Shadow Dance Read Online Free Page A

MacKenna is barely half the size it used to be. And of course they stole the treasure too.”
    “The treasure that started the feud,” Jordan said, letting her irritation show.
    He gave her a sly grin and then dismissed her as he turned to Isabel. “I couldn’t travel with all the boxes, and I’ll have to put them in storage when I leave for Scotland. If you want to look through them, you’d best come to Texas within the next two weeks.”
    “You’re leaving in two weeks? But I start school, and I…” She stopped, took a breath, and blurted, “I can miss the first week.”
    Jordan stopped her. “Isabel, you can’t miss an entire week. You’ll need to get your class schedule and your books…you can’t go running off to Texas. Why can’t the professor e-mail the research files to you?”
    “Most of my research is handwritten, and I’ve only put a few dates and names on my computer. I could send those, and I will as soon as I get back home, but without my papers, none of it will make sense to you.”
    “What about mailing the boxes?” Jordan suggested.
    “Oh, no, I could never do that,” he said. “The expense…”
    “We’ll pay for shipping,” Jordan offered.
    “I don’t trust the mail. Those boxes could get lost, and that’s years of research. No, no, I won’t risk it. You’ll have to come to Texas, Isabel. Perhaps when I come back…although…”
    “Yes?” Isabel asked, thinking he had come up with a solution.
    “I might decide to stay in Scotland, depending on my finances, and if I do, my research materials will stay in storage until I’m ready to return for them. If you wish to read what I’ve accumulated, it’s now or never,” he asserted.
    “Could you have someone photocopy the files?” Isabel asked.
    “I have no one to do it for me, and I simply don’t have the time. I’m getting ready for my trip. You’ll have to make the copies yourself when you come.”
    Isabel let out a huge sigh of frustration, and Jordan, seeing how important this was to her, felt sympathy for her dilemma. As irritated as she was that the professor had created a biased record against her ancestors, she was sorry that Isabel wouldn’t get to learn more about the history of her land.
    “I might decide to do a little research on my own,” Jordan said as she stood to leave Isabel and the professor to finish their discussion.
    The obnoxious man had gotten under her skin, and she was determined to dig up a few facts to prove him wrong. The Buchanans were all savages? What kind of a history professor would make such a blanket statement? Just how credible was he? Was he really a history professor? Jordan was definitely going to check him out.
    “Perhaps I’ll prove the Buchanans were the saints,” she asserted.
    “That’s hardly possible, dearie. My research is impeccable.”
    She glanced over her shoulder as she walked away. “We’ll see.”

I T WAS AFTER TEN BEFORE J ORDAN FINALLY HAD A CHANCE TO remove her contacts. She walked back to the ballroom and stood near the entrance trying to spot Noah in the crowd on the dance floor. He still had her glasses in his pocket.
    Professor MacKenna had left the reception an hour before, and Isabel had apologized profusely for his rude behavior. Jordan told her not to worry, that she hadn’t been offended, and she left Isabel fretting about the boxes of research. Jordan thought about offering to help her out but changed her mind. Even though she was, as Michael reminded her, fancy-free these days and was curious to read some of his likely bogus research, doing so meant she would have to suffer more of the professor’s company. No, thank you. Nothing was worth spending even one hour with that man.
    “What’s got you frowning?”
    Her brother Nick asked the question as he sauntered over to her.
    “I’m not frowning. I’m squinting. Noah has my glasses. Do you see him?”
    “Yeah. He’s right in front of you.”
    She focused in, spotted him, and then did