In Too Deep Read Online Free PDF

answers.
    â€œI’ve just about settled on a spot about five miles upstream, but—”
    She interrupted him. “Perfect. That’s not so far. We can go first thing in the morning and I’ll still be back in plenty of time to meet Carlos. After dinner I’d like to go over the work you’ve done up to now.”
    He gritted his teeth against another irrational stirring of resentment. “Fine.”
    To his astonishment, dinner passed with a minimum of animosity. Cara chatted with casual ease about the company’s work, American politics, theater in New York. In fact, Rod never had to open his mouth for more than an occasional murmur of assent.
    Her practiced conversational skill must come from all those high-society parties, he decided. He couldn’t imagine Scottie at one of those events, done up in a tuxedo rather than blue jeans. No wonder the man had suffered a heart attack. He’d probably been living on filet mignon and rich French sauces just to keep his elegant daughter happy. What Rod couldn’t quite reconcile with that bleak scenario was Cara’s apparent enthusiasm for the canned hash he’d prepared for their dinner.
    When she’d eaten the last bite, she sat back and sighed contentedly. “That was wonderful.”
    â€œThat?” he said skeptically, wondering with a touch of irony how his own stomach would stand up to the overdose of spices.
    â€œIt reminds me of the way Scottie used to fix it.”
    â€œHe fixed you a meal of this stuff?”
    â€œMore than once,” she said, chuckling with real enjoyment at his disbelieving stare. “It’s true. Whenever he’d come home from one of his jobs, we’d go on our own ‘assignment.’ Of course, our backyard was never as exotic as this, and we had a barbecue grill instead of a camp fire, but this was the meal he’d fix. He even overdid the spices just the way you did.”
    Rod avoided her laughing gaze.
    â€œI loved it,” she continued. “It was a special time, just for him and me. It was the only time I felt like part of his life.”
    Her suddenly wistful tone struck a responsive chord deep inside him. He didn’t like this feeling any better than he had any of the others she’d aroused. He’d already predetermined his opinion of Cara Scott as the willful, selfish daughter. That opinion had been shaken once today. He wasn’t prepared for the discovery that she might have been hurt by Scottie’s wanderings. The image of her as a lonely little girl flashed through his mind and was just as quickly banished.
    â€œTell me about Scottie,” she asked suddenly, deepening the crack in his reserve.
    â€œHe’s your father.”
    â€œBut there were all those years when he was gone. You knew him better, then, than I did.”
    He wondered what it had cost her to make that admission, but he couldn’t tell from her expression. She was sitting there with legs tucked under her, an elbow propped on one knee, chin in hand. Her hair had dried to a golden halo. Her eyes, in the glow of the camp fire, sparked with genuine interest. She looked like a child anticipating an exciting bedtime story. Increasingly puzzled by her and by his own reactions, Rod found he couldn’t deny her.
    â€œWhat would you like to know?”
    â€œEverything,” she said simply.
    His heart lurched. Without knowing how he knew, he had a feeling he’d just lost it. He also knew he’d do everything in his power to get it back.
    A slow smile, the first genuine one Cara had seen, came over Rod’s face. With a sense of amazement, she watched the transformation of his hard features as he sat back and, for the first time since she’d arrived, seemed to relax. She hadn’t fully understood the instantaneous tension between them, but she welcomed its disappearance. Rod’s forbidding expression faded. The stern line of his lips softened. His