Designer Genes Read Online Free PDF Page A

his body follow its natural tendency
to react.
    Pretty she
might be, but this lady had a mouth on her. Maybe that kind of sharp talk got
things done in the city, but around here it made people itchy. He certainly
felt itchy—in all kinds of places that it wasn’t polite to talk about.
    Since they
were riding along together, he figured they ought to be talking. That’s what
they’d do if she lived around here. They’d chew over the school situation and
speculate about what Willie and Billy Dell Grimes were going to call their new
baby, since they’d named the last three Adam, Eve and Abel, and the next likely
choice was Cain. He’d heard folks were taking bets on that score, although
Pastor O’Rourke said it was a sin to gamble.
    Anyway, he had
no clue what you talked about with a shiny lady from L.A. He could hardly
mention that he thought he’d met her before. It seemed preposterous.
    He decided to
try a safer topic. “That’s a cute little girl you have there.”
    ”Do you like
babies?” she asked.
    Carter stared
at the road as he drove and gave the matter the serious thought it deserved. “I
don’t dislike them,” he concluded.
    “Have you
given any thought to having one?”
    “No, ma’am,”
he said. “I’m not married.”
    “I meant in
the future!”
    “Why would I
think about having children when I’m not married?” he asked. “That’s putting
the cart before the horse.”
    She folded her
arms. “It’s normal to think about having babies. In fact, that’s the reason
some people get married in the first place.”
    He knew what
the pastor would say about that. “Yes, ma’am, but not if they’ve been behaving
themselves.”
    Buffy Arden
began to laugh and the merry, lilting sound tickled his heart. “That wasn’t
what I meant,” she said at last. “I meant because they want to have
babies, not because they’re already having them.”
    “Guess I
misunderstood.”
    “Guess you did.”
    The truck fell
silent save for the rump-rump of tires on pavement. Why was this blonde lady
interested in his opinions on babies? he wondered. Did she seek reassurance? “I
hope you didn’t think I was criticizing. I mean, you haven’t mentioned whether
there’s a Mr. Arden.”
    “Unfortunately,
yes, there’s a Mr. Arden, my ex,” she said. “And a bigger louse never walked
the earth. Or crawled upon the earth, or whatever lice do.”
    “Louse or not,
he must miss his cute little girl,” he said as he turned from the highway onto
Main Street.
    “He has his cute little girl,” Buffy said grimly. “Her name is Yoko and she’s been the
centerfold in Amazing Asian Mammaries three times.”
    “Amazing Asian
Mammaries?” he repeated. “Doesn’t that mean…”
    “Breasts,” she
finished. “Bought and paid for by my husband.”
    Now, that was a sad situation. “I don’t hold with married men fooling around.”
    “That’s what I
like about you.” She favored him with a smile that could light up the Fourth of
July. “You’re an old-fashioned guy, aren’t you, Carter?”
    “You might say
that.” In truth, every time he looked at her, his mind seethed with
old-fashioned thoughts. Some of them were downright Neanderthal.
    The sports car
jounced in place behind them as the tow truck rattled along the worn pavement,
its edges marked by the occasional hitching post. As they passed the church,
Buffy rolled down her window.
    “Did I read
that right?” she asked, staring at the sign out front.
    Carter was
glad the darkness hid his heated cheeks. “You mean the Nowhere Nearer to Thee 0
Lord Church?”
    “Is that
really what it’s called?”
    “Yep.”
    “That’s a
ridiculous name,” said his passenger.
    “Not when you
know the story,” he assured her. “It used to be a branch of a church in
Groundhog Station, our town’s…” He wasn’t sure how to pronounce “nemesis,” so
he finished, “…rival. Groundhogs are always claiming they’re the best and the
first at everything,