CELEBRITY STATUS (The Kate Huntington mystery series #4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Cherise.
                Actually she wouldn’t mind reasserting a few things herself. She had a funny feeling her handsome husband wasn’t telling her all the ways that Cherise Martin was becoming hard to handle. Skip tended to take his good looks in stride, along with the frequent come-ons from women, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous at times.
                She knew it was a primitive territorial thing–how dare these women think they could mess with her man? But she trusted him completely. He could have had just about any woman he wanted, and he had wanted her. He had even patiently waited several months, while she held him at arm’s length, insisting it was too soon after Eddie’s death for her to date.
                Heading toward the bedroom, she let out an exaggerated sigh. “I just have so much to do today, so many chores. First I need to change the sheets on our bed.”
                “I’ll help you with that, darlin’,” Skip said, following her down the hall.
                She giggled. “With your help, I’m sure we can get it done in three times the amount of time I could have done it alone.”
                He caught up with her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “I’m thinking it should take four or five times as long,” he said, as he buried his face in her dark curls. “After all we’ve probably got an hour before Billy wakes up.”
     

CHAPTER THREE
     
                On Wednesday, Kate and her closest friend, following a tradition of many years, were meeting for lunch at Mac’s Place, across from the Towson courthouse. It wasn’t quite the same, however, now that the owner was seldom there. Kate and Mac Reilly had grown up together; their parents had been best friends. It seemed weird to come into his restaurant and not have him stick his head out of the kitchen to greet her with, “How ya doin’, sweet pea?”
                Kate was already ensconced in their favorite booth when she spotted Rob Franklin’s six-two frame coming through the door. Lowering his significant bulk onto the bench across from her, he let out a sigh. “Feels good to sit down. I’ve been in court all morning.”
                Rob and Kate had started out as work buddies, with Rob handling the legal messes her psychotherapy clients sometimes encountered. Over the years, the relationship had evolved into a friendship, first between them and later between the two couples. The hell the three of them had been through together, when Eddie was murdered and Kate and the Franklins were being stalked by his killer, had taken that friendship to a whole new level.
                Now her friend was watching her. “How’re you doing, Kate?”
                “Fine,” came out of her mouth, as she grimaced.
                “What’s the matter?”
                “Oh, it’s not a big deal. I just had a session right before lunch with a somewhat difficult client.”
                “Need to talk about it?” Rob asked.
                “I’d love to but I can’t. She’s a celebrity, pretty high profile, and a bit spoiled.” Kate changed the subject. “So how are things in your world?”
                While waiting for their usual order of crab cake sandwiches, with seasoned fries on the side for Rob and a salad for Kate, they chatted about the latest adventures of the Franklins’ daughters. The oldest, Shelley, was in her third year in an archeology doctorate program and Samantha was a junior at Johns Hopkins University, in pre-med.
                “Wow, your girls are gonna be doctors,” Kate said.
                “Yeah, who’d have ever thunk it, especially Sam. For a long time there we weren’t real sure she’d make it out of high school in one piece.” Rob shook his head, recalling his youngest’s