The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove Read Online Free PDF

woods, in Cawdor across the bridge. In fact, the first time I met Binky, we bonded over a shared love for the huevos rancheros at Dos Hermanos, a hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint near her house. It wasn’t until Mrs. King cocked her head at me and asked when on earth I would ever have been on that side of town that I remembered my new position over here. I had to resort to stammering something I’m not proud of about getting really lost one time during my driver’s ed test. After that, I learned to be cautious about what I let slip in front of Binky. By now, I knew this was easier to do if I just didn’t blur the line between servant and the served.
    “There you are,” Mike said, coming in from the library. He kissed my forehead, all PG and appropriate. “I hope you don’t mind, when Mom saw your dress, she asked Binky to iron it.”
    “Your mother went through my things?” I asked. So Diana, not Mike, had laid out my dress. I didn’t think I had anything suspicious in my bag, but giving Diana free rein over my things was definitely not a precedent I wanted to set.
    “We were just trying to help you do a quick costume change,” Mike said, always the mitigator. “Speaking of costumes, are you going to give me a late-night preview of your costume for tomorrow?”
    The Mardi Gras party. I’d finally settled on a costume, and after a tiny battle with Mike—why did guys always want to wear makeup and stockings?—I’d convinced him that this year, we were going to shock everyone by taking the classy route. It was a given that every one of my friends would still be rocking that tired brothel-employee look, and I loved the idea of being the only lady in the house. Mike’s debonair get up this year was of equal importance. He was really going to stand out—especially next to Justin Balmer in a minidress.
    “Our costumes for tomorrow are still a surprise, right?” I said to Mike. “You haven’t told J.B. or anyone? This is our moment to outshine them—show we’re really royalty material.”
    “Trust me,” Mike said, taking my hand to go greet his royal family outside. “We’ll blow the whole party away.”
    “Hello, Natalie.” Mr. King stood up to give me a very charged squeeze on the shoulder. “Aren’t you tan?” he asked, taking me in head to toe.
    “Goodness,” Diana said, peering at me over her paper. “She certainly is brown, isn’t she?”
    “Golf lessons,” I piped up, lest either of them assume I’d been working in the field. “At the club.”
    Diana looked down at her own arms. “I’m so pale, like Scarlett O’Hara. You know that used to be the fashion.” She looked around and gave us all a tight-lipped smile. “Who wants to take dinner on the terrace tonight?”
    With a shrug, Mike deferred to me.
    “Of course,” I said, taking a seat on the patio between his parents. Like Mom always said: It doesn’t matter where you are; if you act at home, you will be. Then again, I wasn’t sure Mom’s limited Emily Post library book repertoire would have gotten her far with this crowd.
    Especially with someone like Diana, who picked up a silver bell from the glass tabletop and jangled her thin, Scarlett O’Hara-pale wrist. The high, tinny sound rang out across the yard, and I thought about what this unspoken summons might sound like to anyone out on the bay. Then again, the houses in the Cove (a.k.a. the Coveted) were so spread out, the Kings and I might be the only ones around for miles.
    Seconds later, Binky arrived to answer her summons. She wore a starched black uniform that smelled of lavender, and the laces on her sensible black shoes were double-knotted. Her short dark hair had the telltale bluish tint of drugstore dye. Her smile looked slack when she stood expectantly before the Kings.
    “Our guest would like to dine outside,” Diana said. “I hope that’s not too much trouble for you.”
    “Of course not,” Binky nodded. She looked at me. “Hello, Miss Natalie.”
    I