The Outsider Read Online Free PDF Page A

wouldn’t be able to escape the questions. She knew she had to think of what to do. Returning to her family home of Fair Play was out of the question. If she had her way, she’d never set foot in there again. At least, not while her father was alive.
    So many decisions, all so weighted by circumstance and heavy with consequence. Her head pounded, denying the clarity she needed to make the right choice.
    So instead of spending the day in determined decision making, she used the time to heal her weary spirit, soothing her senses with what went no deeper than the surface. She shook the wrinkles out of her travel wardrobe, clucking over their sad, dated look. Before the war she’d always been dressed in the latest Paris had to offer. Now she was realistic enough to be glad for clothes on her back.
    She’d had to look stylish for the role she’d played over the past four years. She’d had to act as if she hadn’t a care in the world while inside she was constantly on the brink of emotional collapse. Nothing new—playing dress-up like an animateddoll and hiding the truth behind a painted-on smile. It was a role she was born to.
    As exhausted as if she’d waged her own war, she was eager to accept the terms of truce by coming home again. As long as that compromise didn’t include a return under her family’s roof. There must be a solution; she knew it. But today she would retrieve her strengths and revel in the sense of safety.
    Even if it was only temporary.
    The last thing Starla expected was for the new couple to be entertaining company on their first day of married life. The last thing she desired was for that guest to be the obnoxious Northerner Hamilton Dodge. He grinned at her dismay without the least bit of shame. She’d never seen a man who found so much to smile about—not in foolish gregariousness, but with genuine amusement for the circumstance. She didn’t care to be the source of his entertainment and glared to let him know it. He grinned wider, a wolfish, faintly predatory gesture that brought a prickle of threat to play upon her expression.
    “Good evening, Miss Fairfax. You’re looking even lovelier than last night, if that’s possible. Probably because no one can outshine a bride in full regalia. Not that you look any less stellar this evening, Patrice. Just more out of reach.”
    He bent to accept Patrice’s kiss to his rough cheek, lingering comfortably within the circle of her arms. The sight unnerved Starla. How quickly this stranger insinuated himself into the lives ofthose she’d known since the days of swaddling clothes.
    “Come in, Dodge. Let me rescue you before you trip over your tongue with all those compliments.”
    “Are you suggesting they’re not sincere?”
    Patrice laughed and looped her arm through his, mindful of the crutches supporting his weight. “Gracious, no. You haven’t enough tact for flattery so I’ll just have to believe you. Reeve’s already poured you a brandy.”
    Starla stood at the doorway, watching the two of them head across the cavernous foyer toward Byron Glendower’s study, Patrice slowing her step to pace Dodge’s awkward use of the crutches. Not used to being ignored, she fumed for a moment, wondering how to upstage the ingratiating Yankee, then growing angrier because she’d have to. These were her friends. This was her homecoming and she was being pushed aside in favor of some hobbling outsider with a grating accent and a pushy manner.
    Then Patrice glanced back. “Starla, aren’t you going to join us?”
    That Northerner looked back, too, one brow arched in mocking question.
    She affixed her most dazzling smile. “Just closing the door to keep out the pests, honey.” And she glared at Dodge to let him know that in her opinion, she hadn’t been entirely successful.
    Again his toothy grin flashed in recognition of her testy mood. What an aggravating man. He didn’t care that he was being insulted. Nor did hebother to disguise the blatant