A Question of Trust Read Online Free Page B

an eyebrow and looked back at Maddie. Maddie turned scarlet.
    Connor grinned like an idiot.
    Maddie dropped her gaze to the table.
    Gabe winked at Connor.
    Connor nodded at Gabe.
    No further communication was necessary.
    Shite, he was stiff as a rod. His jeans pulled tight across his straining cock, paining him. He pulled his hand away, freeing hers, desperate for some form of distraction. “So, Maddie, tell me. Do you like lateral thinking puzzles?”
    Maddie stared at her hand, perplexed. Then she shook her head and looked up at him. “From pajama parties to lateral thinking puzzles. That’s quite a jump.”
    “Humor me, sweetheart. Thoughts of you in your pajamas have got me hot as hell. I need to think about something else. Anything else.”
    Her eyes clouded and she looked away as a waiter leaned over her, filling her glass with merlot. By the time the waiter moved on, Maddie’s gaze was clear and her voice bright. “It just so happens I’m an expert at lateral thinking.”
    Connor sure hoped so. Tonight Maddie was going to be asked to think outside the box. Far outside the box. To put all her usual expectations and moral codes on hold and view the world differently. Would she be able to do it? Would she want to?
    Gabe seemed to think so.
    Connor hoped so. “Two men walk into a bar. They each order a scotch on the rocks. The one downs his drink and goes off to play darts. The other plays a game of darts first, and then sips his drink slowly. Five minutes later, he’s dead.”
    “And I need to explain…?”
    “Why the one man is dead and the other still alive.”
    She nodded musingly. “Did he have a heart attack?”
    Connor shook his head. It wasn’t working. Watching her mull over the puzzle was not making him any softer. “He was in perfect health.”
    “Was he murdered?”
    Ah ha. She was beginning to think outside the box. Good. He liked that. “He was.”
    “By a dart?”
    “Nope. The dart had nothing to do with it.”
    “Was he attacked?”
    “Nope.” He hesitated a fraction of a second before adding, “nothing happened to him that did not happen to his friend.” Just like with him and Gabe. But that was a whole other story. A whole other conundrum for Maddie to dwell on at a later stage.
    “And yet his friend was fine…” Her voice trailed off as she contemplated the puzzle. Absently, she picked up her water and took a sip. Connor watched as her lips touched the rim of the glass, as she poured the clear liquid into her mouth. He watched as she swallowed delicately, once and then twice.
    Christ, he wanted those lips on his dick. Wanted her to swallow any liquid she found there.
    Ice tinkled against the glass as she set it down on the table. She raised an eyebrow and lifted the glass again. “The drink. There was poison in the drink.”
    Beautiful, sexy and intelligent. Gabe, the lucky bastard, had struck gold. “Ah, but both men were given the identical drink. If there was poison in them, why did one man die and not the other?”
    She tilted the glass beside his ear and jiggled it. The ice tinkled again.
    He was right. There was more to Madeline Jones than blank eyes and an empty smile. The woman was sassy and savvy and sensual, and he liked her. A lot.
    “Because, smart ass, it wasn’t the scotch that was poisoned, it was the ice.” Her smile was jubilant. “By the time the second man had his drink, the ice had melted and the poison had seeped into the scotch. The first man drank it straight away. There was no time for the poison to reach the drink.”
    Connor nodded. “Not bad. Not bad at all.” She was the first person who’d ever worked out the puzzle. Everyone else gave up too easily or begged for clues. Not Maddie. She stuck at it and worked it out.
    Would she stick with the Connor-Gabe conundrum too?
    “I told you, I’m an expert.” Her tone was haughty, her nose in the air.
    He laughed. Maddie wasn’t just smart and sexy, she was funny. Never mind the urge to sleep