Calamity Mom Read Online Free PDF Page A

He’d spent years making money, traveling, letting business occupy every waking hour of his life. And in the process, Ben had become a stranger.
    “Can we go and eat now?” Marie asked petulantly. “I’m hungry. We can have salads and spring water.”
    “I’m not having a salad and spring water,” Ben told her belligerently. “I’m having a steak and a soda.”
    “Don’t you talk that way to me!” Marie shot back. “And you’re not having red meat…!”
    “He can have a steak if he wants one,” Faulkner told her coldly. “In fact, I’m having one myself. Let’s go.”
    Ben and Marie wore equally shocked looks. Faulkner moved ahead of them toward the restaurant. He spared a sad, regretful glance toward the door where Shelly had vanished. He supposed he was going to have to apologize to her. He wasn’t looking forward to it.
    * * *
    A LITTLE WHILE LATER , Shelly had worn out her meager supply of bad language on Marie’s behavior and was catchingher breath when Pete came up to join the two women at the burger place.
    “There’s a beach party tonight, dancing and beer. You two coming?” he asked.
    “Sure,” Nan said. “How can we resist dancing?”
    Pete glared at her. “Well, there’s me, too.”
    “I can resist you,” Nan said, smiling.
    “I can’t,” Shelly said with a theatrical sigh. “You make me swoon!”
    Pete grinned. “Do I, really? What a treat! That’s radical!”
    “She’s acting,” Nan whispered loudly. “She’s already promised to an investment broker back home.”
    Pete stared at Shelly blankly. “Are you?”
    “My father keeps trying,” Shelly said ruefully. “He wants to see me settled and secure.” She laughed. “Well, I’ve got long legs and I can run fast. Not to worry. I’ll escape.”
    “Make sure you escape by way of the beach,” Pete made her promise. “We’re going to have a ball.”
    “The last time he said that, six of us spent the night in the holding tank down at Fort Lauderdale.”
    “I gave you an intimate look at life in the raw,” Pete said, wounded. “You learned incredible things about people.”
    “Three hookers, two drunks and a man accused of murder were in there with us,” Nan translated. “The drunks were sick at the time,” she added pointedly. “One threw up on me.”
    “Oh, my,” Shelly mused.
    “No police this time,” Pete promised. “No drugs, no trouble. Drugs are stupid, anyway. We’ll just drink beer and eat pizza and dance. Okay?”
    “In that case, I’ll come,” Nan said.
    “Me, too, I guess,” Shelly said. “I don’t have much of a social life these days.”
    Nan was looking past Shelly’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t say that.”
    Shelly followed the wide-eyed stare. Mr. Sexy was walkingtoward her, resplendent in his white slacks and electric blue silk shirt and white jacket. He looked very sophisticated, and women up and down the strip of developments were openly staring at him.
    “Wow,” Nan sighed softly.
    Shelly had time to wonder what he’d done with Marie and Ben before he stopped in front of her.
    “I’d like to speak to you. Alone,” he added with a meaningful stare toward Nan and Pete.
    “I’m a memory already,” Pete said quickly.
    “Same here.” Nan followed him, leaving Shelly alone at the table with Faulkner.
    He sat down, giving his surroundings a cold appraisal. His silver eyes settled on Shelly’s face in its frame of windblown, wavy blond hair. Her complexion was perfect, softly pink, and her blue eyes were like pools at midnight. He studied her in reluctant silence, drinking in her beauty.
    “Ben told me that you saved his life. I want to apologize for the things I said to you.”
    “Don’t apologize for your bad manners, Mr. Scott,” she said gently. “It would ruin your image.”
    He grimaced. “Is that how I sounded?”
    “Despite what your woman friend thinks, I am neither a street person nor a lady of the evening,” she said quietly. “As for Ben, I pulled him