Secrets in the Sand - Carolyn Brown Page 0,27

wasn’t what this vacation was all about. She was here to say her goodbyes to memories that had haunted her for ten years. Before she left this place on Sunday night, she planned to stand barefoot in the sand and let go of anything that reminded her even remotely of Clancy Morgan. Evidently, she’d been guilty of wearing her heart on her sleeve these past days and her friends had realized she needed some time to straighten out her life. Well, it would be straight come Monday morning, and they would never have to worry about her again.

Angel ignored the elevator, climbed the stairs to room 214, and opened the door. The suite was far more room than she needed, but she appreciated her friends getting her what was probably the best. She plopped the suitcase down on the bed, then went back down to the car for the rest of her luggage. The office door was open when she returned, and someone else was at the desk. She could hear the clerk telling him the same things he’d just told her with the same intonation, the same smile, the same wave of the hand. The new guest looked vaguely familiar from the back, but she shrugged. She certainly didn’t know anyone in Florida.

She opted for the elevator that time, then kicked the unlocked door open with her foot and set her luggage on the floor. She opened the door to the bathroom and turned on the hot water, shucked out of her clothes, and took a long shower to ease the tension out of her muscles. When she finished, she wrapped herself in a big white towel and collapsed on top of the white duvet that covered the second queen-size bed and sighed. She propped up on both pillows and grabbed her cell phone to call Patty, but she changed her mind and tossed the phone to the other side of the bed. This was supposed to be a vacation, and she’d vowed on the plane that she would not call Conrad Oil once in the five days she planned to stay in Florida—instead of the two weeks her friends had expected her to be away.

She closed her eyes but couldn’t sleep, so she got out of bed and opened one of her suitcases. She’d packed too much, but she had never been on a personal vacation and wasn’t sure what she might need. She found her bright-red bathing suit, a white terry cover-up, and a pair of white leather thong sandals.

“I didn’t come to the beach to hole up in a room,” she declared. “Maybe that hunky beach bum who looks like Kenny Chesney is out there waiting for me.”

She smiled as she imagined a tale to entertain the girls about a gorgeous man she’d met on the beach.

She had the doorknob in her hand and was about to turn it when a loud knock on the other side startled her. She jerked the door open to find a tanned young man with a smile that would make Patty swoon holding a gorgeous flower arrangement in his hands.

“Delivery for Miss Conrad,” he said and handed her a crystal vase with a dozen red roses interspersed with white baby’s breath. “Have a nice day now and don’t forget your sunblock. Fair as you are, you’d burn in an hour on a day like this.”

“Those girls!” Angel sighed as she set the flowers on the bar separating the living area from the kitchen. Then she opened the envelope attached to the red satin bow around the vase.

Yesterday, today, forever. The card wasn’t signed.

“Well,” she said aloud. “Allie always was one for mystery. Probably trying to make me think there’s someone here who’s after my heart. Maybe he’ll be a dark-eyed, gorgeous model who can wiggle out of a tight Speedo so fast he’ll make my head swim.” She picked up her tube of sunblock, threw it into her beach bag, stopped long enough to inhale the fragrance of the roses, and headed out the door to the beach.

Once there, Angel dropped her bag on the warm sand and took out an oversize towel. This end of the beach was quiet, and the sand was as fine and white as granulated sugar. She sat down on the towel and scooped up a handful, letting it slip through her fingers. Then she remembered the delivery boy’s warning and dusted the fine grains from her hands, slid her sheer cover-up off her shoulders,