Read Online Zinnia by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online Page A

I are not involved in a relationship.”
    “The Times called you Chastain’s companion, a loaded word if ever there was one.” He stabbed a finger at the tabloid lying on the desk. “And Synsation clearly states that you two are a couple. So, which is it?”
    “Neither. Is Clementine in yet?”
    “I’m here, Zinnia.” Clementine stuck her head around the door of her office. “I nearly had a seizure when I opened the paper. You okay?”
    “Yes, I’m fine.” Zinnia relaxed slightly. The sight of her part-time boss was somehow reassuring.
    Clementine Malone could be brusque and acerbic, and she had a very short fuse, but she was also savvy, good-hearted, and loyal to her employees.
    Unlike Byron, Clementine was not swayed by every passing gust of the fashion wind. Year in and year out she stuck with studded black leather and steel accessories. Her brush-cut, stark white hair was a brilliant contrast to her dark eyes.
    “I tried to call you but there was no answer,” Clementine said. “Kept getting the machine so I hung up and didn’t leave a message.”
    Zinnia grimaced. “The phone started ringing before I even got out of bed. I haven’t answered it all morning.”
    Clementine eyed her thoughtfully. “Mind telling me how in five hells you wound up in the company of Nick Chastain last night?”
    “It’s a long story. When I still couldn’t reach Morris Fenwick late yesterday evening, I sort of panicked. I leaped to the conclusion that Mr. Chastain had, uh, gotten hold of him.”
    “Gotten hold of him?”
    Zinnia groaned. “If you must know, I decided that Chastain had kidnapped him in order to try to intimidate him into turning over that journal that Morris had discovered. So I finally went to see him.”
    “Who? Fenwick?”
    “No, Nick Chastain.”
    Byron uttered a soft low whistle. “Holy synergy.”
    Clementine’s eyes narrowed. “Let me get this straight. You actually confronted Chastain in his own casino and accused him of snatching Fenwick?”
    “I’m afraid so.”
    Byron cleared his throat. “I hate to ask this, but does Chastain know that you work here part-time?”
    “Yes, he does.” Zinnia glanced at him. “Why?”
    Byron shuddered. “Just wanted to know if we should be prepared for a visit from some of his security personnel.”
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Byron.” Zinnia frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    “You accused him of kidnapping?” Clementine fell back against the door. “Say it ain’t so, Zin. Tell me that you’re just having a little cruel fun at poor old Clem’s expense.”
    For some obscure reason, Zinnia felt obliged to defend Nick. “He was actually quite decent about the whole thing. I don’t think he’s the type to hold a grudge.”
    “Decent?” Clementine pushed herself away from the door. “Not hold a grudge? For your information, Nick Chastain has a reputation in this city-state. No one screws Chastain and gets away with it. Nor does he take insults well. And he absolutely hates publicity, especially the kind he got in this morning’s papers.”
    “How do you know so much about him?” Zinnia asked.
    Clementine made a face. “Everybody who knows anything knows something about Chastain’s reputation. Gracie filled me in on some of the lesser-known tidbits, such as his dislike of publicity.”
    Gracie Proud, owner of Proud Prisms, was Clementine’s permanent partner. Same-sex alliances were treated just as seriously by society and the law as heterosexual marriages. Gracie and Clementine had been matched by a professional match-making agency several years ago and had been blissfully happy ever since, in spite of the fact that they were fierce business rivals. Gracie was always a fountain of inside information, rumors, and gossip, much of which tended to be extremely accurate.
    Zinnia drew herself up. “It certainly wasn’t my fault that Mr. Chastain chose to have me followed after I left the casino last night and that the guy who did the