Angel's Ransom Read Online Free

assistance in helping Valentina from the carriage.
    ‘Come on, doll,’ he said. ‘I’m pooped. Come meet the Angel before I fall over dead.’
    Valentina wore a sheathlike evening gown that made her descent from the fiacre something of a problem but invited inspection of a truly magnificent body. Blake did not wonder that she had caught Freddy ’s eye, nor that Laura di Lucca was jealous of her. Bruno, yawningly wakened, did not try to hide his frank admiration of the blonde girl ’s provocative figure, ignoring his wife completely to follow Valentina and Freddy aboard the cruiser. It was Blake who helped Laura di Lucca from the carriage and handed her along to Cesar, waiting at the head of the gangplank to sort the guests into their proper cabins.
    When they and their host had disappeared from sight, George Saunders said, ‘You’re going to have hair pulling this trip, Captain. The di Lucca is jealous of her pretty boy. What ’s the truth about the baroness? Did Freddy really give her the yacht?’
    ‘About the same way he gave you the horses.’
    ‘I wondered how generous he might be in a weak moment. He handed the blonde dish at least half-a-million francs to throw away at chemin de fer last night.’
    ‘He has more.’
    ‘What ’s he worth nowadays? In round billions.’
    ‘I don’t keep the books. I just steer the yacht.’
    ‘Where are you steering it this trip?’
    ‘I can’t say.’
    The reporter ’s manner changed. Open truculence was in his voice when he said, ‘I’m a working stiff, Captain. I’m after a story. I want to give Freddy a sympathetic treatment if I can, but I don’t have to.’
    Blake felt his own hackles rise. He said, ‘If that ’s a threat, you’re wasting your ammunition. I told you I run his yacht for him. I’m not his publici ty man, and I don’t give a soli tary damn whether you make him look sympathetic or hold him up as a horrible example. It means nothing to me at all. Is that clear enough?’
    George ’s lip curled. He said, ‘Pretty independent talk for a sea-going chauffeur.’
    ‘That ’s what I am. I can’t tell you where we’re going because I don’t know. I don’t think Freddy knows. We’re just disappearing from sight, to keep the baroness guessing.’
    ‘What kind of money does he pay you to help him run from a woman?’
    Instead of angering Blake further, it made him laugh. To have arrived at the point of exchanging insults with a man he had known only for minutes was ridiculous.
    He said, ‘I’m a working stiff, too. I draw a salary to do the job I was hired for. Do you agree with all the editorial policies of the paper that pays your wages?’
    ‘I’m a freelance. One of the reasons is because I didn’t agree with editorial policies.’
    ‘Your ethical standards are higher than mine, then.’
    ‘They’re higher than most. I like them that way.’ George climbed to the driver ’s seat of the fiacre and took up the reins. ‘You’re too smart to listen, but I’ll give you a free tip just the same, Captain. The baroness was an amateur. That blonde piece you’ve got aboard could snatch the yacht right out from under you and Freddy before you even knew what was happening. You may not be drawing a salary from him for long.’
    ‘You know her well?’
    ‘I don’t know her at all. I know her type. For a homely guy without much hair, I’ve been around.’
    ‘I’ll bet you don’t get taken very often by scheming blondes, do you?’ Blake mocked.
    ‘No,’ George said seriously. ‘I don’t. Bon voyage , friend. And you’re never too smart to learn.’
    He slapped the backs of the dozing horses with the reins and drove away. Blake stood looking after the fiacre until it turned off the jetty on to the quay, then shrugged his shoulders and went about t he business of preparing for de parture. He thought that if he knew George Saunders better he would either like him greatly or detest him. He wasn’t sure which it would be.
    The Angel