The Golden Bough. Sir James George Frazer

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СКАЧАТЬ taste normally ran to ranch hands and construction workers. There was something about a blue collar that she found very sexy. The bigger the muscles the better. Plus, it didn’t hurt that it was an easy way to get a rise out of her family.

      But getting involved with Connor Stewart went way beyond subtle rebellion. Shondra got a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about how her brothers would react. She’d like to hope that their feelings would have more to do with his family business than the fact that Connor was white, but she really couldn’t be sure.

      And now wasn’t the time to put Malcolm and Tyson’s progressive thinking to the test. Her family was grieving and everyone needed to pull together. This was Shondra’s opportunity to step up and prove she was her brothers’ equal.

      She was a big girl. She could handle her libido. What mattered most was that she had a job to do. Two in fact, because the compliance work had to be done, and she wouldn’t sacrifice her professional reputation for an investigation that might not turn up anything.

      When Harmon Braddock died, everything in Shondra’s world came to a halt. Their family hadn’t been perfect, but no one had expected it to be ripped apart by a devastating car accident. The past month had been like living inside a bubble. She watched the world like a bystander—no one could get in and she couldn’t get out.

      As Shondra struggled to come to terms with her father’s death, her family got word that his crash may not have been an accident.

      It shocked Shondra to think someone might have killed her father…but, somehow, the anonymous message rang true. Politicians couldn’t please everyone, so it was conceivable that Harmon Braddock had made some enemies during his climb from Senator Cayman’s legal counsel to congressman.

      Shondra felt, in her heart, that Harmon Braddock had been a good man. And for many years he’d been popular with his constituents. But the family observed his gradual change as years passed. As his hours away from home grew, he became more the political stereotype, working more for corporate interest groups than for the people. It was this change that eventually forced Malcolm out of their father’s footsteps.

      When Malcolm and their father became estranged, the Braddock family began to grow apart. And it broke Shondra’s heart that it took losing their father to reunite the family. In the past month they’d all begun to lean on each other again. Then, once more, things started unraveling.

      First, her father’s assistant, Gloria Kingsley, had found a mysterious number on Harmon’s phone logs that traced back to Stewart Industries. Gloria had no knowledge or record of any official business between Harmon and SI. And what was up with Harmon’s credit card bill showing a plane ticket to Washington, D.C., on the day he died? Gloria always booked his travel. So why not this one? She received a call implying that Harmon had been murdered, which also tracked back to the multimillion-dollar oil company.

      With these new events, Shondra found her purpose again. Investigating her father’s death brought her out of her bubble.

      Finally she had something to do besides cry.

      Realizing that she’d been standing in the foyer lost in a reverie, Shondra picked up her briefcase and headed for her bedroom.

      Fueled by the thought of a relaxing bubble bath, Shondra picked up speed, only to come to a startled halt as her foot squished into a brown mess just inside her door.

      “Lisa! Lisa, have you been bringing your dogs to the house again?”

      Within a few seconds Lisa appeared in her doorway. “Oh shoot, I thought I’d found all of Muffin’s little presents. I’ll clean that up for you.”

      Rolling her eyes, Shondra kicked off her flat sling-backs. “And you owe me a new pair of shoes. These are now yours.”

      Lisa, now on her knees scrubbing at the stain, looked up incredulously through her veil of micro braids. “Are you kidding? It’s just a little dog poop. It cleans right off.”

      “But the memory lingers. Girl, are your braids too tight? You promised me that you’d stop bringing those dogs to the house. You’re lucky I don’t charge you extra rent for all the cockadoos and peekachoos you have running around here.”

      Lisa sat up. “They’re called cockapoos and peekapoos. And I had to bring Muffin here…just for the afternoon. The air conditioner at the shelter broke, and we each had to bring an animal home with us until it was fixed.”

      Shondra sighed and stretched out on her bed. Her roommate and best friend since college was a little off. They’d both graduated with degrees in law, but late last year Lisa quit her job with a prominent Houston firm to “find her passion.” And for the past month, her passion had been walking dogs for a ritzy dog kennel downtown.

      Shondra couldn’t relate. She’d known what she’d wanted to do for a living since she was five. But as long as Lisa made rent, who was she to judge?

      “There. Looks like it never happened.” Lisa stood, brushing herself off. “How was your first business trip on the new job?”

      Shondra sank back into her pillows. “It was really fun, actually. I got to fly back in the company jet with the president.”

      “Of the United States?”

      Shondra leveled a hard stare at her friend. “Of course not. Of Stewart Industries.”

      Lisa ditched her cleaning supplies and sat on the corner of the bed. “Wow. Private jet, huh? Maybe I got out of law too soon.”

      “It’s never too late, my friend,” Shondra said hopefully.

      “Nope,” Lisa finally said, shaking her head so her braids rattled. “It’s better to be happy than rich.”

      Shondra grinned. “You know, it doesn’t have to be either-or. Is dog walking really making you happy?”

      Lisa shrugged. “I’m not saying I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. I’m still searching. I just think you can’t make your mind up about something until you’ve tried it.”

      Shondra knew her friend was talking about careers, but she couldn’t help applying that theory to her love life. Despite it being against her better judgment, or maybe because of it, over the course of the week, Shondra found herself looking around the office for Connor.

      Part of her had hoped they would be running into each other regularly, but no such luck. By Thursday evening Shondra had convinced herself that this was fate’s way of telling her to keep her head down and focus on the tasks at hand.

      Which was why Connor caught her completely off guard when he called her at home.

      “I’d like to take you out to dinner tomorrow night,” he said.

      Shondra’s jaw dropped as she fumbled to find something to say. “Um, to talk about business?”

      She heard his warm laugh and could just picture those white teeth glinting. “Not really.”

      Say no, she coached herself. “No…problem. Pick me up at eight.”

      Chapter 2

      Shondra paced the foyer at a quarter to eight.

      “Sit СКАЧАТЬ