Good Deed Bad Deed Marcia Morgan (life books to read .txt) đ
- Author: Marcia Morgan
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Ana sat in the sunny breakfast room nursing a coffee with cream and too much sugar. It was the second cup, her need for caffeine being stronger than usual. She had slept hard, with vivid dreams seeming too real to be discounted. She had slept eight hours, but it felt like four. Benâs parents had left very early, long before she came downstairs. Benâs mother had left oatmeal in a double boiler on the stove, a full carafe of coffee, and on the counter next to it, a plate of scones with a crock each of butter and jam. Ana settled onto the cushioned window seat adjacent to the table, coffee in hand, a scone split and buttered on the plate in her lap. The view from the window was lovely. A wide expanse of lawn gave way to a stand of mature trees, spaced far apartâshe thought they could be Chestnutsâand directly under the window was a bed of pale pink cabbage roses, no doubt the source of the generous bouquet in the sitting room. Spiky purple flowers she couldnât identify flanked the rose bed on three sides. Anaâs thoughts strayed from the visual pleasures beyond the window to the matter at hand. Their instructionsâorders reallyâhad been to stay put, but even her short acquaintance with Ben suggested that he was unlikely to acquiesce.
She stood, then walked over to put her breakfast things in the sink before starting upstairs to dress. As she passed the door to Benâs room, he opened it slowly and stepped out into the hall. He was dressed in gray sweat pants and a long sleeve tee whose logo advertised some long-forgotten rock group whose name she had heard, but whose music she had managed to avoid. His hair was tousled and a new growth of beard gave him a casual and sexy air, even though the tiredness in his eyes remained. He saw her and brandished the weapon of his smile, stopping the woman in her tracks and putting her at a loss for words.
âIs it still âgood morningâ or have I slept into the afternoon?â Ben closed his door and then leaned against it, waiting for Anaâs response.
âYou barely made it with ten minutes to spare. Itâs almost twelve. But Iâve only been down for about half an hour.â
âI just couldnât get to sleep. This whole thing was spinning around in my head until the wee hours, and I know youâll say I told you so, but my shoulder was giving me fits on top of it.â
âIâm not one to jump on an opportunity to be right,â she said, smiling. âBut I would have driven, if youâd askedâ even if I had reservations⊠fear, actually.â
âThat brings me to the confession I mentioned last night.â Ben took a deep breath and waited for Ana to respond.
âGo ahead. But I think I know what youâre going to say. I wasnât born yesterday.â
âI could have just trusted that youâd do what I advised, but I donât know you well enough to have depended on that. It was clear there was a chance you were in danger too, because of having been seen with me. I just couldnât leave you in London to fend for yourself.â Ben paused, again waiting for Anaâs reaction. She remained quiet, so he continued. âWhatever this is about, whatever risk is ahead of me, I couldnât worry about what could be happening to you. I figured the best place for you was with me, and with my father. He has years of experience with criminals and has a lot of contacts at Interpol.â
âHow did that come about?â Ana was suddenly curious about what Benâs father had done for a living. âWas your father with Scotland Yard or something?â
âNo. He spent his career as an investigator with Lloydâs of London. He advanced to running the department that deals with thefts of high-end jewelry, art, carsâwhatever wealthy people see as âpricelessâ and are willing to insure at exorbitant rates. He was working in their office in San Francisco when I was born. But then he was just an investigator. When he was promoted to department head we moved back to England.â
âSo thatâs why heâs trying to get on top of this, and why he went to the city with your mother. He obviously knows how to take care of her. Is he in possession of a firearm? I know that sounds formal. It just sounded so crass to say âgun.ââ She stopped herself and took a deep breath. âSorry to rattle on, but this is a lot of new information to take in.â
âIn San Francisco he carried a weapon. I stood at attention for many lectures about not touching it. And when I was about ten, he took me out to a shooting range and taught me how to be safe around that weaponâfirearms in general. I never liked even holding
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