Tangled Threat ; Suspicious by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-06-18T19:17:21+00:00

* * *

“LOOK INTO THE eyes of death! Stare into the burning pits of monster hell. See what it would have been like to face the hunger and rage of a carnivore older than the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex! Ah, but, believe it or not, once upon a Triassic age, this was an even more ferocious and terrifying creature, in fact, one that made minced meat of the mighty dinosaurs themselves.” Michael Preston paused for effect as he talked to the small, wriggling creature he held in his right hand.

The week-old hatchling let out a strange little squeaking sound, its jaws opening, then snapping shut. The eyes were yellow with central stripes of black. It was small, almost cute in a weird sort of way, but the mouth shut with a pressure that was chilling, despite its size.

The hatchling began squealing and wriggling again.

“Loudmouth,” Michael said, shrugging. He liked the fact that the American alligator made noise. Noise was good. Noise was warning. “But you are being awfully dramatic here,” he told the hatchling. “Okay, so I’m a little dramatic myself. Because I hate tour groups,” he grumbled.

Even as he slipped the hatchling back into its tank, the door to his lab opened and Lorena entered.

“Watch out—the monsters are coming,” she warned.

Michael arched a brow. “Monsters,” she whispered, emphasizing the warning. Then she turned, a beautiful smile plastered on her face as she allowed room for the tour group to enter. Ten in all, a full tour: two young couples, perhaps on their way to register for college, maybe on honeymoon. They looked like ecology-minded types, surveying the wonder of the Everglades. There was an attractive, elderly woman, probably a widow, seeing the Sunshine State now that old Harvey or whoever had finally bitten the dust. Then there was a harried-looking couple with three boys who looked to be about twelve. The woman had once been pretty. The man had a good smile and looked like a decent father. The boys seemed to be the monsters. They walked right up to his lab table, barged against it, then leaned on it, peering into his tanks and petri dishes.

“Uh, uh, uh—back now,” Michael said, frowning at Lorena as if she might have forgotten to warn her group that the tour was hands-off. She shrugged innocently and grinned back with a combination of mischief and amusement. No doubt the boys had been a handful since they’d started their tour. Actually, Lorena wasn’t responsible for leading tours. She was a trouper, though. She seemed to like to be in the middle of things; when there were no injuries or sniffles to attend to, her work was probably boring. And it wasn’t as if there were a dozen malls or movie theaters in the area to keep her busy.

“Back, boys,” he repeated. “Even hatchlings can be dangerous.”

“Those little things? What can they do?” demanded the biggest boy as he stuck his hand into the tank with the week-old hatchlings.

Michael grabbed his hand with a no-nonsense grip that seemed to surprise the boy.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.