Just Believe Read Online Free

slowly toward the
door leading to the rest of the apartment.
    Two, perfect, twinkling, shimmering
spots of light flew out the door.
    Just like Tinkerbell.
    She stood staring.
    Annabelle shook her head to clear it.
Tinkerbell! For heaven's sake, get a grip!
    She should have gotten some sleep last
night. Surely that was all this was. She was tired and the sparks
of light were only the result of fatigue.
    She had a job to do. She applied
herself to picking up the clothes and laying them across the bed,
looking for a clue to Lucas's whereabouts, a matchbook from a bar,
a take-out menu, or ticket stubs from a porno house,
anything.
    Finding nothing, she went out into the
small kitchen.
    The sink overflowed with unwashed
dishes. After dismissing this poor housekeeping as only more
substantiation for the bachelor-slob myth, Annabelle looked again.
Then she tried to raise the top dish, using only one fingertip in
an effort to avoid the mess. Five dishes stuck one to another as
though super-glued.
    Ugh. Annabelle let the pile down again
gingerly. Lucas Riley must be the world's worst
housekeeper.
    Still, something didn't fit the rest of
the scene. Other than the mess in the bedroom and living room--an
obvious ransacking job--the apartment was clean, no pizza boxes
littering the coffee table or discarded newspapers or girlie
magazines carpeting the floor. Someone kept this place up. And if
he had a housekeeper, why hadn't she done the dishes? Something
didn't add up until Annabelle followed the evidence before her eyes
to the obvious conclusion.
    He hadn't been here for a few
days.
    This struck her as the most likely
explanation. And it made Erin's story of his disappearance more
troubling.
    And those flying points of light? They
weren't UFOs. Were they?
    Annabelle dropped down in the big
recliner facing the entertainment center, letting everything settle
down in her head.
    There aren't any UFOs, Annabelle. You
make those stories up, remember? Still, something had flown out of
the closet, close enough to her head that she could still hear
the...how could she describe it?
    Twinkle? No. It was a
tinkle.
    It was time to check herself into the
hospital where she and Erin could spin yarns all day long. Only now
she believed there was something to the situation besides
self-delusion.
    I am not nuts. Once didn't convince
her, so she repeated it, a sanity mantra.
    There was nothing more to find here.
Not even a clue about where Lucas Riley spent his free time. With a
deep breath, Annabelle started to get up, when the phone
rang.
    After three rings, the recorded message
came on asking the caller to leave his name. No wonder Erin didn't
want to admit what a snake he was. Lucas spoke in a rumbling bass
tinged with the faintest hint of an accent; so faint she couldn't
quite place it. It was about the sexiest thing she'd ever
heard.
    At least that was her opinion before
she heard the caller's voice.
    "Lucas? You'd better be pickin' up that
phone, boyo. Come on, now, pick up!"
    Deeper, richer, the accent a bit
stronger, perhaps because of irritation? As seconds ticked by, the
caller waited. Annabelle caught her breath, waiting with him,
hoping he'd speak again.
    "All right, you want to play that game,
do you? Fine. Lucas, this is your brother, Gaelen. I'm in my
office. I just got a call to a convocation, and you're invited,
too, lad, if you can fit business into your busy social calendar. I
have no idea what it's about, only Eochy said it was urgent. So get
your rear up there."
    Gaelen hung up, leaving Annabelle to
shake off a feeling of loss. It was ridiculous. She didn't even
know the man. Just because he sounded sexy and handsome didn't mean
he was.
    Still, such a voice couldn't be wasted
on an unassuming man. It had to be just one piece of a total
package. And quite a package it must be.
    Oh,stop it! She leaned back in the
recliner and drummed her fingers on the worn arms. Concentrate on
the other Riley brother.
    Of course, to find Lucas Riley