BlackWind: Viraiden and Bronwyn Read Online Free

shutting her door and picked up her pocketbook. He cursed when he realized some of its contents had spilled on the wet pavement. Scooping up what items he saw, he jammed them into the bag and sprinted back to his car.
    15
    Charlotte Boyett-Compo
    * * * * *
    As the black sports car rolled carefully back into the underground parking garage, a hand snaked under Bronwyn’s car to retrieve her wallet, lying behind the driver’s side rear wheel. Wet fingers unsnapped the leather wallet and folded back the top section to reveal the recent driver’s license.
    While thunder shook the ground and brilliant flashes of light scrawled childlike across the firmament, Bronwyn McGregor’s driver’s license was slipped from its plastic casing before the wallet was placed once more beneath the car.
    * * * * *
    “Good Lord, you are soaked through!” Deirdre exclaimed as Bronwyn ambled into Sage’s office.
    She laughed. “You think?”
    “She said she needed a bath anyway,” Sage observed.
    “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?” his father snapped.
    “Ah, if you’ll notice, this is where I’m supposed to be,” Sage said dryly. “This is my office, I believe.”
    Neal Hesar ignored him. “I am Neal Hesar, this lout’s father. Do you remember me from Albany?”
    “Yes, sir,” Bronwyn admitted. “Vaguely, though.”
    “I hope we’ll get to know one another quite well.” He held out his hand. “Welcome to Baybridge and Wynth Industries. We are so pleased you decided to take the job.”
    Bronwyn wiped her wet hand down her equally wet suit jacket then took his hand.
    “I’m happy to be here, although I swear I didn’t bring this weather with me.” She grinned. “When I left Florida, it was sunny and bright.”
    “If you don’t like our weather, just wait a few minutes and it’ll change,” Sage advised.
    “Don’t pay any attention to my poggleheaded son. His mother dropped him early on and he hasn’t been right since.”
    “Mom said you dropped me. Wish you two would get your stories straight.”
    After casting his son an annoyed look, Neal looked at Deirdre. “I’m sure Bronwyn would like to get out of those wet things, DeeDee. Why don’t Smart Mouth and I leave you two to chat?” He caught sight of Brownie and blinked. “Is this the lovely Schnoodle?”
    Bronwyn laughed. “That’s Brown Stuff. Ask me how she got her name.”
    “Bronwyn Fiona!” her mother groaned, her face turning red.
    “Glad to see I ain’t the only one who makes ye olde parental units blush,” Sage whispered to Bronwyn.
    16
    BlackWind: Viraiden and Bronwyn
    “Brownie for short, though, eh?” Neal asked with a twitch of his lips. He squatted and gave the dog a gentle pat. “My, but you are a precious little thing.”
    “The Terminator will love her,” Sage said.
    Bronwyn frowned. “Terminator?”
    Deirdre sighed. “That’s what Neal named my Chihuahua.”
    “Her jealous suitor,” Sage corrected. “The blasted little booger chewed up a pair of Dad’s best loafers.” His black eyes twinkled. “He shouldn’t have left them under DeeDee’s bed—”
    “Out!” Neal said, shoving his son toward the door. He sent Sage staggering into the hallway then firmly shut the door behind them.
    Deirdre put her hand over her mouth and turned away, her face infused with color.
    “Is there something I need to know, Mom?” Bronwyn inquired.
    Her mother went to the sofa to get her purse. “He’s a very nice man and quite handsome, don’t you think?”
    “He looked like a drowned rat to me.”
    “A drowned…” Deirdre shook her head. “I was referring to Neal, not Sage.”
    “Oh, him. He seems quite pleasant and, yes, he is very handsome.”
    “As is his son.”
    “I’ll let you know when I see him without his hair plastered to his forehead, although—” she linked her arm through her mother’s “—those clothes he was wearing clung to all the right spots, you know?”
    Deirdre snorted. “Stop trying to