Formula for Danger. Camy Tang

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ first. If the family nurse says so, then I’ll go to the hospital.” Just the thought of all the people in a crowded emergency room made Rachel cringe. She only wanted a quiet place to lie down and recover. “I’m sorry about your laptop.”

      “Forget the laptop, I’m worried about you.”

      “I only took a fall, nothing worse. But that laptop was new—”

      “I can buy a new one. Besides, I’m almost glad it was new because it didn’t have anything on it, so the spa didn’t lose any sensitive information. That would have been worse.” Especially since Naomi still managed the spa while their father recovered from his stroke. Naomi had bought the computer to help her with the spa’s accounting.

      “We should call the police and report it stolen.”

      “We should call Dad and Aunt Becca first.” Naomi dug her cell phone out of her pocket.

      “Call Aunt Becca. Aren’t she and Detective Carter out to dinner tonight?” The two of them were dating again after an argument that had kept them apart for a few months. It was almost 10:00 p.m., but they might still be together at a movie.

      As Naomi talked to Aunt Becca—who indeed was with Detective Horatio Carter—Rachel managed to sit up, although the evening sky spun around her. She clutched her hands together, trying to stop their shaking. She’d been attacked in the spa parking lot!

      Clicking heels made Rachel look up. Gloria Reynolds, one of Naomi’s massage clients, tripped toward them. “Dr. Grant, are you all right? Did that man hurt you?”

      “Ms. Reynolds, you’re still here?” Not the most tactful thing to say, but her headache was making it hard for her to be polite.

      “Ms. Reynolds was my last client for tonight,” Naomi told Rachel as she ended her call with Aunt Becca.

      Gloria flipped her highlighted hair with a manicured hand. “The security guard was walking me to my car when he saw that person running away. Miss Grant,” Gloria said to Naomi, “you really should talk to that guard. He ran after the person and left me by myself. Even when I called to him. And it was obvious the other guard was after the man, too, so there was no need for him to give chase.”

      Naomi smiled politely and responded with amazing courtesy when Rachel knew she must be rolling her eyes inside.

      A flash of car headlights made Rachel wince as a vehicle headed down the spa driveway.

      Then alarm jolted through her. The spa was closed, and the security guards, running after the thief toward the driveway, would have stopped the car from entering. Were the guards okay?

      The car maneuvered into the staff parking lot, then stopped right next to them. A door opened and slammed shut. “Rachel!”

      Edward Villa’s voice made her heart leap into her throat, then settle back down in her chest, racing. Edward was here. Suddenly everything seemed okay.

      No, she had to stop reacting this way to him. He didn’t think of her as anything other than a client.

      “Are you all right?”

      She smelled him—pine, a hint of the orchids he worked with at his greenhouses and earthy musk—before her eyes registered that he was crouched in front of her, edging out Ms. Reynolds.

      “The guards told me what happened when I drove in.”

      She had been able to keep it together when talking to Naomi, but somehow, his concern for her undermined her control over her emotions, and she steeled her jaw against a sudden onslaught of wild sobbing. Casting herself into his arms would only solidify his cool opinion of her, which he had made abundantly clear a couple months ago.

      “Rachel.” He reached out for her.

      She held up a hand to stop him.

      He grasped her hand, engulfing her fingers. His callused fingers rubbed her knuckles. His touch made her head spin.

      “I’m fine,” she whispered, breathless. She pulled her hand away.

      The security guards walked up to them. “I’m sorry, Miss Grant, he got away. He ran up the driveway, and there was a car waiting for him at the end of it. They took off.”

      “Dr. Grant, are you okay?” the other guard asked, peering at Rachel.

      She felt like a bug on display. “I’m fine.” She heaved herself to her feet, but it made the blood pound painfully in her head. She swayed.

      Edward’s arm wrapped around her, making the earth stand still again. It felt good to be held by him. It felt…

      Too good. She pulled away from him.

      Edward paused a moment, then he bent down and collected her purse, which had dropped and scattered its contents when she fell. As he handed it to her, his eyes were calm, but somehow she could sense a fire burning behind them. As if other emotions ran deeper.

      She didn’t understand. While they had been working together for the past year on Rachel’s new product for the spa, they had gotten closer, and she had felt free to be herself with him. But then, in the past couple months, he had withdrawn from her, become distant and polite.

      Maybe he had seen who she really was…and he hadn’t liked what he saw.

      The thought was like a punch to her gut, every time she thought it. Which had been often in the past two months.

      No, maybe he had never been interested in her, and he’d suddenly become aware that he was leading her on. Regardless, recently he had been clear in showing that he had no interest in her beyond a good business relationship.

      She was just imagining the emotion in his eyes was deeper than natural concern. “Thank you.” She took her purse from him, avoiding touching his hand again.

      The silence was thicker than cold cream.

      “Rachel—” he began.

      “Here you go, Miss Rachel.” Martin, a security guard who had been with them for years, handed her an ice pack he must have gotten from inside the spa. “That’ll keep the swelling down from that shiner.”

      His light words made her smile, made the situation not seem so horribly violating. “Thanks, Martin.” She pressed the cold pack to her eye, and found that it enabled her to avoid looking at Edward.

      “Ms. Reynolds,” Naomi said, “let me escort you back inside. We can wait for the police in one of the lounge rooms.”

      Rachel stayed outside and watched them reenter the spa. She tried not to remember what had happened, but it came to her in flashes. She shivered. She’d been bullied in grade school because she’d been a geek and a bit odd, but no one had ever assaulted her. Even bickering with her sisters Naomi and Monica had never gone beyond a little hair-pulling.

      But tonight, someone had deliberately hurt her. It made her feel weak and vulnerable. Not in control.

      And she didn’t like it.

      She especially didn’t like that it had happened here, at the spa.

СКАЧАТЬ