Charades Read Online Free

planned?”
         “I was unsure right up until the time you walked into the office.” She clicked her tongue and smiled. “Were you faking that reaction?”
         “What reaction?” he asked.
         She dipped her head. “Nothing, I must’ve been mistaken. But Wulf,” she said, still smiling at him. “That accent?”
         “You should know the first thing you do with an opponent is disarm him. I’ve already adopted the accent for my negotiations with Ryder. There’s nothing better to take away her fear of me than my needing her. Hell, if nothing else, I’ll let her translate for me.”
         “But what about later, in Germany?”
         He snorted. “Hazel, we’ll be speaking German in Germany.”
         “Can you keep that accent going for a whole week?”
         He shrugged. “I’ve done it for longer periods of time. I’m good at languages. You know that.”
         His gift for languages had already helped Steiger Oil more than once. In business a lot of people dealt their cards from the bottom of the deck, it was just part of the game. But this was different. He wasn’t proud of his abilities at the moment; he felt manipulative and calculating.
         Wulf stood and paced back to the window. If he and Anton didn’t need this venture with Reveille Oil, he’d tell Hazel to go to hell. No, that’s not entirely true. Anton wanted the deal with Reveille Oil, but he was really doing it for his father. Jacob worshiped the state of Israel, and if the Organization could accomplish its goals, they would see that the money fell into the right hands. With his help, of course. Help that Jacob couldn’t avoid acknowledging. For as long as Wulf could remember, he’d striven for his father’s praise and approval. This time he might get it. He just had to ignore his gut reaction when he thought about deceiving an innocent like Mercy.
         Besides, Mercy wasn’t as innocent and naive as she seemed. She was a woman, and Wulf hadn’t trusted women since he found out how his mother had lied to his father. Was he any better, though? At least his mother had deceived his father because she loved him.
         He took a deep breath, praying for the first time in years that God would forgive him for the lies he’d already told, and for the ones he’d be telling in the future.

Chapter 2
* * *
              Mercy decided to look on the coming week as an unexpected vacation. The Ryders’ nine-hole golf course was an intriguing prospect. She made a solemn vow not be scared, awkward, or uncomfortable during the next week. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to go about doing that. The attraction she felt toward Wulf was not only confusing but annoying and alarming. What would it be like to pretend to be his fiancée?
         She recognized all the signs of anxiety—the fluttering hands, the rapid erratic pulse, but most of all the breathlessness. In spite of all that, she couldn’t wait to see him. No logic to it at all, but since when had she ever been good at logic?
         Wulf’s fumbling with the language barrier—heavy accent, bad grammar, and laughable pronunciation—was almost as endearing as it was comical. He reminded her of a child trying to play the violin with a hacksaw. He needed her, and she needed to be needed. Hadn’t she worked with German students for just that reason?
         Taking deep breaths through her nostrils, her pulse raced as she scrambled to finish her packing. In spite of the incipient panic, only the thought that this must be difficult for him, too, propelled her as she tossed the final items into her suitcase.
         As Mercy pulled into the parking lot, she spied Wulf leaning against a car, his arms folded casually over his chest. He wore khaki slacks, a long-sleeved plaid shirt rolled up to his elbows, and wire-rimmed aviator’s sunglasses. She stopped the car and watched spellbound as he unfolded his long length and walked over to greet