Free Razzmatazz-DDL by Patricia Burroughs Page A

hand over his shoulder.
    “It’s nothing,” he grated.
    “But it’s everything,” Chris insisted, bewildered. “This is your golden opportunity!”
    “I said it’s nothing,” Alex ground out, his fists clenched, his shoulders rigid beneath his shirt.
    So unexpected was Alex’s anger, her mouth fell open in astonishment. His dark brows lowered; his eyes narrowed into slits of cold, dark anger. Even Chris seemed to shrink away from him with a confused shrug. “It was just an idea....” he stammered.
    “And a damned bad one,” Alex snapped.
    “All right.” Chris smiled nervously. “I’m sorry. I thought you’d appreciate it.”
    Kennie watched as the men exchanged strained glances, then Chris edged back toward the door. “So sorry.” He aimed a quasi-jaunty salute at her and left.
    Alex slumped against the door. He seemed as tired as she suddenly felt, and she was overcome by a wave of sympathy.
    “What’s he talking about? A will?” she asked.  
    “Nothing. Old news.”
    “Does it have anything to do with me?”
    His head shot up. “Absolutely nothing.”
    “Oh.” She dropped her gaze to her lap, too confused to understand, too tired to push further.
    But Alex’s low chuckle drew her attention again as he reached deep into his pocket and pulled out a twinkling gold coin. “You call it,” he said with a wry grin. “Heads, we pick up where we left off when we were so rudely interrupted, and tails...we don’t.”
    “Neither!” she said as the coin twirled into the air, then landed.
    The head stared blandly up at the two of them from its spot on the carpet.
    “Ah, well,” he said with a weary shrug. “It was worth a try.”
    “You forgot to ask him for your new room number,” Kennie reminded him.
    “I doubt he’s got one. He probably won’t leave the bandits again until we fly out of here. I’m amazed that he dragged himself away long enough to share that illuminating bit of inspiration with us, such as it is.”
    Illuminating to whom? she wanted to ask, but held her tongue. She slid to the edge of the deep sofa and, leaning heavily on its arm, stood up.
    “You want to go to bed,” he said.
    She nodded.
    “Okay. I’ll get out of your way.” His face was etched with deep lines of fatigue.
    Before she could stop herself, she was speaking. “There’s no reason you can’t sleep here.” And quickly, lest he get the wrong idea, she added, “The sofa’s soft, and plenty long.”
    His wry, tired grin told her he didn’t miss the implication. “If you’re sure you don’t mind sleeping on the sofa.”
    “That’s not what I—” she huffed, then broke off in midsentence as she remembered who was paying the bills. “It’s a wonderful sofa. I could probably sleep a week on it, I’m so tired.”
    “That’s very sweet of you, Kennie.” His hand turned on the knob. “But I wouldn’t dream of compromising you any more than I already have.”
    “Oh, shut up and come to bed,” she snapped, noting how quickly he succumbed to her will. Or was it his will? Oh, the hell with it. She was too tired and too confused to care any longer whose will it was. She stooped over to snatch the coin from the floor and offered it to him, but before he could take it, she snatched it back and looked more closely. On one side, a Greek-looking man stared regally up at her. On the other side, the same Greek-looking man pinned her with the same regal stare.
    “You cheated!”
    “Not precisely,” he demurred.
    “Is this the coin you flipped for me in front of the wedding chapel?”
    “One and the same.” Before she could blast him, he continued, “Really, Kennie, did you want to settle such an important issue as marriage by chance?”
    “You have a talent for making the most illogical reasoning seem perfectly plausible,” she said, glaring up at his placid face.
    “Not really. I know you too well, Kennie Sue Ledbetter. And I wasn’t really cheating just now, either. The only way you would