Worth Dying For by Beverly Barton

Author:Beverly Barton [Barton, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2004-11-22T23:00:00+00:00

THE LAST THING Tessa felt like doing was entertaining, even if their guests were only family and friends. And she couldn’t fault her father for thinking it would be helpful to surround themselves with people he believed truly cared about them. It was almost as if he had called in reinforcements after the battle had been lost. But the war wasn’t over, Tessa reminded herself as she sipped on her wine—a vintage she would have, under normal circumstances, appreciated. But not tonight. Not when her mind was so preoccupied with one thought. Only when the beast who’d sent Leslie Anne those newspaper clippings had been unearthed and punished would the next battle be won. As for the war itself—it might not ever end. Not unless her daughter could come to terms with the truth.

“I do wish our darling Leslie Anne could have joined us this evening,” Myrle Poole said. “But I suppose the dear girl is embarrassed by that silly stunt she pulled. Can you imagine her running away from home because some other teenager dared her to do it?”

“Did y’all find out who dared her to run away?” Celia asked. “ I think his or her parents should be notified and the proper punishment doled out.” She turned to Charlie, smiling like a besotted fool. “Don’t you think so, sweetheart?”

“Most certainly.” He looked straight at G.W. “And if I were you, I’d make sure Leslie Anne wasn’t allowed to see this person ever again.”

“Quite right.” G.W.’s cheeks flushed. “But I doubt we’ll be able to pry the person’s name out of her. Leslie Anne can be quite stubborn.”

Listening to the conversation, Tessa marveled at how easily her father lied. At least he had the decency to seem slightly embarrassed by his bold-faced lie. But what else could they have done except fabricate a believable story about why Leslie Anne ran away from home? It wasn’t as if they could announce to one and all that the Westbrook clan—G.W., Sharon and Tessa—had been harboring a dark, ugly secret all these years.

Olivia laughed, the sound shrill to Tessa’s ears, but then everything about the woman rubbed Tessa the wrong way.

“G.W., from whomever do you suppose the child inherited her stubborn streak?” Olivia cooed the question.

Tessa didn’t know who was worse—Olivia or her cousin Celia? Both women were making spectacles of themselves by the way they were fawning over their men. But she supposed desperate women acted that way. A woman who was unsure of how a man felt about her often pushed too hard for assurance.

G.W. chuckled, the sound only slightly wooden, and Tessa doubted anyone other than she and Aunt Sharon knew how phony that laugh was. “I’ll take full blame for any of Leslie Anne’s bad traits, including her stubbornness. And I’m damned proud to be her granddaddy.”

Sharon and Tessa exchanged a look that said only they knew what G.W. really meant. He was proclaiming to one and all that his granddaughter was a Westbrook. And be damned with who her biological father was.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.