Turner's Vision by Suzanne Ferrell Page B

have to ask that you give up your investigation. Allow me to use all your hard work to find out where my sister is, before it’s too late.”
    For a long few moments she appeared to consider his words. With a shrug of her shoulders, she stood.
    “Obviously, you have more at stake here than we do, Micah. I guess we’ll just have to bow out and let you finish finding answers for us.”
    Signaling the boys to follow, Claudia marched from the room.
    Micah watched her leave the room. That act wasn’t fooling him for a minute. He knew she was up to something. Only time would tell him what it was. In the meanwhile, he had something else to handle.
    “Henderson,” he called the older man over, looking him directly in the eye. “You are never to let that woman off in a place like the warehouse district again without some means of protecting her. Do you understand me?”
    The servant had the grace to look chagrined. “I protested with her for two hours before we left, sir. For one so small, she can be quite formidable.”
    “I don’t care if you have to tie her down. This isn’t a game. She could get hurt.”
    “I’ll do my best, sir.”
    “Good. I guess I can’t ask for better than that.” Micah walked to the door, the servant following behind.
    “Sir.” Henderson stopped him just outside the front door.
    “Yes?”
    “It’s good to have someone care enough about Miss Claudia to want to protect her.”
    “What about her parents? Didn’t they want to protect her?”
    “She never really knew her mother.”
    “And her father?”
    “For years the old bastard beat the hell out of her.”

CHAPTER SIX
    The next evening, Micah sat hidden in the shadows at a table in the corner of the Whaler’s Reef. He’d spent the day putting together a disguise that would help hide his identity during tonight’s meeting. The clothes, purchased from a wharf rat, also reeked of body odor and fish. He’d poured enough whiskey on his clothes to give off the impression he’d been drinking for some days. The combined smell alone should keep anyone from coming too close.
    The Gibsons would be here. He wondered who else would make an appearance.
    Earlier, he’d scouted the tavern and surrounding area, looking for hiding places and possible escape routes. The brick building stood three stories high, with rooms upstairs for overnight guests of the working girls. The original owner kept a back staircase for those individuals who wished to leave discreetly, but it had been sealed over since then, leaving him no escape route, which worried him some.
    While he was busy making plans for the night, Micah had Kelly watching the outside of Claudia’s town house for any comings or goings. He wasn’t fool enough to believe she was giving up her investigation. She could no more stay away from this mystery than he could stay away from her.
    There was a strong pull between them. His feelings and visions of danger were usually reserved for those friends and family members to whom he was closest. When he’d seen the expression on her face in the carriage last night, the same vision he’d had of Claudia several months before flashed through his mind again. It was accompanied by a sense of danger, and the more time he spent with her, the stronger that feeling became.
    A sense of danger wasn’t the only feeling he was having about this chameleon of a woman. The comparison amused him.
    Chameleon was a very appropriate name. She changed not only her disguises, but also every nuance of her person with every situation in which she found herself. When she’d shaken out her hair last night and looked up at him with mischief dancing in her eyes, he decided then he was going to have her. If he hadn’t been caught off guard by his desire for her, he would’ve gladly choked her for putting herself and the boy at risk last night. She didn’t know it, but their futures were connected. He didn’t like it one bit that she was jeopardizing that future with