To Love and Cherish Read Online Free PDF Page A

followed by Jim and Kate Brannt, to find King and Shelby sitting quietly apart at the table.
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    When breakfast was over, Danny threw down his napkin. “Well,” he said, “I think Shelby and I will head on over to town and get a good seat before the parade gets underway.”
    â€œOh, but hell, no, you won’t,” King said pleasantly. “We’re all going together. And I thought Mary Kate Culhane was expected,” he added narrowly.
    â€œNow, look, King…” Danny began hotly.
    â€œDanny, you know Mary Kate always goes to the fiesta with us,” Kate Brannt told her son gently. She smiled. “Besides, Mary Kate’s beenso looking forward to meeting Shelby.”
    That, Shelby thought, sounded ominous. She had visions of having to fend off a jealous rival as well as King, and all of a sudden she wanted to develop a migraine and forget the whole thing.
    â€œYou’ll enjoy the chili cookoff, Shelby,” Jim told her over his coffee cup. “Best damned chili in Texas comes out of it, and they even supply the water to put the fire out with!” He laughed.
    â€œJim’s one of the judges,” Kate explained. “He doesn’t have taste buds any more, they’ve all been burned off.”
    â€œI’m not surprised,” Shelby smiled.
    â€œThe most fun, though, is the river race,” Jim told her. “You’ve never seen such a conglomeration of floats. Everything from life rafts to surfboards to inner tubes. Good thing the river’s down this time of year, before the floods come. There are some rapids on the race stretch, and when the river’s up, it can get dangerous.”
    â€œYes, I know,” Shelby said demurely. “I used to live in Georgia with my aunt, and there is always a race of some kind on holidays near the Chattahoochee River. I’ve been down that in an inner tube. I’ve even shot the white water on the Chattooga River in north Georgia, where it’s the most dangerous. I’m a veteran river rat,” she added with a glance at King that spoke volumes.
    â€œWell, I’ll be damned,” King murmured, and Shelby felt a tingle of pleasure at the genuine surprise that registered for an instant in his dark face.
    â€œI could say something to that,” Danny said with pointed reference to King’s remark, “but I won’t. MaryKate said you were over at their place yesterday.”
    â€œI was. Pretty girl, Mary Kate,” King added. “Sexy as hell.”
    â€œI don’t like sexy women,” Danny said loftily. “They cause gout.”
    King’s eyes narrowed calculatingly. “You don’t think Shelby’s sexy?” he asked.
    Danny looked caught out. “Of course I do,” he said quickly. “But not like Mary Kate. I mean…damn it, King!”
    Kate Brannt’s dark green eyes met her youngest son’s accusingly. “Please don’t use hard language at my breakfast table. It gives me indigestion.”
    â€œKing does it all the time,” Danny protested.
    â€œKingston also gives me indigestion,” Kate replied. “And he knows it,” she added with a speaking glance at King.
    King smiled at her. It changed him, made him look less formidable, more human; and dangerously attractive.
    â€œBlame Dad,” King told his mother. “He taught me how.”
    Jim Brannt glowered at his son with blazing dark eyes. “The hell I did!” he burst out, and everyone laughed.

Three
    M ary Kate Culhane was as slender as a wand, had green eyes, and the personality of a seasoned game show host. She wasn’t pretty, but she was vivacious and as friendly as a puppy—to everyone except Shelby. Her first sight of the younger, darker girl was enough to make her green eyes glow like emeralds. She was polite, but there was ice under the smileshe gave Shelby when they were introduced.
    â€œSo you’re Shelby,” Mary