Amnesia Read Online Free

her and slipped his arm around her waist.
    Annabelle froze to the spot. Then forcing a smile, she eased away from Wythe and turned to face him. “And you look handsome, as always.” Wythe was an attractive man, in an aristocratic way that drew women to him like moths to a flame. And most of those women—the ones who’d gotten too close to that flame—had been badly burned. Wythe was a scoundrel and despite their being first cousins, Annabelle disliked him intensely. He’d been a disappointment to Uncle Louis, who supported Wythe in grand style, as he did Wythe’s younger half sister, Lulu. To quote her aunt, Perdita Austin, “Neither of Louis’s children are worth a damn.”
    “Lovely but cold Annabelle,” Wythe said softly so that no one passing them in the hallway could overhear. “The right man could thaw you out and melt that frigid heart of yours.”
    “If you’ll excuse me, I have—”
    Before Annabelle could escape her annoying cousin, he grasped her wrist to halt her. She glared at him, her look demanding he release her immediately.
    “I’m volunteering for the job, you know,” he told her. “I’m just the man who could heat you—”
    “Unless you want to make a spectacle of yourself, I suggest you release me,” Annabelle said with absolute conviction. “Otherwise, I’ll have no choice but to slap that smug look off your silly face.”
    He released her instantly, but leaned close and whispered, “One of these days, bitch, you’ll get yours.”
    She offered him a deadly smile. “Maybe so, but I won’t get it from you.”
    Annabelle rushed away as fast as she could walk without bringing undue attention to herself. If she didn’t adore Uncle Louis and feel tremendously sorry for him, she’d never come to this house again, never subject herself to her cousin’s harassment. As she made her way down the hall toward the dining room, intending to make sure everything was in order, she smiled and spoke to half a dozen acquaintances. Anna-belle knew everybody who was anybody and cultivated superficial friendships as easily as she performed her hostess duties.
    When she entered the dining room, her uncle Louis’s butler, Hiram, spoke her name quietly as he came to her side. “Miss Annabelle…”
    “Yes, Hiram, what is it?”
    “Sheriff Brody’s at the front door, ma’am, and he’s asked to speak to you.”
    “Sheriff Brody? Did he say what it’s about?” Had Wythe gotten in trouble again? Except for Uncle Louis’s wealth and political connections, Wythe would already be in prison for statutory rape. Everyone in the county knew Wythe Vanderley had a penchant for teenage girls. And a sick hunger for rough sex.
    “No, ma’am, but it can’t be good. He said it’s about Miss Lulu and he wanted to speak only to you.”
    How could something Lulu had done be of any concern to Sheriff Brody? Lulu had moved off to Memphis five yearsago and was living in her mother’s old house there in Chickasaw Gardens, the house Uncle Louis had bought his ex-wife as part of their divorce settlement when Lulu was twelve.
    “Show Sheriff Brody into Uncle Louis’s study, please, Hiram, and take him around the back way. Tell him I’ll join him as soon as possible.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    Whatever had brought the sheriff to their door, Annabelle didn’t want their guests to be aware of the lawman’s presence. After making her rounds through the dining room to check that the champagne was ready for the midnight toasts due to begin shortly, Annabelle discreetly slipped away and hurried to her uncle’s study. The minute she entered the room, Sheriff Brody, a stocky, middle-aged man, removed his hat and walked toward her.
    “Ms. Vanderley, I’m afraid I’ve come with some awfully bad news,” he said.
    Annabelle’s heart caught in her throat. “Bad news about Lulu?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Has she been in an accident? Is she badly hurt?”
    “I hate to be the one to tell you, but…your cousin Lulu