Eye of the Tiger Read Online Free PDF Page B

keep busy. She couldn’t bear thinking about it. Anyway, Wade would be with her. He’d protect her.
    She got dressed early and went into her father’s study, where he’d been holed up all day, to show him her borrowed outfit and her new look.
    He stared and nodded solemnly. “You look just like your mother, darling,” he said, smiling wistfully. “So beautiful.”
    “Not me. Wrong girl.” She laughed. “But if you think I’ll do, that’s fine.”
    “You’ll do all right. You may need a stick to beat off the boys.” He lit his pipe. “Watch yourself.”
    “Everybody tells me that.” She sighed.
    “Then I’d listen if I were you.” He studied her with shrewd eyes. “Remember that it’s a long way from the presidential suite to the economy-class rooms, will you?”
    “We’re not servants,” she said haughtily.
    “Yes, I know that. But we’re not high society, either. See that you remember it.”
    “Yes, Your Worship,” she said, and curtsied.
    “Away with you! And don’t drink. You know what it does to you.”
    She did, indeed, remembering that one date with Keegan. Her face colored, and she bent, pretending to fix her shoe strap.
    “I’ll remember.”
    “And have a good time,” her father added.
    “Oh, I expect to.”
    “And say hello to Keegan for me,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes. “Didn’t you know he was invited, too?”
    She glared at the knowing look in his eyes, then turned as she heard a car pull into the driveway. “Well, I’m off. I’ll see you when I get back. Don’t be up too late, now.”
    He made a face at her and she closed the door on it.
    The Blakes lived in a house just a little less palatial than Flintlock. It was redbrick, very old, and stood on the banks of a private lake overlooking one of the most beautiful plains near Lexington. There was rolling farmland around it, and Thoroughbreds pranced jauntily in the confines of white fences.
    “Nice little place, isn’t it?” Wade asked as they stopped in the driveway where a liveried chauffeur waited to drive them from the parking spaces up to the house.
    “Little,” she scoffed, getting into the back of the Rolls-Royce limousine. She tried to memorize everyinch of the leather luxury so that she could tell her father and Darcy. It was a little like being Cinderella.
    “Little compared to some,” Wade replied with a laugh. Riding around in Rolls-Royces was probably nothing unusual for him. He leaned back, scanning Eleanor’s ensemble. “I like your dress, darling. Silk wears well, doesn’t it?”
    “Uh, yes, it does,” she returned. Odd that he could recognize silk; he probably wore silk shirts. Most rich men did. She remembered that Keegan had worn a white silk shirt that night….
    “I like the new haircut, too,” he said. “You pay for dressing, Eleanor. I like the way you look.”
    “I’m glad.”
    “Nervous?” he asked as the driver pulled up in front of the house, which was blazing with light. Exquisitely gowned women and men in black evening wear strode elegantly along the cobblestone walkway, and Eleanor did feel uneasy.
    “Just a bit,” she confessed.
    “Just stick with me, kid, I’ll take care of you,” he said with a wink.
    She glanced at him. Was he afraid she might slurp her soup and try to butter her bread with her spoon? She frowned. Was it a dinner party?
    She asked him. “No, darling,” he replied, guiding her to the front door. “It’s a champagne buffet.”
    “With different kinds of champagne?”
    “Not quite,” he chuckled, pressing her hand closer. Tall, dark, good-looking, he attracted attention, even with his slightly overweight frame. And Eleanor seemed to be doing that as well. And not because shewas out of place. “Champagne and hors d’oeuvres,” he whispered. “Conversation and dancing. There’s even a pool, if you fancy swimming.”
    “Well, not in my gown,” she murmured demurely.
    “They keep bathing suits on hand,” he said, laughing.