“Nonsense, Ann.” The gruff asperity of Margrave’s voice was muffled by the food in his mouth. “I’ve told you a thousand times that no sane person would touch the stuff before lunch. You’re turning into a lush, and I don’t like it.”
Shayne shifted his chair to a vantage point that included them both in his range of vision. He saw an expression of rebellious hatred cross the girl’s face and disappear, leaving her features as white and placid as before.
Margrave swallowed, took a drink of black coffee, and said, “My daughter has an idea it’s smart and modern to get half-tight at breakfast and try to stay that way all day. She simply doesn’t understand that no man could conduct business in that state. You tell her, goddamit.”
“On the contrary,” Shayne told him gravely, “I think it’s an extremely good idea.” He lifted a goblet of ice water from Margrave’s breakfast table, emptied it into the silver pitcher, and went across to the girl, saying, “Will you pour, Miss Margrave? Or, is it Miss Margrave?”
A mischievous light twinkled in her eyes. “It is,” she answered, “but anyone who defies my father and drinks with me at breakfast must certainly call me Ann.” She set her glass down and reached toward the bucket. “Ice, Mr. Shayne?”
“A couple of lumps, and make it Mike.”
Standing with his back to Margrave, he looked down with interest and pleasure at the sinuous body of the girl as she put ice in his glass and poured whisky over it. She was in her early twenties, he thought, long-limbed and lithe.
Margrave cleared his throat loudly and warned, “You’ll need a clear head for this business, Shayne. I have no intention of paying out good money for nothing.”
Ann Margrave paused uncertainly, with less than an inch of liquor in his glass. Without turning his head, Shayne said, “That’s right. You haven’t hired me yet, have you? So I’m just a guest, Ann, and you needn’t spare the horses.”
The mischievous twinkle in her eyes spread over her face and she poured more whisky. She looked up at the wound on his head and said, “Maybe you do need a big one.”