Island of Darkness Read Online Free

appreciation of her perfume. “And you’re no boy,” he declared firmly. “So who the hell are you?”
    “Boss —” Scottie began, but was silenced by a raised hand.
    “Let her answer for herself,” Jason Connor told him, and laughed again bitterly. “Unless her tongue's useless too, of course. Come on, cara mia, speak up - and preferably in English! What little birdies is Scottie luring up to my hideaway?” He turned to Scottie and grinned. “You old devil, I never expected you to be entertaining the local lassies -”
    “Will you listen?” Scottie begged, but without much hope of being allowed to explain.
    “Or have you got some ulterior motive for bringing her here?” his employer asked. “Like hauling me out of the selfpity you’re convinced I’m wallowing in!”
    “You have all the wrong ideas, Mr. Connor!” She was glad but a little surprised to find how clear and cool her voice sounded, and he looked startled for a moment, then frowned.
    “Oh, so you’re English, are you?” he asked softly.
    “That’s even more interesting! And where might you have come from, little Miss Curious?”
    It was obvious he suspected her of being a journalist in search of a story, and to a certain extent she could sympathise, but he had subjected her to that disturbing ordeal with no more reason than to satisfy his own malicious ends, and she was angry. Angry enough to want to be revenged on the man who was baiting her so ruthlessly.
    She snatched her hands free from his grip. “I happen to live in Terolito, Mr. Connor,” she told him in a small tight voice. I’ve lived there for a lot longer than you’ve been here, and what Scottie - Mr. McLellan says is true. Roberto, the man you buy your fish from, has some domestic trouble and I brought some lobsters over for him. I’m not in the least interested in you or what you do!”
    If that was less than the truth, she had no intention of admitting it and she gained a certain satisfaction from guessing he had no often been spoken to so bluntly before, and especially by a woman. She did not for the moment realise she was still sitting on the edge of the chair, but she hastily moved her arm out of touch when he shifted his position and half turned to face her. She had had enough physical contact with Jason Connor for one day.
    She was not happy either about the way Scottie was looking at her, as if he thought she had been too harsh with his famous and volatile charge. She got to her feet, her cheeks warmly pink, looking at Scottie with eyes that shone much more brightly than they should, and with her brain spinning with the tangle of emotions she felt. “I’d better go, Scottie,” she said in as steady a voice as she could manage.
    “Wait!” Despite her anxiety to leave, she obeyed the demand and stood beside Scottie who looked anxious and unhappy.
    Jason Connor got to his feet with less trouble than she would have expected. He was much taller than she realised too and the lean hardness of his body was even more evident with his shirt swinging open. The gold medallion caught her eye and she wondered if he wore it simply because he realised it gave him a piratical and somewhat primitive appeal.
    “I still don’t know why you came,” he said, and Leonora frowned.
    “I told you, Mr. Connor,” she said quietly. “I brought the lobsters over for Roberto.”
    One fair brow lifted above the concealing dark lenses and that wry, twisted smile appeared again. “You surely don’t expect me to believe that yarn, do you?” he asked, and Leonora flushed angrily.
    “You can believe what you like!” she retorted. “But you’ll find you’ve got lobster for lunch, and they didn’t climb up here of their own accord!”
    “It’s true, boss,” Scottie assured him, breaking his silence at last. “Lucia’ll tell you.”
    “Oh, I don’t say she didn’t bring the lobsters,” Jason Connor told him with a knowing smile. “I just wonder what reason a well-schooled