The Big Heat. Jennifer Labrecque

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ and never date a woman for more than four weeks.

      It wasn’t the wedding part that was so bad, but the falling in love business. Gracie he could almost understand, she’d only been eight when their mother died. But he didn’t know what the hell had happened to Linc. Linc knew better. He’d been twelve, old enough. He’d seen the way their father had been crushed when their mother died in a car accident. If Cade hadn’t stepped up to the plate, God knows what would’ve happened to them while Martin spent three months buried in a bottle. It’d been a harsh lesson that love could damn near destroy you and Cade had tried his best to watch out for Gracie and Linc over the years. All he could do now was shake his head over Linc doing something as stupid as falling in love. He worried about both of them leaving themselves so vulnerable.

      “So, you were picking out china at the mall?”

      “Yeah. When we finished we found the flyer shoved under the windshield wiper. It was on every car in the parking lot.”

      “I hope she’s got someone in her corner to back her up,” Marlene said with a pointed look in Cade’s direction.

      Despite the fact that Marlene’s comment was manipulative, Cade did feel protective. It was his nature. Even though it was damned inconvenient at times, he couldn’t even pass a stranded motorist without stopping to help. Plus, he never should’ve ignored his gut with Meeks. He felt damn guilty that they’d campaigned against Sunny by endorsing Meeks.

      “I wish we’d never endorsed him,” Marlene said, uncannily echoing his thoughts. “You boys are better than that.” At thirty-four and thirty-two, Cade and Linc weren’t exactly boys but Marlene liked to refer to them that way and they let her. She pursed her lips. “Do you think he made it up?”

      Cade shook his head. “I’m not a Meeks fan but I don’t think he wrote it. It’d be too easy for him to get caught.”

      “How embarrassing for poor Sunny,” Marlene said, slanting a look at Cade. “Like I said, she needs a decent man.”

      The phone rang and Marlene took the call, sparing Cade the need to reply.

      He picked up the flyer again and studied it. Shoulder-length blond hair, nice smile, okay figure but nice legs, average height. Not knock-you-down gorgeous but those eyes…And why’d he have a gut-clenching sense of recognition deep inside him?

      He shifted from one foot to the other and deliberately looked away from her picture. According to the flyer, her interests were running—that explained the nice legs—stained-glass design and urban revitalization.

      Linc looked over his shoulder. “Looks like a nice woman.”

      “Yep.” Attraction—intense, irrational, unwelcome—stabbed at him. “Not my type,” Cade added, just to set the record straight. He liked his women laid-back, easy-going. Marlene had used the word shallow, which he considered a bit harsh. This woman, despite her easy smile, struck him as intense. No, thanks. Instinct told him she’d be trouble with a capital T. “I’m just looking.”

      “You and every other guy in Memphis,” Linc said.

      A totally alien, proprietary feeling swamped Cade. What a piss-him-off idea that every other guy in Memphis was looking at her picture and feeling the same feeling of…he didn’t even know how to describe it. He just knew he didn’t like it.

      Linc canted his head to the side. “Those are some nice legs. Not that I’m actually looking, ’cause Georgia would have my ass.”

      “Yeah? Then maybe you shouldn’t look. She might drag you out to pick china patterns again.”

      “Easy, bro.”

      “We all have to vote for her,” Marlene said, jumping back into the conversation after hanging up the phone. “I, for one, don’t appreciate and am not taken in by a smear campaign. Boys?”

      Linc threw up his hands. “Hey, I’m there. Count me in.”

      Cade put the flyer back on Marlene’s desk. “Sure. But we might as well piss in the wind. She’s screwed.”

      And in the meantime, he’d make a phone call. He didn’t want to get involved and he sure as hell didn’t want to meet her, but maybe he could help from behind the scenes.

      “WHAT A SPINELESS TOAD,” Sunny Templeton fumed.

      “If you think you’re going to faint, put your head between your knees,” Sheila, her mentor, friend and campaign manager instructed.

      Sunny stared at the flyer. “I’m not going to faint but my head may very well explode.” She sucked in a deep breath, trying to control the temper that occasionally got her in trouble.

      “Exploding heads aren’t good,” Sheila said.

      “Nope. And exploding heads don’t figure out where to go from here.” She rested her head against the steering wheel of her ’67 ragtop Mustang and calmed herself. “Actually, I’m not sure whether I’m more angry with him or with me for not anticipating he’d do something like this when I pulled ahead of him.”

      Well, there was no use sitting in the parking lot of the community center where she’d just made a campaign speech. The stupid flyer had been on every windshield in the parking lot when she and Sheila had left the building.

      She cranked the car. It turned over the first time. The body and interior might desperately need restoration but it ran like a dream. The early November sun slanted through the windshield like a soothing balm.

      She felt calmer, more rational once again. “We need a plan. Something more constructive than me suggesting Cecil do something anatomically impossible.” Okay, maybe she wasn’t totally rational just yet.

      “I think the best way to handle it is to ignore it,” Sheila said. “Meeks is looking for a reaction and I say we don’t give him one.”

      “Good idea.” Sunny nodded her agreement. “This—” she nodded toward the flyer crumpled next to the gearshift “—has nothing to do with the campaign or my qualifications.” Her temper escalated all over again. “Can you believe he called me a girl?”

      “Of course he did. You’re a thirty-year-old successful entrepreneur with a strong civic track record. He’s desperate to invalidate you and party girls don’t run for city council. He knows people have responded to your sincerity. They know you genuinely care about this city.”

      Sunny knew that was true. Granted there were some really dirty parts and nobody was naming it the most beautiful city in the U.S., but she loved Memphis with its rich history and diversity. Running for city council wasn’t about the power or ego gratification—she sincerely believed she could make a difference. If she thought Cecil would do a better job for the district and the community she never would’ve stepped up to the plate. “Well, we’ve run a clean campaign based on the issues. Let’s hope voters are turned off by his stunt.”

      “Sunny?”

      “Yeah?”

      “Um, I’m not being critical, just curious.” Sheila was always so careful not to offend whereas Sunny tended to be much more blunt and plain-spoken. “Why’d you do a singles’ ad on the Internet?”

      “I СКАЧАТЬ