1993-Sandra Brown by Where There's Smoke

Author:Where There's Smoke [Smoke, Where There's]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-27T19:15:32+00:00

Heather reached for her glass of iced tea. “Tanner’s daddy said Dr. Mallory saved Mrs. Tackett’s life. If I were her, I’d’ve let the old fart die.”

Darcy’s fork clattered to her plate. “That’s fine language for a proper young lady! And this juvenile crush you have on Lara Mallory has become annoying, Heather.”

“I don’t have a crush’ on her. I just think it was stupid of Mrs. Tackett not to let the doctor help her. I mean, if you’re dying, isn’t any doctor, even one you personally dislike, better than none at all?”

“Not if you’re Jody Tackett,” Fergus remarked as he paused to blot his mouth. “That woman’s heart is the hardest substance on earth.

I agree with you, Heather. I’d have let her choke.”

“As usual, you two are taking sides against me.” Darcy angrily pushed her plate aside.

“Sides?” Fergus asked, bewildered. “I didn’t know we were choosing up sides over this. What’s it got to do with us?”

“Not a damn thing,” Darcy snapped. “I just fail to see what makes Lara Mallory such a bloody heroine in Heather’s eyes.”

“May I be excused?” Heather asked in a bored voice.

“You may not! You haven’t eaten a bite.”

“I’m not hungry. Besides, this casserole is gross. It reeks with fat.”

“I should have been so lucky to have a maid cook dinner for me when I was your age!”

“Oh, please.” Here we go, Heather thought another sob story about Mother’s deprived childhood.

“She shouldn’t have to eat it if she isn’t hungry,” Fergus said.

“Naturally, you let her have her way.

“Thanks, Daddy. Tanner and I will get something later.”

“You’re going out with Tanner again tonight?” Fergus asked.

“Of course.” Heather looked at her mother and smiled smugly.

“We’re officially together now.

“Together?”

“Going steady,” Darcy clarified impatiently, never taking her eyes off Heather. “I can’t say I’m thrilled about it.”

Heather, holding her mother’s stare, took another sip of tea.

Putting her on birth control pills had been Darcy’s doing, but Heather was getting back. She seized every opportunity to remind her mother that whenever she and Tanner went out on a date, they could have sex without suffering any consequences.

Darcy couldn’t say anything to her, especially in front of Fergus.

He still didn’t know about the contraceptives and would have raised hell with Darcy for encouraging them. He clung to the quaint notion that morality was a deterrent to premarital sex.

Heather took pleasure in keeping her mother perpetually miffed.

Her sidelong glances and innuendoes conveyed that she was now sexually active. But she hadn’t let Tanner go all the way yet. It wasn’t because she didn’t love him, or that she feared an unwanted pregnancy, and there certainly was nothing to fear in the way of parental reprisal.

Her reason for holding out was the same as it always had been.

She didn’t want to become a replica of her mother.

Tanner was being very sweet about her abstinence. Since that night at the lake when he had disgraced himself, he was loving and patient, gratefully taking whatever crumbs of eroticism she chose to toss him and asking for nothing more.

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