To Love and Cherish Read Online Free PDF

Kate said, her eyes nipping at the younger girl, looking for faults and turning darker when she found none. “Danny says you’re a model.”
    â€œThat’s right,” Shelby said quietly.
    â€œWhat do you model?” Mary Kate persisted.
    â€œClothes, mostly,” the younger girl said with a calm that seemed to make the other catch fire.
    â€œYou don’t dress like one,” Mary Kate replied with a cattiness that only another woman would catch.
    â€œThank you,” Shelby grinned.
    That brought a stunned look to the other girl’s face, and an amused smile to Danny’s.
    â€œI shouldn’t think you’d take to ranch life,” Mary Kate renewed her attack. “Being used to San Antonioand night life and all. This must be awfully dull to a city person like you.”
    King had moved out into the hall and was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette while he waited for his parents to catch up. He watched the exchange with unreadable eyes.
    â€œWhy would I find it dull?” Shelby blinked.
    â€œBecause there’s no night life!”
    â€œI’m not a vampire,” Shelby said kindly.
    Mary Kate’s tanned face burned suddenly, and King stepped forward before she could continue.
    â€œI think it’s time we got on the road,” he said, “or we’ll miss the damned thing.”
    â€œOh, lovely, I’m looking forward to introducing Danny to some of the new set here,” Mary Kate cooed, and took possession of Danny’s arm as ifshe were conquering a town. “Danny, remember old Coach Garner? Well, he’s still coaching the band. Do you remember…” and she led Danny out the door, toward the elder Brannts’ new luxury compact car.
    As Shelby started toward it, too, King suddenly caught her arm and pulled her toward his sleek black Porsche.
    â€œBut, the others…Danny!” she protested, pulling futilely against that steely grip.
    â€œNever mind Danny,” he said curtly. He opened the door on the passenger side and put her inside.
    â€œKing…” she protested again as he got in beside her and cranked the car.
    â€œJust sit still and hush, Shelby,” he said coolly. “No way could Dad cram all five of you into that car, despite what he said. I think we canbear each other’s company into town, can’t we?”
    She folded her hands in her lap and stared at them. “I suppose.”
    â€œWhat do you think of Mary Kate?” he asked as he pulled smoothly out of the driveway, not waiting for his parents to get inside their car and follow.
    â€œShe’s lovely,” she said quietly. “Danny’s age, too, isn’t she, or just about?”
    He frowned. His eyes slid sideways, appraisingly. “How old are you?”
    â€œTwenty-one.”
    He scowled. “Is that all? My God, I thought you were at least twenty-four!”
    â€œI feel twice that, sometimes,” she said in a subdued tone, her eyes going dark and sad with memory.
    â€œYou’re barely old enough to leave home,” he growled.
    â€œI left home when I was fourteen,” she recalled, cringing inward at the memory of why she’d had to go.
    â€œFourteen?!”
    â€œI went to live with my aunt in Georgia,” she murmured. “She had a home in the mountains, with a stream out back, and lots of mountain laurel and rhododendron….” She remembered suddenly who she was talking to, and the enthusiasm went out of her voice.
    â€œDon’t stop,” he said. “And what?”
    â€œAnd deer,” she continued. “We used to sit on the back porch and watch them drink from the stream. One was a nine-point buck, and my cousin shot him one November. I cried because he was such a beautiful animal.”
    â€œYour cousin?” he taunted.
    â€œNo, the deer !” she corrected. Hereyes touched him suspiciously. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a suspicious