Storm Surge. Celia Ashley

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ for?”

      Paige glanced over her shoulder. A woman with unnatural crimson hair glared at her from the sidewalk. “Cora Showalter?” Paige said. “This is the last address I have for her. Does she still live here?”

      The woman wrinkled her nose. “Nope.”

      “Do you know where I can find her?”

      “Try the Episcopalian cemetery.”

      Paige’s fingers tightened around the notepad, spiraled wire digging into her palm. “When did she die?”

      “A few months back. Her daughter lives here now, but you won’t find her at home at this hour of the day. She works. And she won’t like an out-of-towner lurking on her sidewalk,” the woman added.

      Paige sighed. “The accent, of course.”

      “And the fact you didn’t know about Cora. Any long-time resident knew about Cora the moment she passed.”

      “Was she that well-loved?”

      The woman’s mouth twitched. “No.”

      Paige strode down the walkway but halted a short distance away from Cora’s erstwhile neighbor. “So, are you a long-time resident, Miss—?”

      “Of course.”

      No offer of a name. Paige bit the inside of her lip. “Then maybe you knew Edwin Waters or Debra Waters?”

      “Nope, can’t say I ever did.”

      Paige didn’t quite believe her. She didn’t expect her parents to be known to everyone in the town, naturally, but the way the woman looked away when she answered made her suspect. Paige recognized there’d be no point in accusations, though. She thanked the woman and turned away, crossing the name Cora Showalter from the lined paper with a vigorous scoring.

      “What have you got there?”

      Paige glanced back. “Nothing. Thank you for your information.” Paige started walking back in the direction of Main Street. Behind her, she heard the woman’s heels clicking sharply in scurrying pursuit.

      “Wait! Wait just one second.”

      “Yes?” Paige paused in anticipation of last minute information. The woman clattered up beside her and snatched the pad and pencil from Paige’s hands.

      “Let me see what you’ve got here.”

      Shocked, Paige reached to take the notebook back, but the woman turned a shoulder to her. Paige realized she wouldn’t get the notebook back without a struggle. Not until the woman finished scanning the list, making little noises through her teeth as she ticked off each name. She went back and crossed through some of them before returning pad and pencil.

      “There,” she said.

      “Why did you do that?”

      “Those people,” the woman explained, wagging her pointer finger over the page, “useless to try and hunt them up. They won’t be helping you. They’re gone, one way or another. As for the rest? You pound on the wrong doors, you’re going to find trouble. People around here, they don’t like strangers.”

      “Yes,” said Paige, “I’m getting that impression.”

      Holding Paige’s gaze while she gave a short, sharp nod, the woman backed away and spun on her heel. Paige scanned the lined page again. Her information pool had been reduced by more than half.

      * * * *

      Sweat stinging the sunburn on her nape and shoulder, Paige returned to the cottage discouraged. Not one of the residents on the remaining list had been home. Paige parked her car in the graveled spot that served as a driveway and climbed out to hammering coming from next door. If she hadn’t totally alienated the man, Liam Gray might be of some help. After sweating all day, she lifted an arm for a quick sniff to make certain she didn’t smell like a cow’s backside before heading over to the house where she had spent her earliest years.

      The first thing she saw as she rounded the beach-facing porch was sawhorses laden with packs of cedar shakes. On top of the nearest pack, a faded blue shirt fluttered in the breeze. Paige’s gaze shot to the top of a ladder to the porch roof where Liam, shirtless, muscular, and lightly browned, straddled a pile of cedar with his back to her, hammering replacement shakes into place. Paige bit her lip.

      “I’ll be right down,” he said without turning.

      Paige pivoted away, heat flaming her cheeks with more ferocity than the sunburn at her neck. Naturally, he would be able to see the whole beach reflected in the second floor windows, including her upturned face gawking at him.

      The ladder rattled with his descent. She waited until he had slipped back into his shirt before looking at him. He hadn’t buttoned the garment. The soft fabric hung over his torso, negligently revealing more than it covered.

      “What can I do for you today, Ms. Waters? Was there something you needed?”

      Annoyed with herself for her distraction and him for his sarcasm, Paige shifted her gaze away from Liam’s naked chest. “For starters, you can call me Paige.”

      “Paige,” he said. “Better? Did you need something from me?” His tone had become guarded. As it should be, she supposed. She hadn’t been very friendly when they’d met before. If nothing else, the hour hadn’t been conducive to the usual niceties. As for needing something from him, well, she didn’t want to think about the way he looked in his open shirt. Because there was that need. Her mind had gone there straightaway, to that simple, dangerous, heated need. One foisted on her by solitude and loneliness and a desire to be held, to melt away until, for a while, nothing of herself remained. He stared down at her, waiting.

      “I thought I might ask you about my father.”

      He appeared mystified. “Your father?”

      “Yes. Did you not hear me this morning when I said I was Edwin Waters’ daughter?”

      “I heard you.”

      Something in his manner snapped her drifting focus back to his face again. His black lashes had lowered, partially concealing his eyes.

      “Did you know him?” she asked. “My father?”

      “Why would you think I knew him?”

      “But you knew of him,” she persisted. “You made mention about him dying shortly after you bought the house.”

      “Yes, I did. But it doesn’t mean I knew him or anything about him.”

      Paige sighed. “Somebody has to.”

      Liam’s lashes lifted. The thought process behind his dark eyes remained unreadable.

      “I don’t even know exactly how he died except the rather useless ‘his ship went down.’” Embarrassed by her voice’s beseeching tenor, she inhaled to steady herself. “Can you at least tell me that?”

      He started moving toward СКАЧАТЬ