Free Trouble and Treasure (#1, Trouble and Treasure Series) by Odette C. Bell

the corridor,
disappearing for a while. In those few moments Sebastian took the
time to look at me, his eyes traveling down and up my figure. I
wanted to slap him.
    Perhaps I would be better off with
Maratova.
    Elizabeth rushed back, a hat clutched in her
old hands. It was white with a large wide brim and had a wide silk
ribbon tied around the middle. It was exceptionally pretty.
    “ That will do.” Sebastian hardly gave the
hat a glance as Elizabeth handed it to me.
    Once I secured all of my hair under the hat,
I waved goodbye to Elizabeth.
    I turned to follow Sebastian.
     

Chapter Eight
    Sebastian Shaw
    She looked the part, I had to admit. The hat
Elizabeth had dredged up suited Amanda.
    Now all I had to do was get her to my car,
drive into town, and keep her out of sight. The hat would be a
start, but the rest would be up to me.
    I didn't bother to open the door for Amanda,
and I found it highly amusing when she paused, waiting for me to do
it. I could tell she was a well-heeled girl, and I’d also done some
checking on her last night, which helped. She had a trust fund and
was related to Imelda Stanton, one of the richest women in England.
Amanda had gone to uni and walked away with the most useless
degree: an arts degree specializing in history and fine art. She
had gone on from there to do various stints in volunteer
organizations, especially ones that had anything to do with animals
or the environment, and had pretty much vacillated for the rest of
her life, as children born into rich families often do when they do
not have to work for their crust. She didn’t have a police record,
she'd only ever had a handful of parking fines, and she wasn't on
any lists. Well she would be now, but before the auction, Amanda
had led an outstandingly boring life.
    Amanda Stanton looked like the most
ordinary of girls. I was gobsmacked it was her of all people who’d
found my globes. Though technically, it wasn’t her at all, it was
her Great-Uncle Arthur Stanton, adventurer extraordinaire. He'd
done all the hard work and found the globes, she’d just put them up
for auction in the most stupid manner possible.
    She got in the car, the giant brim of her
hat tilting and covering most of her face save for a thin line of
her bottom lip and chin. Move over Serena, in that moment Amanda
looked more than attractive. But that moment passed when she opened
her mouth.
    “ Where are you going to take me?” she asked
in that highly irritating pitch of hers. “Should I call my
great-aunt? I mean, what if people start to realize I'm missing?
What if people go to my house and... well, notice all the guns on
the ground?”
    I shook my head as I walked around the front
of the car to sit with a thump behind the wheel. I ignored her as I
started up the engine, scratched my neck, waved at Elizabeth, and
moved into reverse.
    “ Won’t the police be looking for me? What
about this Maratova man? Last night while you were in my drawing
room, you mentioned something about a man named Romeo, won't he be
after me too?” Her voice was picking up speed, the words blurring
together.
    If this woman didn't irritate me so much,
I could sympathize with her situation; she'd had one hell of a
night. Yet for some reason this chick irritated me, so I pulled my
lips back, my teeth stuck together in the worst smile I could
muster.
    It wasn't until I gunned the accelerator
down the immaculately graded stones, tires slipping as they tried
to get traction on the uneven surface, that I answered her. “You do
not want the list of people that are after you, honey,” I took
great pleasure in using that pet name because of the distinctly
irritated look she shot me. “First things first: you need to tell
me where the rest of the globes are.” I turned to her as I made it
to the end of the driveway and onto a large country
road.
    She didn’t answer right away, she
hesitated. I sure as hell hoped it wasn't because she was caught
with a desire to open the door and