Catnapped! (A Matchmaker Mystery Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

Pete’s after?”
    Armani nodded enthusiastically. “That’s why I’m here. To deliver her name.”
    Pete got a sick feeling in his stomach. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to set me up with her.”
    “Oh no,” Armani assured him. “She’s another one of my success stories. She married my boss.” She rolled her eyes skyward and shrugged her shoulders. “I guess you could say it was my friend Maggie who put it together, but I gave her all the clues. Teamwork. It was definitely a joint effort.”
    “You work for another psychic matchmaker?” Mauricio asked, disbelief making his voice crack like a teenage boy’s.
    “You’re a pretty one, but not too much going on up here”.” Armani tapped her forehead. “I work for an insurance company.”
    “Did you just call my son stupid?” Juana fumed. “You, you…”
    Armani’s eyes narrowed, preparing to be insulted.
    “Can I please have the name of the person who can help me find the damn cat?” Pete yelled, sensing his chance to get in Alyssa’s good graces slipping away with every inane comment made in the conversation.
    Juana and Armani glared at one another for a moment longer. While they did, Mauricio turned and began walking away.
    “Where are you going, mijo?” Juana called after him.
    “Someplace sane,” he muttered, not breaking his stride.
    “He needs a woman in his life,” Armani told Juana.
    “I know.” Juana frowned after her disappearing son. “I try… but…”
    “Can you help Mauricio with his love life after you’ve helped me with mine?” Pete practically begged.
    “No problem,” Armani said. “It’ll be easy as pie.”
    Even when she said the words, Pete knew they weren’t true, but he knew he had to try.
     

 

Chapter 5
     
    Alyssa did her best to strangle her car’s steering wheel as she drove to the Michelman house.
    She didn’t like that Pete had been doing research on her.  There were doors to her past she wanted kept firmly locked. He shouldn’t be snooping. If he found out how she’d ended up here, Jane might not want anything to do with her. And really, Jane was her only friend. She had no family.
    The newly familiar sense of loneliness filled her, but she gave herself a mental slap. There was no point in feeling sorry for herself.
    Friends and family. Who needed them?
    She forced her mind to focus on the current problem. Where was Mr. Burberry? And, more importantly, just how much danger was Mrs. M. in?
    She parked in front of the mansion and bounded up the stairs. The door swung open before she reached the top.
    “I thought I asked you to sit with her?” Worry made her voice sharper than she’d intended.
    Roscoe Underwood shrugged meekly. A move that made him look more like a shy ten-year-old boy than a guy who could be a body double for a professional wrestler. “I heard you pull in.”
    “Does she know yet?” Alyssa whispered.
    He shook his head.
    “Did you search the house again?”
    He shook his head. “How? You told me to sit with her.”
    “Oh yeah.”
    Roscoe squinted at her. “Are you okay? You looked flushed.”
    She knew he was asking, not because of her physical appearance, but because it was so out of character for her to ask a question she should have known the answer to. “You caught me mid-workout.”
    He nodded, but she got the impression he didn’t quite believe her.
    “I’ll take a quick look for him,” she continued, hoping to divert his attention. “Then I’ll tell her.”
    The relief on the big man’s face was so intense she had to swallow a laugh. While Mrs. M. was a tiny, frail, old woman, her personality was intimidating.
    Deciding to work her way from the top down, Alyssa ran up the middle staircase and began searching the bedrooms. The antique-filled guest bedroom didn’t offer a cat too many hiding places, so it was quickly obvious he wasn’t there.
    He also wasn’t hiding in the lace- and doily-covered master suite that reeked of lavender, Mildred’s