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Sin and Scandal. Carol Storm
Читать онлайн.Название Sin and Scandal
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781645635376
Автор произведения Carol Storm
Издательство Ingram
"Let's all have a cup of coffee," Madame Madeline suggested, in an amused tone of voice. The older woman clearly enjoyed the tension between the two of them, but as she handed Crystal May a china mug full of steaming black coffee, her ebony eyes held a veiled warning. "Agent Gold is here to help us, my dear. One of our girls has gone missing overnight."
"Oh, no." Crystal May sipped her coffee, which was rich and dark and full of flavor. She leaned back on the soft-cushioned couch, trying to look relaxed. She was battling her nerves, and her growing awareness of the alert, tightly-coiled, hard-muscled detective sitting beside her. "Why would anyone want to leave a wonderful place like this?" she asked, in a voice that was meant to be sarcastic but came out shaky and breathless. "Last night was so much fun!"
"Wish I'd been there," Matt Gold said dryly. His eyes were as black as the steaming coffee. When he looked at her, a sizzling heat ignited between them. He knew what she'd been up to last night. He knew what she'd seen up on the stage. And he knew that when she watched the spanking, she'd been thinking of him and wishing that she was the girl being publicly disciplined.
"Strangely enough, my dear, I've heard reports that you left our little performance before the final curtain." This time it was Madame, seated behind her desk, who raised one eyebrow with a mocking smile. "Of course I'm sure you were just looking for a breath of fresh air, was that it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Crystal May yanked her gaze away from Matt Gold. With the cop on the couch right next to her, and Madame firing questions at her from behind the desk, she felt like a prisoner getting the third degree. The feeling was made stronger by the sweaty gray overalls she was wearing, and by the fact that she hadn't put on any makeup or done anything with her hair.
"Did you happen to see your friend Carla before you went to bed?" the FBI agent asked.
"Carla?" Crystal May's hand flew to her throat. "Did Carla run away? Is she all right?"
"We don't know, my dear. But something is not right," Madame Madeline said ominously. "She didn't report for her chores this morning, and her bed hadn't been slept in. You know what a headstrong girl Carla is. She might have just gotten tired of us, and left of her own free will. But there were a lot of strangers on the school grounds last night. It's possible one of them abducted her."
"Oh, no." With a sick feeling, Crystal May put down her coffee cup. She remembered Steve, sexy and good-looking and filthy rich, holding Carla in his arms. Begging her to run away with him.
"Tell us what you know, beautiful." Matt Gold's coffee-black eyes caught hers, making her feel imprisoned on the hot seat. "If you saw something, if you heard something, we have to know. Carla's life might depend on it."
"But what if she wasn't kidnapped?" Crystal May turned to the head of the school, her blue eyes beseeching. "What if she just met a really nice man and decided to run away with him? It's a free country, isn't it?"
"It is indeed," Madame said crisply. "But that young woman owed me a great deal. And unless we know who the young man was, there's no way of knowing just how nice he really is."
"I know," Crystal May sighed. "You can't never tell about men." There was really no way out of this, she decided. Much as she hated snitching, she would have to tell them the whole story.
"What did I tell you," Matt Gold said triumphantly, the moment Crystal May was finished talking. "I knew the mob would try to muscle in on you, Madame. They're stealing your best talent. That Steven Tallarico is as smooth as silk!"
"You know him?" Crystal May asked, wiping her eyes with her fingers. She'd been crying a bit as she told her story, just because it seemed so romantic and at the same time dreadfully sad. Especially if Madame was able to recapture Carla and force her to go on working here forever. Or if sexy, gorgeous Steve was really only leading Carla on to some horrible fate worse than death.
"There's only one real crime family left in Reno," Matt told her, handing her a handkerchief he pulled from his breast pocket. One of his business cards came tumbling out too, and a dazed Crystal May held onto it by instinct. "The Tallarico family. The boss's oldest son is named Steve."
"But Steve said he was a lawyer," the country girl sniffled. "He said his family wasn't crooked anymore. He said he loved Carla and they were going to make a new start!" She started crying again, but she couldn't help it. She kept picturing Steve and Carla together. They were kissing so desperately, with such scorching passion, like a pair of star-crossed lovers on the Titanic. Crystal May buried her face in the sexy FBI man's handkerchief, breathing the scent of Matt Gold's cologne. She was emotional and couldn't help picturing Matt kissing her the way Steve was kissing Carla.
But Matt Gold only cared about catching criminals. And spanking them.
"There, there, my dear," Madame Madeline said. She was using her most soothing voice, but this time Crystal May didn't fall for it. The woman had turned on her computer and was studying the screen, probably checking up on her profits from last night's show. "Now that we know who kidnapped Carla, the FBI can have her back in to time at all. And it's good that the Tallarico family will finally be brought to justice. Forced abduction is a federal crime."
"Are you the one who's going to bring down the Tallarico family?" Crystal May demanded, turning from Madame to Matt Gold.
"That's my job," the FBI man said confidently. There was an almost arrogant self-assurance in the way he leaned back on the couch, giving Crystal May a sort of lazy, relaxed inspection. No doubt Madame Madeline had promised him a big reward for returning her best girl in handcuffs.
"My goodness," Crystal May said, in her best country-girl voice. "The two of you have this whole thing figured out, don't you? Agent Gold, I bet you get a big promotion for bringing down the last crime family in Reno. And Madame, I imagine this will build you up as well. All the girls will see just how much you care about protecting us once we've got Carla back all safe and sound. Your authority will be augmented by this auspicious intervention of the FBI." The slim blonde on the deep-cushioned sofa paused for a moment, to let her improved vocabulary resonate with the woman who had made and trained her. "But do you know what I think?"
"No, my dear." Madeline Charles barely looked up from her computer. "Enlighten me."
"It stinks," Crystal May said firmly. "All of it. The whole thing stinks!"
"Even spanking your naughty behind?" Matt Gold asked, in a calm and casual tone.
Crystal May stood up, her hands on her hips. She looked the federal lawman up and down as if he were nothing but dirt. "Sure, you can use my body for your amusement. You've got the power. But what you don't have, either one of you, is my respect." She turned to Madame Madeline. "You know that I came here willingly, that I've worked hard for you day and night. That wasn't done out of fear, or even ambition. It was my way of showing respect. But I can't respect a woman who pretends to care about her girls and then allows them to be used by cruel and selfish men. Can you really blame poor Carla for running away with a guy like Steve? I know she loves him."
"Then she's a fool," Madame sniffed. "Men are not to be trusted, my dear."
"I saw the way Steve looked at Carla," Crystal May said stubbornly. "And I know he's not a killer. He loves her just as much as she loves him. I can feel it!" She gave Agent Gold an icy glare. "Maybe you've got a whole lot of things on him already. Maybe you have things on his family. But if he's put on trial for this kidnapping, then you've got to have witnesses who say the way it was. But if I ever get on the witness stand, I'm telling the truth, about Carla and Steve and about how they were acting together the night she ran away. She wasn't kidnapped from this place, she escaped from it. And I say good for her!"
Crystal May fully expected a spanking at this point. She might even be placed under arrest. If Carla had broken any laws during her escape she could be considered an accessory to the crime. But when she walked out of the room with her head held high no-one even bothered to call her back.