. She reached casually across Cade to pluck her glasses off the shelf where he had put them.
    Then she glanced meaningfully at her watch. "My goodness, how did it get so late? Time I was going.
    Thanks for dinner and the brandy, Cade. Miss Isabel will be pleased to know you're going to accept her job offer. I'll send her a message when I get back to Big Sur."
    "Now wait just a minute, Jamie. Where the hell do you think you're going?" He sat up quickly as she slipped off the bunk.
    "Back to the motel, of course. Where else?" She glanced at him over her shoulder, gray-green eyes reflecting only mild surprise that he should have to ask the question. "Don't worry about driving me. I can walk from here. It's only a few blocks."
    "You'll walk back to that motel over my dead body."
    "Don't tempt me."
    "Jamie, come back here. You don't want to spend the night alone in that motel and you know it. Why the devil are you being so obstinate? You're the one who came looking for me!" Shirt still unbuttoned and hanging loose, Cade got to his feet, confronting her in the narrow confines of the cabin.
    Well aware of the domineering, intimidating threat of him, Jamie called on her inner nerve and stood her ground. His cool, questioning smile never wavered. "You seem to be under some trite romantic misconception about why I came looking for you. Amusing, isn't it? This past summer, I was the one who tended to romanticize events. Now the shoe appears to be on the other foot. Be careful, Cade. It gets tricky trying to view the world through a pink haze. Everything gets distorted. A word to the wise."
    Cade glowered at her, clearly torn between anger and uncertainty. The conflict mirrored in his eyes only lasted for a few seconds, but that it should have been evident for even that length of time startled Jamie.
    Perhaps he wasn't as sure of her as he'd like her to believe.
    "All right, lady. You want your revenge. I guess I can't deny you that much. Just don't push it too far, okay?" He took her arm and propelled her forcefully out on deck. "It's been a long six weeks, honey."
    "Cade, I think you're leaving imprints in my arm," she pointed out tartly as he hustled her along the walk between the tethered boats. She didn't know whether to be relieved or alarmed at his change of mood.
    "I'd like to be leaving a few imprints elsewhere on your anatomy. I would never have guessed this summer that you could be such a stubborn little creature."

    "Maybe you didn't get to know me quite as well as you thought you did," she risked boldly as he stuffed her unceremoniously but not ungently into the passenger seat of the Mazda.
    For a split second the tawny gold eyes gleamed in the glow of the parking-lot lights. During that brief moment of fierce tension Jamie forced herself to remember that Cade Santerre was a dangerous man.
    "I know you very well, Jamie Garland. Don't you ever forget it."
    Several pithy responses to that statement went through Jamie's head as they sped back toward the motel, but none of them seemed likely to give her the last word so she kept her mouth shut. A flash of common sense warned her that she was lucky to be ending the evening this coolly and decisively as it was. There was no point in tempting fate.
    In the motel parking lot Jamie jumped out of the Mazda before Cade had even switched off the ignition.
    "An evening with you is always interesting, Cade. Thanks for dinner. If you decide to go ahead