Read Online Blue Velvet by Iris Johansen - Free Book Online

around, leaning his elbows on the rail. “And do you know something? Most of the time she’d actually do it.”
    “You’ve known each other a long time,” Beau observed. “She said you were friends. How did you get together?”
    “Her mother was an American showgirl in a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro.” He shrugged. “We lived together for a year or so. Then Sally decided to move on to greener pastures. She just packed up and left one day while I was in Santiago.” He paused. “She left Kate behind.”
    “Charming,” Beau grated through clenched teeth. He felt the same surge of savagery he’d known last night when he’d seen that bastard hit Kate with the pistol. “She just forgot about her, I suppose. Like an old pair of shoes.”
    “Sally wasn’t all that bad,” Brenden said quietly. “She just wasn’t the maternal type. She didn’t know how to cope with a seven-year-old.” He grimaced. “Neither did I.”
    “So you didn’t bother,” Beau said grimly. “You just dragged her along with you over half the Southern Hemisphere into every dive and hellhole.”
    “Would you rather I’d left her on her own in a foreign country?” Brenden asked. “At least she had a roof over her head.” He met Beau’s eyes steadily. “I never tried to be a father to her, but I did the best I could. We got along.”
    “For God’s sake, you didn’t even send her to school!”
    “There were reasons.” Brenden looked away evasively. “Kate’s sharp as a whip. She probably knows more than any of those fancy college graduates.”
    “I don’t doubt it as long as the subject matter is pre-1960,” Beau bit out. “But what about everything that’s happened in her own lifetime? The space age, the Vietnam war, women’s lib, Kennedy’s assassination?”
    “She picked up a lot of that on her own,”Brenden said defensively. “And the rest isn’t all that important for her to know.”
    “Did you tell her she didn’t miss much there either?” Beau laughed incredulously. “I bet you did. And what’s worse, she probably believed you.”
    “I did the best I could,” the older man repeated stubbornly. His expression turned sulky. “And why the hell is it any of your business anyway? You did us a favor but that doesn’t make you Kate’s keeper.”
    “She obviously needs one,” Beau said curtly. “You haven’t even asked where Kate is, or don’t you really give a damn?”
    Brenden went still. “I give a damn.” His eyes narrowed on Beau’s face. “Where is Kate?”
    “When I left her, she was curled up asleep.” Beau paused deliberately. “In my bed.”
    There was a flicker on Brenden’s face that might have been pain and then it became totally impassive. “I see.”
    “Is that all you’ve got to say?” Beau could feel the fury blazing up in him and made a futile effort to control it. “Is it such a commonoccurrence that you don’t even raise an eyebrow? Aren’t you even going to ask if I enjoyed her?”
    “No, I’m not going to ask you that,” Brenden said heavily, turning back to stare out to sea. “That’s between the two of you. It’s none of my business.”
    “Funny, I thought it was very much your business. Kate was willing to throw herself into my bed to bail the three of you out of the mess you’d gotten yourselves into. Evidently that kind of commitment only goes one way.”
    Brenden was silent, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
    Beau drew a deep breath. “I don’t know what the devil I’m getting so hot about. If her so-called friends don’t care that she’s willing to make a prostitute of herself, why should I?” But he
did
care and the fact that it did matter made him even angrier.
    Brenden’s glance was glacier cold. “Kate’s
not
a prostitute. Before you throw that first stone, you might consider you were willing enough to take advantage of her generosity yourself and no doubt will again at the next opportunity. Julio’sbeen having a chat with the crew and what he