Gone Black Read Online Free Page A

groomsmen will be down there, too. You speed across the lake in the Cobalt and make your grand entrance right before we start the procession. In fact, that’s our cue to get the show on the road.”
    â€œCan’t wait.” And that was the understatement of the year.
    â€œEven better, the two of us can take off in the Cobalt after we get the damned deed over with and said a few how-de-dos and thank-yous and head back to Italy. Guests can party all night if they want. I’ve had enough of this white stuff sitting around all over the place.”
    â€œJust so we both sign the marriage certificate before we take off. I want this thing legal.”
    â€œGood grief, Black, you really think I’m gonna walk away from you now, after all this trouble?”
    â€œNo, but you better not.”
    â€œLet’s just get this wedding over with so we can get back to normal. I’ve got cases waiting. Novak can’t handle everything forever. He’s a great partner, but he’s got his limits.”
    Claire’s private detective agency in New Orleans was doing well, and Will Novak was working out fine as her trusted and intimidating colleague. She liked the work, but not as much as Black liked it for her. “As if anything about us has ever been normal.”
    Claire laughed at that because it was so true.
    â€œTell me about your gown. Long or short?”
    â€œGonna have to wait and see. But it is something that I had made especially to wow you with.”
    â€œOh, I’m going to be wowed all right. I’ll like everything that happens tomorrow. You just be ready for me. I have missed you like crazy.”
    â€œGood. Ditto, and all that good stuff. Everything all set over there?”
    â€œYou’re going to like it even better than you did that island in Tahiti.”
    â€œThat’s gonna take some doin’, Black. You know how I loved that little private slice of paradise and all those shady palm trees and that chef who cooked me everything I wanted.”
    â€œJust wait. You’ll see.”
    â€œWhen are you taking off?”
    â€œAs soon as I get back to the airstrip, and that’s where I’m headed now. Well within the hour, anyway. That’s gonna put me home very early tomorrow morning with time to spare.”
    â€œGood. Be careful. And don’t embarrass me by dragging in late and making everybody think you’re havin’ second thoughts.”
    â€œRest assured. Not gonna happen.”
    â€œI am ready, willing, and able, too. So quit with the worrying. I am not a runaway bride.”
    Black laughed. “You better not be. I’ll track you down. I have my sources.”
    â€œYeah, tell me about it.” She paused, listening to a female voice calling to her in the background. “Hey, I gotta go. Sounds like some kinda crisis outside. Probably can’t get the flowers arranged just alike. Something uber catastrophic like that.”
    â€œOkay, see you tomorrow. I love you.”
    â€œLove you, too. But I gotta go. Really, now, don’t get lost on your way home.”
    â€œDon’t worry.”
    Grinning to himself, Black hung the phone up and drove south on the winding curves edging the vast and majestic cliffs overlooking those gorgeous, breathtaking ocean vistas. The sea looked calm and so did the weather. Nothing was going to delay takeoff. By the time he turned off the highway onto the heavily wooded road leading out to Ricci’s airstrip, it had grown completely dark. He drove fast, eager to get in the air. As he rounded the last sharp curve, he saw something in the road, braked hard, and went into a long and harrowing sideways skid before coming to a screeching stop, only inches from a little boy standing right in the middle of the gravel road.
    Black muttered a curse, aware he had almost run the child down. Inside the smoky beams of his headlamps, he realized the kid was small, probably seven or eight,