The Cost of Betrayal by Dee Henderson

Author:Dee Henderson [Henderson, Dee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romantic Suspense;American suspense fiction;FIC042040;FIC042060;FIC027080
ISBN: 9781493416059
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-06-21T18:00:00+00:00

six

EIGHT HOURS EARLIER

“Ms. Kent.”

Knowing that sneering pronunciation of Ms. anywhere, Teni stopped short. Jared Connor. Not again, and certainly not right after Alex had broken off their engagement.

She turned to find Jared coming out of Milly’s restaurant, where she’d been looking for Julia to tell her about the broken engagement—to cry on her cousin’s, and best friend’s, shoulder.

“I need a word with you,” Jared said, stalking toward her.

Jared’s father, Darren Connor, came out of the diner behind his son, wearing his brown shoreman overalls, his everyday attire—every day except Sunday, when he wore his white dress shirt and navy tie. Always the same, but always so sweet—his gray hair combed over and a navy handkerchief sticking slightly out of his shirt pocket, available for anyone in need. He was a kind older gentleman. His son Jared was anything but kind.

“Now, son,” Darren said. “Don’t go bothering Miss Kent.” He looked at Teni with soft blue eyes, wrinkles crinkling around the edges. “I apologize.”

“Stop apologizing to her, Dad,” Jared replied, his voice heated. “So what if she owns the entire island and leases us our land? She doesn’t own us.”

“It’s fine, Mr. Connor,” Teni said. Jared always had a mind of his own and an opinion to share—and always a strong one, at that. While Jared was more than a handful of years older than she was, they’d attended the same school for many years. Everyone from kindergarten through high school attended the one schoolhouse on Talbot Island.

While Darren was a hard-working shoreman—a man Teni greatly respected—Jared, though an excellent shoreman, liked to stir up trouble, especially with her.

Darren’s wife, Marybeth, stepped to her husband’s side—waiting, watching, as she always did. Marybeth clung to her grandmother’s ways, holding tight to the superstitions of the elders’ ancestors. The eldership was a practice the island’s inhabitants had done away with decades ago, but their descendants still clung to it. Marybeth and those like her were always warning other townsfolk about this or that, disliking the few remaining Pocomokes—the original natives to the island, Callen included.

Why Teni’s great, great—and so on through the generations—grandfather ever leased to superstitious or prejudiced landholders, or created the eldership in the first place, she’d never know, but among the handful still on the island, many held tight to their traditions—including Jared.

He stopped a mere foot from her. “You’ve got to stop the ferry service.”

Not this again.

“It disturbs the sea life, the wildlife, and pollutes our water, which supports many of our livelihoods. Not to mention, it brings throngs of tourists traipsing on our shores. They don’t respect the land or our ways.”

Throngs was an exaggeration. Yes, the island had tourists, but their impact in any negative way was minimal, and on the positive side, they brought lots of money to the island. “As I’ve explained numerous times, lots of the residents on Talbot rely on the tourists and the income they bring for their livelihood.”

“Because you’ve made them dependent on it. I mean, seriously, look at the pathetic shopkeepers giving away our local treasures to the mainlanders.

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