Read Online McKettricks of Texas: Garrett by Linda Lael Miller - Free Book Online Page A

herself for not thinking of that sooner.
    Garrett waited, and though he wasn’t smiling, something danced in his eyes. He was enjoying this.
    In the end, though, Julie outwaited him.
    Presently, with a tap of one index finger to the front page of the newspaper, he asked, “As a voter, what’s your take on the senator’s future in politics?”
    â€œI’m probably not the right person to ask,” she said moderately, remembering their somewhat heated exchange after a mutual friend’s funeral a few months before. It had been fairly brief, but they had gotten into a lively discussion of one of the major issues of the day.
    â€œWhy would you say that?” Garrett asked, sounding genuinely curious.
    â€œI voted against the senator in the last election,” she admitted. Her cheeks burned, not with chagrin but with lingering conviction. “And the one before that.”
    â€œI see,” Garrett said, and his mouth quirked again, at the same corner as before.
    â€œWhy?”
    Julie straightened. “Because I liked his opponent better.”
    â€œThat’s the only reason?”
    Julie’s shoulders rose and fell with the force of her sigh. “All right, no. No, it isn’t. I never liked Morgan Cox very much, never trusted him. There’s something…well, sneaky …about him.”
    â€œSomething ‘sneaky’?” Garrett challenged, a wry twist to his mouth, sitting back in his chair, watching her. He slid the newspaper in her direction, somehow directing her gaze to the photo spread—every shot showed Senator Cox with smiling children, or golden retrievers, or an adoring and much-admired Mrs. Cox or some combination thereof.
    Julie hesitated, choosing her words carefully. “The whole thing seemed too perfect,” she finally replied. “Almost as though he’d hired people to pose as his all-American family. And then there was that hot-tub incident. It was downplayed in the media, strangely enough, but it happened. I remember it clearly.”
    Garrett gave a hoarse chuckle at that. He didn’t sound amused, though. “Ah, yes,” he said, far away now. “That.”
    â€œThat,” Julie agreed. “Senator Morgan Cox in a hot tub with three half-naked women, none of whom were his wife. It was a family reunion, he claimed, and they were all just a happy group of cousins. As if any idiot would believe a story like that.”
    Something changed in Garrett’s face. “I can think of at least one idiot who believed it,” he said quietly.
    Julie wished she’d kept her opinions to herself, but itwas a little late for that. “What happens now?” she asked, and this time her tone was gentle.
    â€œI can’t speak for Senator Cox,” Garrett said, after a long time, “but I’ll be staying on here for a while.”
    A strangely celebratory tingle moved through Julie at this news.
    Not that she cared whether Garrett McKettrick was around or not.
    â€œWell, good night,” she said.
    â€œGood night,” Garrett replied.
    Julie turned around too fast, bumped into the cabinet behind her, and gasped with pain.
    Garrett caught hold of her arm, turned her to face him.
    One wrong move on either of their parts, Julie reasoned wildly, and their torsos would be touching.
    â€œAre you all right?” Garrett asked. His hands rested lightly on her shoulders now.
    Their faces were only inches apart.
    It would be so easy to kiss.
    No, Julie thought. No, I am not all right.
    â€œJulie?” Garrett prompted.
    â€œI’m fine,” she lied, easing backward, out of his grasp.
    Julie turned around carefully that time, and walked, with dignity, out of the kitchen, managing not to crash into anything in the process.
    Tomorrow, she told herself, is another day.

CHAPTER FOUR
    D AWN ARRIVED LONG BEFORE G ARRETT was ready for it, and so did his brother. When he stumbled out the back door of the