Tell Me No Lies Read Online Free Page B

dressed in suits, sequins, and silk.
    What was Alexandra Jane Baker doing at this moment? Something about mat woman wasn't right.
    Then she was there in the picture, leading a local news crew through the house. She wasn't wearing that body-hugging sliver of a dress, so he gathered this had been taped earlier.
    Sound off, he watched her in pantomime. Her high cheekbones and wide, generous mouth looked good on TV, but there was something cold about her. Something stiff and held back. As though she were hiding the most important part.
    His eyes narrowed. Secrets were something he knew all about. What secrets was Alexandra Jane hiding?
    And did they have anything to do with Luka Kole?
    Hie camera panned a room, some kind of den, even though it seemed big enough to fit two of his bedrooms into it.
    He blinked, peered closely into the TV, but whatever he'd seen was gone, and the broadcast returned to the live shot of the Baker house and arriving guests.
    His stomach growled, and he thought longingly of the supper Rose was wanning in the kitchen. Maybe he hadn't seen anything. Maybe he'd imagined it
    Silently he cursed Parnell for suckering him in with this case, opened the closet, and found a clean shirt and another tie. Dinner would have to wait.
    Whether she liked it or not, A. J. Baker was about to see him again.
    ***
    Mikail Petrov turned off the television in the back of the limo. The little report on tonight's opening event had been carried by ABC's national newscast, which pleased him. Soon the whole country would be buying his Renaissance Oil.
    "Big night tonight, Mr. Petrov." Jeffrey Greer, the assistant to the assistant undersecretary for Economic Affairs at the State Department gave him an ingratiating smile.
    "Oh, yes," Miki Petrov said. "Big night for everyone," He settled back against the leather seat, satisfied that everything was off to a good start. Not bad for a kid from the Moscow ghetto.
    But he had always been smart, always done what had to be done, no looking back. And now that he'd taken care of every loose end, he could relax. Nothing stood in his way. After all, money talked in the new Russia, and the man who brought Russian oil to America would have a lot to say. People would listen. Rich, influential people. In the end, he'd have what he'd always wanted. Power.
    Perhaps he'd share it with the beautiful Miss Baker.
    He looked down at the heavy lump of gold on the little finger of his right hand. Three full-ounce Krugeirands had been melted down into a ring that was so big it swallowed his knuckle. He smiled, admiring the shine and the sheer size of it.
    "We set up a photo op with the governor," Greer said, flipping through a notebook. He was a young man, eager to please, with dark hair slicked close to his head and the blue suit and striped tie that comprised the perfectly correct uniform. He was the kind of man Miki knew how to break in fifteen minutes. The kind with too much at stake, career, reputation, who had never suffered, never been tempered in the heat of adversity. These things made him weak and malleable. And useful.
    Miki watched in silent amusement as Greer adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, a frequent gesture. "And the mayor, that Bonner guy, has been a pain in the ass about pictures. So you'll probably have to do a meet and greet with him, too."
    Miki shrugged, not caring. He liked having his picture taken. He was an important man, after all. "Fine. Whatever is necessary."
    "Good. I've worked out the schedule with A. J., and you should still have time to enjoy yourself."
    He intended to, and Miss Baker was high on his list of pleasures. She appealed to him, as did the promise in her eyes. Something he could guess but couldn't quite name, like fire blazing beneath frost.
    She was young enough to be his daughter if he'd had one, but she had a maturity, a hardness he found intriguing. No doubt she felt the same. He'd never had trouble with women. Almost sixty, he prided himself on looking