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Keir shrugged his shoulders “I don’t know,” he said, because, really, it was the only possible answer “Dan, I want you to check out a istered with us, so it should be easy enough to learn e need to know”

“Which is?” Dan asked

A muscle clenched in Keir’s jaw “Which is,” he said, “everything from where he was born to what he eats for breakfast I want to know all there is to know about this guy, and I want to know it pronto”

CHAPTER NINE

GRAY knew he’d blown it

Tenhis boyish best to convince Dawn that that he was Mr Terrific got him no place

He shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked through the gardens along a pebbled path that curved like the blade of a sci’s enormous pool

He’d wasted half a night searching the casino for a wo about an elusive stranger with a shy sotten under his skin in, what, less than two hours? It was crazy, and even crazier now that he kneho that stranger was

He’d iined Dawn Carter as a flashy blonde, but she wasn’t Not on the outside, anyway, and what did that prove except that you couldn’t judge the package by its cover? He’d known that for years Every ift that caed, you sprouted hair on your face, and you figured out that women were never what they seemed

But this particular wo to coue into Plan B…and that wouldn’t work, either The Dawn he’d come to see had just lass of wine in his co a story about her grandfather leaving her a music box in his will

Nohat?

Gray drew a deep breath, then blew it out It was quiet here No ping ping ping of the slots, no sound of voices like the distant roar of the sea in the background He was pretty ard

ens were all but deserted at this tihter froht grimly, and kicked at the small white stones that made up the path

This whole mess was Jack Ballard’s fault If he’d sent a decent picture of the girl instead of a blurred faxed copy, Gray wouldn’t have spent the best part of an afternoon with the wo her enough to make her want to freeze him out Or maybe it was because of Keir O’Connell If theloyal to him…and what twist of fate had put O’Connell into the picture at the worst possible ured he must have looked as if he’d been hit in the head with a two-by-four when he read Dawn’s naht him how to fake a fast recovery and that hat he’d done

“Nice to meet you,” he’d said