Perfect Scoundrels Read Online Free PDF Page A

span of a second, deftly taking in everything about her.
    “Scooter…” the woman said, drawing out the word, “aren’t you going to introduce me?”
    “Hello,” Kat said, extending her hand. “I’m Hale’s—”
    “Friend,” Hale said. “A friend of mine. From Knightsbury.”
    “Oh. How nice.” But the woman didn’t sound like she thought it was nice. She kept eyeing Kat, looking her up and down. “Where do you call home, dear?”
    “Oh.” Kat looked nervously at Hale.
    “Kat was raised in Europe,” he told the woman. “But she lives here now.”
    “I see,” the woman said. “And how do you find Knightsbury?”
    “It’s better than Colgan,” Kat said, knowing that all good lies have their roots in the truth.
    “That’s what Scooter says.” The woman looked at Hale. “Scooter, your father needs us in the study. It’s almost time. Say good-bye to your friend.”
    “Yes, Mother,” Hale said, and the woman walked away. He watched her go, and seemed utterly lost in thought until Kat slapped his arm.
    “Mother?” Kat gasped. “That was your mother!”
    He took her arm and whispered, “You’ve got to go, Kat.”
    “I just got here. I thought that I should…you know…be here for you.”
    “They’re going to read the will.”
    “They do that at the memorial service?”
    “When control of Hale Industries hangs in the balance they do. The business is…complicated.”
    “I see.”
    “You don’t want to be here when all these vultures start circling.” He looked out at the people in the room—at his family. “Go on, Kat. I’ll be fine,” Hale said, but something in his words rang false to Kat; she wondered exactly who he was trying to con.
    “It sounds like your grandmother was an amazing woman, Hale.” She thought about Silas Foster and Hazel’s fake Monet. “I wish I’d known her. I’m sure everyone just really wants to say good-bye. Hale”—she took his hand—“it’s not about the money.”
    Then for the first time Kat could remember, Hale looked at her like she was a fool.
    “It’s always about the money.”
    Even before he moved, Kat could feel him slipping
away. “Why didn’t you tell me she was sick, Hale? I could have—”
    “What, Kat?” Hale snapped, then lowered his voice. “What could we have done? Stolen something? Conned someone? Trust me, there was nothing anyone could do. She didn’t even want to live anymore.”
    “I’m sure that’s not true.”
    “Of course it’s true. The doctors said she could have recovered, but she had a Do Not Resuscitate order. She could have hung on for years, but she wanted to…leave.”
    “Hey, Scooter,” Natalie said, reappearing. “Dad told me to find you. They’re getting ready to start.”
    “Okay,” Hale said. “Thanks again for coming, Kat,” he told her.
    “Hale,” Kat said, stopping him. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”
    She meant it. She really did. But watching him walk away, Kat felt like maybe she was the person who had lost something. Hale was always well groomed and well dressed, but that day his hair was parted just so. His cuff links bore the family crest. He didn’t look like the Hale who helped himself to heaping bowls of soup in Uncle Eddie’s kitchen. He looked like the Hale who belonged to that room, that house.
    Natalie draped her arm through his when they walked.
    That girl.
    For the first time, Kat truly understood why gates and guards had to stand between his world and hers. Never before had she regretted breaking her way into someplace she didn’t belong.
    “Did he just run off with that redhead?” Gabrielle said, sidling up to Kat and taking a big bite of shrimp. “And answer to the name of Scooter ?”
    “Come on, Gabs. It’s time for us to leave.”
    The woods seemed different on the long walk back to the car, and Kat couldn’t shake the feeling that she was forgetting something. Then she stopped and looked at the house.
    Someone.
    “Hello, miss.”
    Kat