Free Darkling I Listen by Katherine Sutcliffe Page B

towel. He took a deep breath and slowly released it, counted backward from ten, forced the tension squeezing his temples to relax. Everything was going to be fine. He'd pull out all the stops if he had to, in order to get Alyson James out of his life. He hadn't met a woman yet who couldn't be bought and manipulated by money and charm. Then he'd decide how to deal with the book.
    At the door of the "Gents," he hesitated. Alyson still sat in the booth, staring down into her coffee cup. Janet was pointing a remote control at the TV and flipping through channels while someone in the kitchen began humming the theme from Jeopardy! A customer had entered the restaurant during his sojourn in the toilet and sat with her back to him, her arms clasping a big straw purse to her breast as she studied a menu.
    As he crossed the room, Alyson looked toward him, her expression concerned.
    Alex Trebek's face filled the TV screen as Janet shouted for Carolyn to hurry or she was going to miss her show.
    The customer rose from her chair and turned toward him in one fluid motion. The menu flew one direction as her purse hit the floor with an odd, heavy clatter. Her hands like claws, she flew at him, lips pulled back from her teeth.
    "Bastard!"
    The woman hit him with the force of a Dallas Cowboy tackle. He flew back, sprawled across a table, crashing salt and pepper shakers and a sugar dispenser to the floor. She crawled on top of him, dishwater blond hair streaming wildly around her head, her fists swinging at his face as he attempted to deflect the blows.
    "You can't do that to me!" she screamed. "I'll show you you can't use me and get away with it. Stinking liar!"
    Janet hooked one big arm around the woman's waist, hoisted her into the air, and flung her away. She landed on the floor on her backside, knees splayed, skirt hiked to the tops of her thighs, revealing a flash of yellow nylon panties.
    Carolyn ran out the front door, yelling at Sheriff Dillman, who was harassing the carnies lined up along the curb.
    Alyson positioned herself between Brandon and his attacker, her arms stretched out before her and her palms up; she looked a little like a harassed traffic control officer. She glanced over her shoulder at Brandon as he rolled off the table and onto his feet, one hand clutching his chest where the lunatic had hit him with the force of a battering ram. He bent over, hands on his thighs, as he tried to get his breathing back to normal.
    "Are you okay?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern. He nodded, unable to get enough air in his lungs to respond.
    The woman slowly raised her face to glare at him through her hair. Then recognition struck him.
    Narrowing his eyes, he asked, "Mitsy?"
    Showing her teeth, she raised one hand and shot him the finger.
    Janet grabbed Mitsy by one arm and hauled her to her feet just as Dillman and Carolyn entered. Carolyn jabbed her finger toward Mitsy, declaring, "She assaulted him, Sheriff."
    Mitsy scrambled across the room and snatched her purse off the floor as Dillman, his gaze still locked on Brandon , slid a toothpick into his mouth, then thumbed his sister toward the door.
    "Get lost," he told her. "I'll deal with you later."
    She hustled out of the café, brass bells clattering her exit. "She's crazy," Brandon said to Dillman as he finally got his breath back.
    "I wouldn't go so far as to call her crazy, exactly." Jack gave a short laugh and tongued the toothpick to the other side of his mouth. "She sure don't think a lot of you, does she? Then again, who does?"
    "Maybe I'll press charges against her."
    "You don't want to do that, Carlyle, I promise you. You think you're in hot water with me now, you just make more trouble for my little sister, and I'll haul your ass back to Corcoran myself."
    Brandon moved toward Dillman. Alyson stepped between them and locked one forearm across Brandon 's chest, her legs braced in her attempt to push him back. He looked around her and pointed one finger in Dillman's