Long Time Coming Read Online Free PDF

don't remember."
    "You'd been drinking beer all afternoon."
    "Then it's possible, I guess."
    "Colonel Kincaid, I—"
    "Will you please call me Law?" he said irritably. "I remember wrestling with you in the sand and rubbing suntan oil on your back. So call me Law, okay?"
    He remembered. At least a little bit. She derived tremendous pleasure in knowing that.
    His memories of her might be dim, but they were there.
    "It doesn't matter if David is or isn't your son," she said quietly. "Our lives will go on exactly as before."
    "You're forgetting one important point, Marnie."
    "What?"
    "The letters."
    She raised her hands helplessly "How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't write them?"
    "That makes them even more of a problem."
    "I don't see—"
    "If you didn't write them, someone else did."
    Thinking of it from that angle caused her brow to furrow with concern. "I'm beginning to see your point."
    "You say you don't want anything from me."
    "I don't."
    "But whoever is writing the letters does. And that makes David as vulnerable as I am."
    "You don't think someone would hurt him, do you."
    "I don't know. Probably not. But that's a possibility."
    She pulled her lower lip through her teeth. "What are we going to do?"
    "I didn't mean to worry you. It's just something for you to be aware of while we try to figure out whose game this is. Any ideas?"
    "None. David looks like you, but you'd almost have to be standing side by side for anyone to realize it."
    "What about the doctor who delivered him? Would he have a motive for blackmailing me?"
    "I don't know. We moved away from that neighborhood and I haven't heard of him in years. Besides, he didn't know who had fathered Sharon's baby."
    "Could she have confided in a close friend?"
    "I don't think so, but anything's possible. You think that somebody knew and, once you got famous, they remembered and decided to cash in?"
    "That's my theory, yeah." He studied his coffee for a moment, cleared his throat, then in an off-handed manner said, "That rest home where your mother's living is certainly deluxe."
    "It's operated by the church Dad was affiliated with. They give a price break to minister's widows … so you can stop right there thinking what you're thinking." Quickly he raised his head. Marnie was glaring dangerously at him.
    "It hasn't always been easy," she said in an angry undertone, "but I've done all right for myself and David. We're not rich by any means. He hasn't had everything he's ever wanted, and for that reason he appreciates material things more than other kids his age.
    But we're not destitute. He's never gone without food, shelter, or clothing and, most important, love."
    "I just—"
    "Be quiet and listen to me," she commanded, surprising both of them with her ferocity.
    "I love David. He loves me. All you've thought about so far is how this might affect you if it gets out. If it's possible, with your colossal ego in the way think about how it could affect David.
    "He's at an impressionable, sensitive stage. He's a wonderful kid. I don't want anything to happen that will upset his wholesome outlook on life.
    "And that goes for finding out that his father is a hotshot astronaut who sleeps with a woman only if he's protected and who drives like a maniac. If you do or say anything that even hints at harming him, you'll wish you were still in orbit, Colonel Kincaid." She drew in a sharp breath. "Now, will you please take me home?"

Chapter 4
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    T here were two individuals waiting for Law when he returned home. Both were female.
    Both were blond. Both were brown-eyed. One had two legs, the other four. One was angry. One was jubilant.
    The four-legged blond, a Labrador retriever named Venus, bounded across the lawn that was kept immaculate by a professional crew Law never saw. They came while he was at work, did the job, and left an invoice in the mailbox. A housekeeper maintained the interior of the house using the same method. His domicile wasn't typical