Taking Flight (A Devereux Novel) Read Online Free

tried to be nonchalant, but she didn’t have to bother hiding her
interest too much. There were no young women in the city who weren’t interested in the young and
wealthy bachelor, no matter their own relationship status.
    “Derek? Oh my God, you
haven’t met him yet?” Melody’s expression perked up as though she was about to
let her new friend in on an amazing secret. “He is the most amazing guy. That
face… mmm!” Her eyes glazed as she stared wistfully into the distance.
    Sara couldn’t help but
smile, although it wasn’t the information she was looking for. She had felt
that pure magnetism in the few seconds she’d met his eyes. “He is gorgeous,
that’s a fact,” Sara agreed. “Have you ever talked with him? I’ve heard he’s a
little mysterious.”
    Sara had found over the years
that playing dumb and asking innocuous questions was the best way to extract
information from people without them even realizing it was happening. It was in
human nature to want to be seen as knowledgeable and important.
    “Oh, many times! Derek and I
have had some good chats.” The way Melody said it gave Sara the impression she
may exaggerate her experiences. “He’s easy to talk to, you know. I mean, it’s
intimidating, but also gives you that thrill, you know?”
    Sara kept an open and
impressed look on her face. “Wow! What did you talk about?”
    “Oh, just little things,
small talk, you know. He was at a party for one of my movies. It was surprising
he showed up—everyone was so thrilled. That alone probably helped it do a
little better than it might have otherwise.” Melody nattered on for a while
longer, the conversation shifting away from Derek and onto the movie’s
performance and her hopes for a spin-off where she might get a leading role,
and how big of a break that would be for her.
    She knows nothing about him. That much was clear. If Melody had gotten close with
Derek, she would have been more than happy to brag about it to her new closest
admirer. It was a disappointment, but expected. Getting information about the
man would be even more difficult than Sara had thought.
    At the earliest possible
opportunity, Sara excused herself and made her way to the bar, determined to
scout out a better connection that might be more useful to her goals.
    As she waited for her drink,
Sara scanned the room. It was amazing how many stars were there in one place,
for what a normal person might have assumed would be a non-event. Could this
many people care about rich boys who flew their planes around an obstacle
course? Or was it just the new chic thing, a past-time that leant a certain cachet to the audience?
    She spotted Derek and
watched as he left a group of people at the side of the room. She recognized
Rex, one of his regular opponents in the air races. That was one thing certain
from her preliminary research—there was no love lost between those two.
    Then, the dark eyes swept
across her again. For the second time that night, they met hers and stayed. A
tingle swept along the back of Sara’s neck, a feeling she hadn’t experienced in
years. She couldn’t help but smile a little at her body’s reaction to the eye
contact.
    Uh oh. He’s not looking away. She hadn’t thought she might attract Derek’s
attention on the first night she was near him. Getting close and talking to him
was a virtual necessity for the story and her investigation, but that would
come much later—when she had all the background she needed to ask the
right questions. She was not ready for a meeting yet.
    Despite her thoughts, she
couldn’t bring herself to drop her eyes. It was impossible to stop looking at
that face.
    He looked away, and Sara
took a deep breath. Unable to think of a better escape, she pretended to drop
her purse and crouched down behind the bar to pick it up. Damn. That was intense. It took a minute for her to regain her
breath, all the while she pretended to search through her purse for lip gloss .
    She peered