Free Shadow Lover by Anne Stuart Page B

looked up when Carolyn entered the kitchen, setting her empty mug down on the tiled countertop.
    "It's good to have Mr. Alex back," Constanza said cheerfully.
    " Hmmph ." She poured herself another cup of coffee, then deliberately took a tranquilizer from her pill bottle and tossed it down. Alex failed to look suitably impressed.
    "I'm not sure Carolyn agrees with you, "Stanza," he said lazily.
    Someone must have told him about Alex's nickname for the woman who'd been half-cook, half-nanny to him growing up. It had been years since she'd heard it.
    "She's not happy you're back?" Constanza said in shocked tones.
    "She's not certain it's me."
    Constanza laughed. "Don't be silly, Mr. Alex. How could she not know it's you? How could she have any doubt? Mrs. MacDowell knows you—how could a mother not know her own son? Besides, you're just the same."
    "God, I hope not," he said devoutly. "I'm older and wiser."
    "Maybe," Carolyn muttered.
    Constanza shook her head. "You two were always bickering. I shouldn't be surprised that you're still at it. Now sit down and I'll make you some eggs."
    "I'm not hungry, Constanza . I'd rather get on the road."
    "You're never hungry," Constanza scolded. "It's an insult to my cooking, and I won't have it. Sit down and eat, or I'll tell Mrs. MacDowell on you, and you know how she worries."
    It was empty threat, and both of them knew it. Neither of them would add to Sally's cares, but Carolyn sat anyway, resisting the impulse to stick her tongue out at Alex. "Just some toast," she muttered, sipping at her coffee.
    "You'll starve to death," Constanza said. "What are you in such a hurry for, anyway?"
    "I want to get back as quickly as I can."
    Constanza came and stood over Carolyn, her hands at her hips. "What nonsense is this? You need to get away from here—you've barely left the house in the last eight months. Mrs. MacDowell isn't going to die in the next few days, and there are plenty of people to keep her busy. You take a few days and enjoy yourself. The sea air will do you good."
    Alex was watching this with great interest, and it took all Carolyn's willpower to ignore him. "Maybe later," she said.
    "You mean after my mother's dead?" Alex murmured. "How morbid of you."
    She'd had too little sleep and too much coffee. "I've been dealing with the fact of Sally's upcoming death for more than a year now. Sorry if it's a little rough for you, but you haven't been around to get used to the idea."
    "Make up your mind, Carolyn. Either I'm a wicked imposter who shouldn't be around in the first place, or I'm a rotten, ungrateful son who's returned too late to do much good."
    "I've made up my mind."
    "So you have. And I don't need to ask what the judgment is, do I?"
    "Either way, you're despicable."
    "Don't you mean ' dethpicable '?"
    She dropped her coffee cup, staring at him in sudden shock. She had shared only one thing with the wild young terror that had been Alexander MacDowell —an unexpected love for Bugs Bunny and friends. " Dethpicable " had been their password, along with "no more buwwetts ."
    But Alex was dead. And Daffy Duck was making a comeback—anyone Alex's age would have seen those old cartoons a thousand times. It was coincidence. It was logical.
    It was nerve wracking.
    He rose before she could respond, and she made herself look at him. He was dressed in the same loose, casual clothes he'd worn before—faded jeans, cotton sweater, and he hadn't bothered to shave that morning. Maybe he thought the faint stubble was attractive. Maybe he was right.
    "Come on, princess. You're the one who's in such an all-fired hurry. If you're hungry we'll stop at McDonalds on the way."
    She managed a graceful shudder. " MacDowells don't eat at McDonalds," she said.
    "But you're not a MacDowell ."
    There was no malice in the simple statement. It took all her enormous self-control not to let her reaction show on her face, not to reply with the obvious "neither are you." She ignored him, rising as