Jean Thomas - The Bounty Hunter's Forbidden Desire

Chase and Haley stared down at them, neither one of them speaking. It was Chase who found his raspy voice first.

“Seeds! My brother sends you three little pouches of seeds? What in hell! Does this have any meaning for you?”

Haley could only wordlessly shake her head.

“There must be an explanation. Look inside the packet. See if there’s something else.”

Her fingers burrowed into the packet, withdrawing a folded note. She spread it open, scanned it silently and then thrust it at him. “I can’t read this scrawl of his. See if you can make it out.”

“It’s worse than usual. He must have been in a big hurry when he wrote it.” Chase read it aloud for her. “‘Take care of these for me, will you, sweetheart? Believe it or not, they’re very rare and valuable. I don’t want to take any chances with them. I thought maybe you wouldn’t mind locking them away at the bank in your safety deposit box. Please .’ And that’s underlined.”

Haley gazed up at him, mystified. “And that’s all? Not even a signature?”

“Afraid that’s it.”

“Well, I have to say this is the damnedest gift I’ve ever received. This half brother of yours...he couldn’t be half-baked as well, could he?”

“I don’t think Josh meant these seeds as any kind of a joke. I think he was totally serious when he sent them.”

“I’d like to go on sitting here trying to figure out what they mean, but right now my brain could use a stimulant.” She got to her feet. “Would you drink some coffee if I made it? It’ll only take a couple of minutes.”

“Coffee would be welcome.”

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

He watched her walk away toward the rear of the house, the slow sway of her perfectly rounded backside sending a shaft of arousal to his groin. Presumably she was headed to the kitchen, and he was headed to hell if he didn’t learn to control these desires for his brother’s girl.

He was starting to settle himself on one of the easy chairs when a revelation struck him. A return address! Had Josh included any kind of a return address? Neither one of them had thought to look for that. If he could find a return address, learn where Josh was...

Chase snatched up the empty brown paper packet from the sofa where Haley had discarded it. He searched both sides of it. Haley’s address was there on the front, yes. But no return address either there or on the reverse of the packet. He even felt inside in case Haley had missed something. Nothing.

It occurred to him that, considering how rare and valuable Josh claimed these seeds were, he’d been very careless in getting them to Haley. They had arrived by ordinary mail. No special delivery, nothing registered or requiring a signature.

There was something Chase suddenly realized he was overlooking. A postmark. He turned the packet back over to the front. Yeah, there it was, a little blurred but still readable.

Anchorage, Alaska.

Josh was in Anchorage, Alaska! Or had been when he’d mailed this. What in the world was he doing way up in Alaska? And connected with seeds of all things?

A reasonable theory right about now would have been nice. He didn’t have one. Or even a few seconds to come up with one. He was startled by the sound of breaking glass from the direction of the kitchen, followed by a sharp cry.

Chase discarded the packet and raced toward the noise.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.