Trinity Harbor 3 - Along Came Trouble Read Online Free PDF Page B

men can push an amazing amount of past history out of their heads when they start thinking with another part of their anatomy.”
    He scowled at her. “Don’t make me sorry that I turned to you for help this morning.”
    After an instant’s hesitation, she reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “And don’t make me sorry I gave it. I love you.”
    “You, too, kid.”
    He watched as she walked to her car, shot a disparaging look toward Mary Elizabeth’s sports car, then drove off with a distracted wave in his direction.
    “Wil she go straight to your father?” Mary Elizabeth asked, coming up behind him.
    “No,” he said with confidence. “Daisy never tattles.”
    Mary Elizabeth looked skeptical. “That’s not the way I remember it. She was the first one to run to King when she realized you and I were having secret meetings out behind the barn.”
    “Don’t go there. That was a lifetime ago.” And he didn’t want to be dragged down memory lane. The present was complicated enough without it.
    Tucker handed her the clothes. “We need to get moving.”
    “I’l hurry,” she said at once.
    True to her word, she was back in minutes. Without makeup and with her hair swept into a loose ponytail held up by what looked like one of his handkerchiefs, she looked a whole lot more like the girl he remembered than the sophisticated woman she’d become. The jeans hung loosely on her, and she’d had to rol up the cuffs. She’d tucked in the bright yel ow T-shirt, then added one of his belts around her narrow waist. Somehow she managed to make the il -fitting outfit look stylish.
    He studied her pale complexion and worried eyes. “This is going to get rough. Wil you be okay?”
    “I’l manage,” she said stoical y. “Let’s get this over with.”
    The drive to Swan Ridge took less than twenty minutes. Mary Elizabeth grew noticeably more tense as he turned through the open wrought-iron gate and onto the cedar-lined drive. Bright green soybean fields spread east and west as far as the eye could see. Up ahead, just around the first curve in the drive, Tucker knew he would catch his first glimpse of the three-story brick house with its jutting wings and majestic sweep of steps. It always reminded him of Stratford Hal , the historic home of the Lees not too far up the road. Same period, same style, only on a slightly smal er scale.
    The landscaped grounds were fil ed with hol y trees, azaleas, towering oaks, magnolias and the sweet, lingering scent of honeysuckle that had apparently escaped the notice of the gardener. The pink, purple and deep red crepe myrtles were just coming into bloom as July edged toward August. In the back, he knew, there was a formal boxwood maze, where he and Mary Elizabeth had stolen many a kiss far from her grandfather’s watchful eye.
    “It hasn’t changed much,” he said, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye.
    Her hands were clutched tightly together in her lap. She jerked her gaze from the sight of the sheriff’s cruiser in front of the house and looked at him.
    “Larry loved this house as much as my grandfather did. He insisted we do nothing to change it. He even hired someone to run the soybean operation. When one of the trees got hit by lightning, he brought in a ful -grown tree to replace it. It cost a fortune, but he said it was worth every penny.”
    She sighed heavily. “Sometimes I wonder if he cared more about losing al this than he did about losing me.”
    Since that very same thought had crossed Tucker’s mind, he couldn’t bring himself to argue with her. He caught the flicker of hurt in her eyes when he didn’t utter some platitude denying her speculation.
    “You didn’t know him,” she said stiffly, defending her husband despite Tucker’s silence.
    “No, but you did, and you’re the one who said it, Mary Elizabeth,” he reminded her, hitting the brakes too hard and jerking the car to a stop in front of the house. “I knew nothing about Chandler or