Read Online The Surprise of His Life by Karen Keast - Free Book Online Page A

"Gal-Tex," he
said. "May I help you?"

Chapter Four
    When
the telephone rang, Walker ignored it. He'd had his fill of telephones for one
day. Besides, the cool water felt too good to abandon as he lazily glided the
length of the swimming pool. It had rained earlier in the afternoon, which
meant that his knee had ached all day and he really needed this exercise.
Badly. Plus the heat had set in with a vengeance once the rain had stopped,
making the night air thick and sticky like a blob of bubble gum. No, he
thought, as the water purled across his body, the last thing he needed was
another phone call.
    And
yet...
    What
if it were Adam calling about the baby? Or what if it were Bunny needing
something? Or what if it were Lindsey calling to say that her father hadn't
shown up, after all? This last had been on Walker's mind all evening. Surely
Dean had kept his promise. Surely Dean wouldn't disappoint Lindsey again. Would
he?
    Before
he knew quite what he was doing, Walker converted his gliding strokes into
something faster and in seconds hefted himself onto the side of the pool. He'd
again swum in the nude, the way he most often did, owing to the sheltered
privacy the redwood fence and privet hedge provided. Then, too, the houses in
this secluded neighborhood were set discreetly apart. He reached for the
portable phone that lay on the glass-topped table even as his bare backside
registered the heat still contained within the concrete.
    Adjusting
the phone's On button, Walker said, "Hello?"
    There
was a pause, then, "Am I interrupting anything important?"
    The
voice belonged to Lindsey. The memory of her standing in the office doorway
that afternoon came to mind. The memory was clothed in denim—clinging denim. As
always, he was uncomfortable with these errant thoughts. Denying them, he
grabbed his watch and checked the time. Ten minutes after ten o'clock. Surely
she'd have called earlier if Dean failed to show.
    "No,"
Walker said, "I was just getting in a few laps." Before she could
answer, he added, "How did the evening go with your father?"
    At
the mention that Walker had been swimming, a bold—even a brazen—image flashed
through Lindsey's mind. The image consisted of sun-tanned skin, silver-tipped
ebony hair foresting a wide chest, the same ebony-tinted hair scoring stomach
and legs and...
    She
focused on the question Walker had asked. "Who knows?" she said in
answer.
    Walker
halted the towel he was passing through his hair. A renegade drop of water ran
down the ridge of his straight nose. "He did show up, didn't he?"
    "Oh,
yeah, he showed up."
    "Well,
did you talk to him?"
    "Not
really. I mostly talked at him."
    "I
see," Walker said, seeing only too clearly. Dean wasn't into communication
these days.
    "In
short," Lindsey said, "he told me to mind my own business. Oh, he
wasn't quite that blunt. No, as a matter of fact, he was that blunt. He told me
that what was going on between him and Mother was their business only, that no
third person, not even a daughter, could sit in judgment on a couple's
marriage, that no one could judge what two other people were feeling in their
hearts." Lindsey gave a weary sigh. "And if you tell me that you told
me so, I'll scream."
    Or
cry, Walker thought, hearing the strain in her voice. She was trying hard to
control her emotions. As always, he wanted to protect her, shield her. In fact,
the thought of her crying did strangely painful things to him.
    "Hey,"
he said, "get that chin up off the curb before it gets run over."
    "And
how do you know my chin's on the curb?"
    "Having
been there a time or two myself, I recognized the sound of one's voice bleating
against concrete."
    Lindsey
giggled, then sobered. "What really upset me was his categorical rejection
of counseling. He doesn't need counseling, he said. He wasn't nuts, he told
me." She sighed again. "Oh, Walker, he's so different. I mean, he is
and he isn't. He's still my dad, but he seems like someone else, too. And when
did he start