The Silken Web by Sandra Brown

Author:Sandra Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Photography, Contemporary, Fashion Industry, General, Romance, Suspense, Child, Retail Industry, Fiction
ISBN: 9780446364799
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 1992-01-01T22:00:00+00:00

Twelve

“Theron, please!” Kathleen shouted, and dodged the thrashing legs that threatened to shower her again with the clear water of the swimming pool. Theron shrieked with delight and renewed his efforts to drench his mother.

“You’re a pest. Do you know that?” she teased, and grabbed his chubby body around the waist, lowering her head and nuzzling his neck while he strove to escape this show of affection. At seventeen months old, he was already developing an aversion to maternal protection and asserting his newfound independence. Only when he ran into trouble of some sort did he come to Kathleen seeking solace.

He was active, curious and headstrong, determined to have his way against all odds. On the days Kathleen was home, she spent nearly every minute in his company, basking in a glow of pride and love.

When Theron was born, Seth wanted her to quit working. He saw how time- and energy-consuming being a mother was. But Kathleen had been adamant.

“Before I was your wife, I was your employee. You hired me to do a very difficult job. Until I feel like I’ve accomplished what you outlined for me to do, I’ll continue working at least three days a week. With the new store in Stonetown and the boutique in Ghirardelli’s now open, you need me more than ever.”

He acquiesced, but only if she would accept her current salary. Each week, she endorsed a paycheck and deposited it into a savings account. Seth wouldn’t let her spend any of that money, but gave her a sizable “household account.”

She had hired an assistant to help her, but was never far from the telephone when not actually in the stores or at her office.

Her assistant was a young man named Eliot Pate. He knew the retail clothing business inside out, had a flair for style and an uncanny instinct about what merchandise would sell quickly. They had recognized each other’s talent, and an immediate friendship had sprung up between them.

She accepted his alternate lifestyle. He overlooked her flagrant femininity, and she overlooked his occasional bitchiness. When she was off, spending her days with Theron, she knew that Eliot had things well under control.

Today was one such day. She and Theron were languishing away the late afternoon hours in the Kirchoffs’ pool. Kathleen never thought of this estate in Woodlawn as her house. It was too large, too ostentatious, and Hazel never passed up an opportunity to let Kathleen know who was mistress of it.

When Seth had first brought her here as his bride, Kathleen was intimidated by the apparent show of wealth, but gradually she had become accustomed to it, which was strange considering where and how she had grown up.

The traditional house was fashioned after those found in the English countryside. The lawn surrounded it in a broad expanse of green, perfectly clipped and trimmed. The interior was decorated with the most meticulous attention to detail. But to Kathleen, the rooms looked like settings in a magazine instead of where people actually lived.

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