Midnight Jewels

accommodating."
    "Maybe I was expected," Croft murmured.
    "Did anyone ever tell you that you occasionally exhibit an unpleasant tendency toward melodrama?"

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Chapter EIGHT

    A short time later Mercy got her first look at Erasmus Gladstone's Colorado mountain estate and decided Croft wasn't the only one with a touch of melodrama in his soul. Erasmus Gladstone appeared to have a few leanings in that direction, too.
    Gladstone's large, two-story home was a dramatically modern design of sheer, sweeping white walls and smoked glass windows set inside a walled compound. At first glance it reminded Mercy rather uncomfortably of a futuristic mountain fortress. The compound walls were a couple of feet taller than an average man and made of stone. A wide, steel barred gate set into the walls appeared to be the only point of access.
    The gate stood open in what Mercy supposed was meant to be a welcoming fashion and a muscular, handsome young man dressed casually in slacks and a short-sleeved cotton pullover stood waiting to greet Gladstone's guests.
    Mercy wondered where Gladstone hired his help. The man at the gate wasn't the first attractive male she had met so far. The young man who had met her and Croft in a four-wheel drive vehicle was equally eye-catching. Both of the men struck her as the type one expected to find flogging their portfolios to acting and modeling agencies. Except for the bulging muscles. Mercy wasn't so sure that much musculature would have been easy to clothe in designer garb, although it probably would have looked good on screen.
    The bulging contours of shoulder, chest, arm and thigh that marked Gladstone's hired help made Mercy realize the lithe, sleek form Croft's strength took. The power in his body had a far more subtle, restrained and graceful emphasis. Gladstone's men would have looked good lifting weights at a body-building beach in California. Put Croft on that same beach and he would have looked like a jungle cat taking a stroll among the muscle freaks.
    The handsome driver of the four-wheel drive vehicle halted inside the compound, got out and motioned Croft to park the Toyota to one side.
    "Mr. Gladstone said you were to go straight on into the house. Dallas will show you the way. I'll bring in your luggage and put it in your room."
    "Thank you, Lance," Mercy said politely as she alighted from the front seat of the Toyota. She felt obliged to add an especially bright smile of gratitude when it became obvious Croft was going to ignore Lance altogether.
    Croft saw the smile and shot Mercy a dour glance as he swung himself easily out of the Toyota. "No need to tip him," he muttered over the roof of the car. "I don't think he's working for minimum wage." He took Mercy's arm in a firm grasp and led her toward the house.
    "Honestly, Croft, for a man who believes in doing things the proper way, you can be downright rude on occasion."
    That observation seemed to cheer him. "I do my best."
    A sharp, questioning bark sounded from the rear of the compound. Mercy automatically glanced in that direction. There was a long, fenced dog run there and two sleek Doberman pinschers paced alertly back and forth behind the wire mesh, their attention on the newcomers.
    "They don't look like pets, do they?" Mercy said under her breath.
    "No," Croft agreed, watching the dogs thoughtfully, "they don't."
    "No need to be afraid of the dogs. We only let them out at night to keep an eye on things," the man called Dallas said as he approached. He smiled, a wonderfully boyish grin that displayed perfect white teeth. "We're a little isolated up here. The dogs are just a precaution. Right this way Miss Pennington. Mr. Gladstone is waiting for you. And your Mend, too, of course." Dallas nodded politely at Croft, who didn't seem to notice.
    Mercy rushed to rill the small social gap. "What a lovely place Mr. Gladstone has. Fantastic view. The air is so clear here in the mountains. The peaks and valley seem so close when you look out over a range."
    "Distances are deceptive up here. The altitude and the lack of city haze are the primary reasons," Dallas informed her. "A lot of hikers and climbers set out for what appears to be a reasonably close goal and find themselves walking for hours and days longer than they'd planned."
    "It certainly is a unique location. I imagine you're cut off almost entirely during the winter. How do you manage?"
    Dallas pointed toward the other side of the compound and Mercy saw a small helicopter