Read Online That Carolina Summer (North Carolina) by Janet Dailey - Free Book Online Page A

gaze narrowed on the warmth that flooded her cheeks. “No, you don't know, do you?"
    “Josh, I—” Annette wanted to change the subject, suddenly unable to handle the topic of sex.
    “You thought it would be exciting and a little dangerous to flirt with an older man,” he accused roughly. “It made you feel a little wicked to tease me and tempt me with your little Lolita act."
    “That isn't true!” she protested angrily, but Josh wasn't listening.
    “I've outgrown doctor games. If you want to play ‘touchy-feely,’ go find your blond Adonis.” He turned her away and aimed her toward the dock, propelling her forward by his hard grip above her elbow. “He's probably still in that stage."
    His blazing anger only aroused hers. When he released her to adjust the gangplank so she could disembark, it burned her throat raw and stung her eyes with hot tears.
    As Josh faced her again to escort her from the boat, Annette glared at him proudly. “I am not a child."
    His features were drawn in a hard mask as his gaze bored into her, then swept past her to shore. “No? I have a hunch that's daddy looking this way,” he murmured on a slightly sarcastic note.
    Annette jerked her head around to look, instantly spying her father and Kathleen on the beach with Robby. There was no mistake that her father was looking their way with narrowing interest.
    “If he knew what you were up to,” Josh said, “he'd take you over his knee and spank you. Which is precisely what you need!"
    “Maybe I'm into spankings!” Annette flashed, and turned to cross the gangplank to the dock, her carriage stiff with pride. But she didn't turn quickly enough to miss seeing the ridge of his jaw go white with anger.
    There was a small degree of satisfaction in the knowledge that he was infuriated. But all his references to her as a child continued to sting. She would enjoy sweet revenge when Josh found out how old she really was. In her anger, Annette didn't remember that age wasn't the only issue. There was still the matter of her sexual inexperience, which the number of her years didn't change.
    As she walked off the dock onto the beach, Annette fought to secure her poise. At this juncture, she didn't want her father suspecting that anything unusual had happened aboard the boat. Like Josh, he wasn't an easy man to fool. She would need all her wits about her to keep his suspicions at bay.
    Unable to postpone this meeting with her father, Annette inhaled calm steadying breaths and willed the constriction in her throat to ease. She blinked at the hot moisture in her eyes and struggled to appear cool and collected as she approached the family group.
    “Well, good morning,” Kathleen greeted her, as if nothing were amiss. “We missed you at breakfast."
    “Would you help me build a sand castle, Annette?” Robby had dug a trench in the sand with his shovel, making the initial inroads for a moat. “Mom isn't very good at them."
    “Thanks a lot, fella!” Kathleen laughed at the criticism.
    “Sure. After a while, okay?” Annette promised her little brother, aware of shrewd gray eyes watching her closely.
    “Where have you been, Annette?” her father asked quietly—too quietly for her raw nerves.
    “Out.” But she knew he wouldn't settle for that ambiguous and slightly sassy answer. “For a boat ride,” she answered.
    Robby looked up, disappointment crossing his face. “I want to go for a boat ride. Can I?” he asked. “Will you take me?"
    “Later on we'll rent one of those pedal boats,” Annette suggested in a futile attempt to distract the conversation. “Would you like that?"
    “Boy! Yeah!” he agreed with wide-eyed enthusiasm.
    But her father zeroed back in on the subject. “Who was that man on the boat with you? Do you know him?"
    “Of course I know him,” Annette laughed with pseudobrightness. “You don't think I'd go boat riding with a stranger, do you? He's Joshua Lord. He owns this hotel—as well as the boat."
    “Oh.”