"Ron Goulart - The Curse of the Obelisk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goulart Ron)

"Now where the hell's the lady who hollered?"
She was slumped on a wrought iron bench, a derringer lying in the
grass at her feet. A slim and very pretty young woman she was, her hair a
pale reddish gold. It had tumbled down from under the checkered cap she
was wearing. The cap matched the man's Norfolk jacket and tweedy
knickers she had herself decked out in.
"Jennie Barr." Harry's tone was not especially cordial. "You were too
busy to have dinner with me tonight. You had to get to work immediately
on your story for the New York Daily Inquirer. You lied to me."
Taking a deep breath, Jennie sat up straighter and tucked her hair back
up under the cap. "Well, I suppose I did fib some, yes."
"We travel all the way from Zevenburg to Paris together," he continued,
angry. "I even, behaving like what my father would classify as a
nincompoop, declare that I'm fond of you. I entertain the half-wit notion
that I can trust you not to be a newspaper reporter above all else. But you
were just conning me, Jennie, so you couldтАФ"
"Fond of me? What you did on the Zevenburg-Paris Express, Harry, was
tell me you loved me."
"Okay, I do love you," he admitted. "Fact is, I was in the process of
telling you that again just a few hours ago. But you told me you had to get
right to work on your assignment. No time for romance, no time for the
gaiety, light and movement of Paris. So it turns out this damn story of
yours has to do with my privateтАФ"
"Hey, I just saved your life."
"Thanks," he said. "Now tell me why you're dressed like a guy and
tailing me."
Jennie grinned. "Did pretty darn well, didn't I? I followed you all the
way from the Hotel Grand-Luxe and you never even tumbled."
"You did, huh?" He made a face and shook his head. "There's one thing
my father's right about. Getting involved with a woman dulls yourтАФ"
"Your father, if you'll forgive my reminding you of the fact, is a sour
ball, Harry," the reporter put in. "One of the things that scares the heck
out of me is the possibility you'll grow more like him as you get older.
Spending my declining years with a curmudgeon isn't my idea ofтАФ"
"You won't even spend the rest of the damn evening with me unless you
explain what's going on."
Reaching up, she took hold of his arm and pulled herself to her feet.
"Take me to a nearby caf├й and over coffee I'll tell all," Jennie promised.
"I'm on my way to see a client. Don't have time forтАФ"
"Let me give you some advice." She bent, grimacing, scooped up her
tiny gun and tucked it away under her jacket. "Don't pout that way. You
don't have the face for it. I think it's an attractive face, albeit a mite
beat-up andтАФ"
"Okay, I'll take you someplace." When they started to walk, he noticed
the red-haired young woman was limping. "Did that critter hurt you?"
"Nope, but I twisted my ankle while I was running and shooting at it.
That's why I fell and dropped my gun."
"You can't faze a gigantic bird with a dinky gun like that anyway."
"Wasn't a gigantic bird," she assured Harry. "It was a gigantic bat."
Jennie poked at her raspberry ice with her spoon. "It is, you have to