Read Online Wings of the Morning (Kensington Chronicles) by Lori Wick - Free Book Online Page B

Kennebunkport's oldest families,
    and they prided themselves on good food and service.
    Smokey was hungry and very pleased that she was eating just
    five^minutes after they had been shown to a table.
    "How is your meal?"
    "It's wonderful, Buck. Thank you."
    71
    "You seemed upset when you first came in, Smokey. Did
    something happen?"
    Smokey took another bite of food and didn't immediately
    answer. "I saw your brother on my way here," she finally
    admitted "I got the impression he wanted to talk with me,
    and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with what he might have in
    mind."
    "It'll be easier for you when the whole family knows what
    you do for a living, won't it?" Buck said the words gently, but
    Smokey was still shocked With a precise movement she laid
    her fork aside and stared across the table.
    "How did you know, Buck?" Smokey asked, not wanting to
    believe that Tate or Jenny would have told
    "I'm a very observant man," Buck replied, carefully picking
    up her hand "The look of your hands doesn't give you
    away, but the touch does. I noticed it the night we met. Your
    hands have worked hard for you for years. Your clothes are
    the next thing I observed. They're not frilly, but the cloth is of
    the finest quality.
    "Added to these deductions is my insatiable reading
    habit. I receive newspapers from all over the world I believe it
    was just a few months ago that rumors began to circulate
    through England and all of Europe that Smoke was a woman."
    When Buck fell silent, Smokey nodded ruefully.
    "I didn't know how to tell anyone. It was never my intent to
    be deceitful. I had business with Pemberton Shipping just two
    weeks ago, so Tate and Jenny just found out; they were wonderful
    about the whole thing. And now Dallas wants to talk
    with me, and I don't know what he might be thinking."
    "And you do care about his opinion, don't you?"
    "I would love to tell you that I don't, but I just can't lie
    about it. I don't even know him really, but he's--" Smokey
    couldn't find the words.
    "It's painful for you, and I shouldn't have pressed you."
    "It's all right." Smokey hesitated and then went on. "I
    understand you have some pain of your own."
    72
    Buck's brow was knit with confusion, so Smokey continued
    softly.
    "I met Greer Rittenhouse on my walk this morning. We
    talked, and she showed me her home. Your name came up, and
    she said you were just friends."
    "It's the way she wants it," Buck admitted, pain now
    furrowing his brow.
    "She talked to me about her house, said she was thinking
    of selling."
    This was obviously new to Buck, so Smokey went on carefully.
    "She gave me a tour of the interior, and I fell quite in love
    with the place and its view. I asked her to let me know should
    she ever decide to sell."
    "You and Dallas," Buck's smile was wry. "He's loved that
    house for years."
    Smokey, not knowing how to answer, followed Buck's
    example and continued to eat. Buck didn't say anything for
    some minutes, and Smokey's mind began to wander. In a
    perfect daydream, she saw the widow Rittenhouse happily
    married to Buck, both of them settled comfortably in his
    home. To make the dream complete, she and Dallas were
    settled as husband and wife in the Rittenhouse mansion, with
    its lovely view of the sea.
    all dallas' doubts had been put to rest by the end of
    dinner at the Pembertons' that very evening. There was no
    conceivable way that this woman, who was so shy she could
    barely look at him, could be the renowned Smoke.
    She hadn't spilled her water this time, but her knife clattered
    loudly against the edge of her plate whenever she set it
    down, and her hands shook slightly for most of the meal. Since
    she never once contributed to the conversation, Dallas was
    honestly beginning to wonder if there was something seriously
    wrong with her.
    After they had retired to the parlor for tea, the horrible
    thought that she might have a drinking problem struck him so
    strongly that he retreated into a stunned silence for