A Matter of Trust Read Online Free PDF Page B

a volatile relationship with Alice
and Jack. This wasn’t the picture-perfect family and closeness he
had expected. He wanted to know her influence with the group of
protesters—and whether she was single.
    Wait, where had that come from? She wasn’t
even his type! Everything about her was the opposite of what he
went for in a woman. He liked stacked, curvy, athletic women who
could dazzle a man, bringing him to heel in a little black dress,
with mile-long legs that could wrap around his waist. He wanted a
tantalizing woman who could drive him wild in bed. Hell, Carrie was
a foot shorter than he was! She was wearing sneakers and ratty blue
jeans. She was even flat chested. A board had more curves than she
did—though he did notice that she had a great ass. The way she
moved, the sway of her hips as she walked ahead of him…well, he
could have stared at her ass all day. There was something
disturbing about her that he couldn’t put his finger on, though.
She was troubled, he sensed that. She didn’t have a happy aura, so
of course he wondered what drove her, what saddened her.
    “Oh, I’m sorry,” Carrie said with a sigh.
“Alice is a nice person, but she’s not my mother.”
    What was she getting at? She said it as if
she needed to make a point. She needed to talk, she wanted to
talk—maybe this was something she’d bottled up for so long that she
had to get it out now.
    “Alice seems very nice,” Ben started. “I
wouldn’t have known that she’s not your mother. She cares for you.
Watching you two together this morning in the kitchen, it seemed
you cared for her.”
    She seemed to flinch at his words, and he
wondered what that was about. “Oh, she does, I’m sure of that. It’s
just…” She stopped talking and bit her lower lip.
    He hated this. It felt like twenty
questions, the games women played when they wanted him to act like
he cared about something.
    “My mom died when I was sixteen, from breast
cancer,” Carrie began. “Alice was her best friend.” She was staring
up at him, and he could see a raw hurt burning in her eyes. She
didn’t even try to hide it. They were just standing there, looking
at each other. “Sorry,” she said. “Everyone’s told me to get over
it and drop it. It’s ancient history, but…Mom hadn’t even been in
the ground for a month when Dad married Alice.” She started walking
again.
    Ben didn’t have a clue what to say to make
it better. He didn’t know what to make of it, either. He wasn’t one
to ever take sides, but he could see her point of view and how hurt
she was. How much more was there to the story, though? He forced
himself to push it from his mind. He wasn’t here in Kit Cove to
solve this family’s problems. He had a community to win over.
    “I’m sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine
how I’d feel in your shoes. Was your mom sick a while?” he asked,
flinching immediately. Why, why was he still talking about this? He
needed to get back to his cabin, go over his presentation, and get
away from this woman, who, less than twenty-four hours ago, had
spit on him!
    She shrugged and wouldn’t look at him. “Four
years. She was in and out of remission. Alice was always here,
helping.”
    “I see.”
    She snapped her gaze to him. Her eyes were
suddenly flashing with the same anger he’d seen last night.
    “Whoa, stop right there!” he said, reaching
for her arm. “Don’t even think about spitting on me again.”
    She flushed and stepped back. “I’m sorry.”
She was squeezing her fists, fighting something. “There was no
excuse for last night. I’m sorry, really. I don’t go around doing
that, but I was so angry, and sometimes I just say and do things
before I’ve had a chance to think about it. Dad’s always told me I
don’t think before I act, and my temper is going to get me in a
world of trouble.”
    “So your dad told you I was coming, and you
arranged that welcoming party for me?”
    She stopped walking again and slowly