The Notorious Mrs. Wright

The Notorious Mrs. Wright
Fay Robinson

The notorious Mrs. Wright–and the resourceful Mr. LewisPrivate investigator Whit Lewis is pursuing a case that has taken him to St. Augustine, Florida. His assignment: track down a woman named Susan Wright. A woman whose real name, he believes, is Emma Webster.Emma's family hired him to find her. She ran away as a teenager more than twenty years ago, leaving behind a trail of confusion and deception, of false identities and unanswered questions. Now "Susan Wright" lives in St. Augustine with her son, Tom; she owns a successful restaurant called–fittingly enough–Illusions.Whether she's Susan or Emma or both, it's part of Whit's job to get to know her; it's not part of his job to fall in love.

The waiter had described Susan Wright as “average” looking

She wasn’t. “Damned pretty” was more accurate.

“Can I help you?” she asked.

He walked over to the desk. “Whitaker Lewis. We talked briefly at the restaurant last night.”

“Yes, I remember.” She cocked her head and smiled, changing from “damned pretty” to “beautiful.”

“Look, I apologize for barging in like this, but I have a confession to make. I asked the waiter about you. He said you’re no longer married.”

That statement seemed to fluster her. “No, my husband died several years ago. Why?”

“I was wondering—would you like to take a walk? I haven’t had much of a chance to look around the town. Seeing it with a beautiful woman would be better than seeing it on my own.”

She blushed. “Are you asking me out on a date, Mr. Lewis?”

“Trying to, Mrs. Wright, but apparently not doing a very good job of it.”

“I appreciate the compliment and the invitation, but I don’t really know you. I don’t go out with men I don’t know.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fay Robinson lives in Alabama, where she enjoys gardening and playing with her Jack Russell terrier, Dex. Her first Superromance novel, A Man Like Mac, won the 2001 RITA

Award—the most prestigious award in romance publishing—for best first novel. Watch for her next book, Christmas on Snowbird Mountain, in November of this year.

You can e-mail Fay at fayrobinson@mindspring.com or write her at P.O. Box 240, Waverly, AL 36879-0240. She invites you to visit her Web site at http://www.fayrobinson.com or to check out the Friends and Links section at http://www.eHarlequin.com.

The Notorious Mrs. Wright

Fay Robinson

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Dedication

For my mother, who was fearless.

And for my husband, Jackie,

who chauffeurs, supports and rarely complains.

Acknowledgment

My deepest appreciation to:

Steve Rose and other officials and residents of the

City of St. Augustine, Florida, for their help and hospitality;

Ms. Pat Barrett of the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel

in Cleveland, Ohio, for helping me visualize the hotel

and main entrance as they were in 1979; Dave Manelski,

the Cleveland guide at About.com for his childhood

recollections of the historic Public Square area at

Christmastime; and Ms. Morgan Acker, lately of Hong Kong,

for her help with Spanish translations.

Any errors are mine and not theirs.

Dear Reader,

The Notorious Mrs. Wright, the story of former con artist Emma Webster, was great fun to write. First, I had the chance to bring back Emma’s unusual family from my last book, Mr. and Mrs. Wrong. Her brother, Jack, sister-in-law, Lucky, and father, Ray, are some of my favorite characters. Second, I was able to incorporate my love of great food, movies and archaeology into this plot.

On the following pages you’ll find romance, intrigue, drama and also a bit of comedy as two mismatched people fall in love. This story is about illusion, but also about the heroine looking beneath the facade she has created to understand who she really is. Love and happiness with handsome investigator Whitaker Lewis await Emma if she can forgive herself—and the thieving father who caused her to run away from home at fifteen.

The setting for The Notorious Mrs. Wright is St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city of continuous residence in the United States and one of the most romantic places on earth. Having visited there a couple of times in the past ten years, I felt it was a fabulous place for Emma to set up her restaurant and display her remarkable talents with costumes and makeup.

I hope you enjoy learning what happened to Jack Cahill’s (aka J. T. Webster’s) big sister from my earlier book.

Sincerely,

Fay Robinson

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE