Read Online Children of Dynasty by Christine Carroll - Free Book Online

people do.”
    Wendy moved to her husband’s side, and the battle lines were drawn. Tom Barrett stared at Davis with what looked like hate, but there was something else. It almost looked as if the big man were afraid. Mariah’s father joined the Barretts, standing shoulder to shoulder with his friends to accept Davis’s smooth political greeting.
    Mariah stayed back, watching the ritual exchange until some sixth sense made her look again toward the door.
    In a dark suit like his father’s, with an appropriately muted tie, Rory was every inch the scion of DCI. Though his eyes passed over Mariah without pause, she noticed a subtle change in him, a delicate sharpening of every feature. Seized with the desire to adjust the scarf on her coatdress or tame the errant strands of her hair, she forced herself to remain motionless. He might have come to her apartment under cover of night, but here they were on display. Speaking publicly in any but the most cursory manner would wound the Barretts as well as her father.
    Nonetheless, his sweep of the room complete, Rory’s gaze fixed on her.
    It brought back the night of the accident. How many times since had she relived his kiss? She’d told Wendy the Campbells were here out of social obligation, but something in the set of Rory’s head said he’d come for her.
    Sure enough, he started toward her as though he didn’t care what anyone thought. Though her breath caught in her throat, she stood her ground, waiting.
    Before he could reach her, a blinding glare washed in from the hall. A video unit and TV lights preceded a hatchet-faced man with caramel skin who announced into his wireless microphone, “This is Julio Castillo, reporting for ‘On The Spot.’” The reporter approached Tom Barrett. “How much will you sue Grant Development for?”
    Tom’s face went red.
    “Are you planning to go soft on the company because you work for them?”
    Wendy shoved the reporter’s shoulder. “We’re not talking to you!”
    Mariah moved, but her father beat her to it, pulling the bereaved mother behind him.
    Recognition dawned on Castillo’s taut features. “It seems we have the privilege of interviewing John Grant.”
    “No comment.” John’s face was closed.
    “Now, sir,” Castillo went on. “This is your opportunity to defend yourself and your company’s safety record.”
    John set his jaw and stared right through the man with the microphone.
    Castillo continued. “It’s my understanding that the glazier, Andrew Green, leaves a wife and twin baby girls … Is it true Grant was negligent?”
    Mariah reached her father, seized his shaking arm, and turned on the reporter. “How dare you invade a time of grief with your accusations?”
    Tom grabbed Castillo and gave him a shove. “Get out.”
    Off balance, the reporter stumbled over the wire frame of a floral arrangement. With a hand out to catch himself, he knocked Charley’s picture off the casket. Glass shattered on the marble floor.

     
    Rory moved, acutely aware the video was still recording. John Grant’s pale face and an angry-looking Mariah stood out in the crowd as he cut through to the cameraman. “Turn it off.”
    The wiry man ignored him.
    “I said …” Rory stabbed a finger at his chest. “To turn it …” Another impact of index finger on breastbone. “Off.”
    The red light went out, the camera lowered.
    Rory saw his father staring at him, but they’d come to pay their respects, and respect it would be.
    He looked down at Castillo on the floor, bent, and grabbed him by the lapels. “Get out of here with your talk of lawsuits or you’ll be sued for lies and slander.”
    Castillo flinched, and the watchers seemed to hold their collective breath.
    Rory released his hold. When the reporter regained the confidence to start swearing at him, the full impact of what he’d done struck. His next foray into the limelight with “On the Spot” would not be pretty.
    Stepping back, he gave the fallen man