McKettricks of Texas: Garrett. Linda Miller Lael

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СКАЧАТЬ was still at the table, though, drinking coffee and frowning at the newspaper spread out in front of him. He’d recently topped off his cup—the brew steamed at his right elbow—and when he looked up, Julie saw that he was wearing wire-rimmed glasses.

      For some reason, that struck her in a tender place.

      Seeing her, he stood.

      “I guess you must have heard about Senator Cox,” Garrett said, with a nod toward the paper, his voice deep and solemn and very quiet.

      Julie nodded. “I’m sorry,” she told Garrett, and then she felt foolish. “If that’s the appropriate sentiment, I mean,” she stumbled on. “Being sorry, that is.”

      She closed her eyes, sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose.

      When she looked at Garrett again, he smiled, took off his glasses and folded down the stems, tucked them into the pocket of his shirt.

      His eyes were the heart-bruising blue of a September sky.

      His expression, unreadable.

      “Did I read you wrong, or did you want to speak to me about something earlier, before the interruption?”

      Oh, but there was a slight edge to his tone—or was she imagining that?

      Totally confused, Julie raised her chin a notch. “Sit down,” she said. “Please.”

      “Not until you do,” Garrett said, grinning again.

      Julie smiled, plunked herself down on the bench and waited until Garrett was back in his chair.

      She was instantly nervous.

      Her heart thrummed away at twice its normal rate, and she knew it wasn’t just because she meant to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak.

      “The foundation—your family’s, I mean—has very generously promised to match any money the school district can raise to buy new computers and software for use in the library at Blue River High and—”

      A sudden blush surged up Julie’s neck and cut off her words. What was the matter with her? Why was she so self-conscious?

      This just wasn’t like her.

      “And?” Garrett finally prompted, putting his glasses back on.

      “We appreciate the gift,” Julie managed lamely.

      “You’re welcome,” Garrett said, puzzled now.

      Damn her pride.

      And for all she knew, Garrett wasn’t even directly involved with the McKettrick family’s foundation. Hadn’t she read once that his cousin, Meg McKettrick O’Ballivan, who lived in Arizona with her famous country-singer husband, handled such things? She would have to do some research before she broached the subject again, could have kicked herself for not thinking of that sooner.

      Garrett waited, and though he wasn’t smiling, something danced in his eyes. He was enjoying this.

      In the end, though, Julie outwaited him.

      Presently, with a tap of one index finger to the front page of the newspaper, he asked, “As a voter, what’s your take on the senator’s future in politics?”

      “I’m probably not the right person to ask,” she said moderately, remembering their somewhat heated exchange after a mutual friend’s funeral a few months before. It had been fairly brief, but they had gotten into a lively discussion of one of the major issues of the day.

      “Why would you say that?” Garrett asked, sounding genuinely curious.

      “I voted against the senator in the last election,” she admitted. Her cheeks burned, not with chagrin but with lingering conviction. “And the one before that.”

      “I see,” Garrett said, and his mouth quirked again, at the same corner as before.

      “Why?”

      Julie straightened. “Because I liked his opponent better.”

      “That’s the only reason?”

      Julie’s shoulders rose and fell with the force of her sigh. “All right, no. No, it isn’t. I never liked Morgan Cox very much, never trusted him. There’s something … well, sneaky … about him.”

      “Something ‘sneaky’?” Garrett challenged, a wry twist to his mouth, sitting back in his chair, watching her. He slid the newspaper in her direction, somehow directing her gaze to the photo spread—every shot showed Senator Cox with smiling children, or golden retrievers, or an adoring and much-admired Mrs. Cox or some combination thereof.

      Julie hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “The whole thing seemed too perfect,” she finally replied. “Almost as though he’d hired people to pose as his all-American family. And then there was that hot-tub incident. It was downplayed in the media, strangely enough, but it happened. I remember it clearly.”

      Garrett gave a hoarse chuckle at that. He didn’t sound amused, though. “Ah, yes,” he said, far away now. “That.”

      “That,” Julie agreed. “Senator Morgan Cox in a hot tub with three half-naked women, none of whom were his wife. It was a family reunion, he claimed, and they were all just a happy group of cousins. As if any idiot would believe a story like that.”

      Something changed in Garrett’s face. “I can think of at least one idiot who believed it,” he said quietly.

      Julie wished she’d kept her opinions to herself, but it was a little late for that. “What happens now?” she asked, and this time her tone was gentle.

      “I can’t speak for Senator Cox,” Garrett said, after a long time, “but I’ll be staying on here for a while.”

      A strangely celebratory tingle moved through Julie at this news.

      Not that she cared whether Garrett McKettrick was around or not.

      “Well, good night,” she said.

      “Good night,” Garrett replied.

      Julie turned around too fast, bumped into the cabinet behind her, and gasped with pain.

      Garrett caught hold of her arm, turned her to face him.

      One wrong move on either of their parts, Julie reasoned wildly, and their torsos would be touching.

      “Are you all right?” Garrett asked. His hands rested lightly on her shoulders now.

      Their faces were only inches apart.

      It would be so easy to kiss.

      No, Julie thought. No, I am not all right.

      “Julie?” Garrett prompted.

      “I’m СКАЧАТЬ