An Act of Love Read Online Free Page A

company?"
    Randy agreed, wondering how her sister had immediately
guessed the real reason for the absent twenty-five pounds when the rest
of her family had so easily swallowed her story about the movie role.
Experience, she supposed, and the fact that up until two years ago the
two sisters had been unusually close.
    Although Linda was four years older than Randy, she'd
almost never complained when Randy tried on her makeup or barged in on
her and her friends or borrowed her clothing. Every crush and dream and
hope had been confided in her older sister, even though the reverse was
certainly not true. As for their recent estrangement, it was Randy's
doing, not Linda's.
    As they shopped for groceries, Randy was reminded of just
how much fun her sister could be. Linda entertained her with stories of
Dallas society, mimicking the southern belles and Texas oilmen almost
as perfectly as Randy might have. By the time they got home and Randy
started cooking dinner she was in a much better mood and no longer
anxious to run up to New Hampshire.
    Linda was still on the subject of her marriage when they
sat down to eat. "I really thought I was in love with Brett," she
explained as she helped herself to a piece of fish, "and I admit he
spoiled me rotten when it came to material things. But after six months
the marriage was a disaster. His children hated me. I was bored and
restless—he wouldn't hear of me taking a job—so I
filled my days with charity work and tennis. Everyone was twice my age,
except for the tennis pro." She made a helpless little gesture with her
right hand. "After the first few months Brett and I might as well have
had separate bedrooms, Randy. The tennis pro—
Andy—kept chasing me, and eventually I let him catch me. He
even proposed, but at least I had the sense not to plunge into another
marriage. I came back to Cambridge because I was happier here than
anywhere else, even though my marriage to Jerry didn't work out."
    "What are you going to do up here?" Randy asked.
    "I've thought about putting my fine arts degree to use by
opening a gallery or antique shop." Linda was only pushing her fish
around now, a wistful look on her face. "What I'd like most of all is
to be a buyer for C & D, traveling around the way Grandma and
Grandpa do, looking for one-of-a-kind items for the boutique in the
Manhattan store. But I know Dad would never give me the
chance—not given his opinion of me."
    "You'd be surprised at his opinion of you," Randy told her
sister. "He got into a huge argument with one of his executives over
you."
    Linda laid down her fork, totally baffled, and Randy
proceeded to explain what had happened between Bill Dunne and Luke
Griffin. Lin was both surprised and pleased that her father had
defended her so staunchly, murmuring when Randy finished the story,
"Tom Havemeyer. I'll be darned. I didn't realize he was related to
anyone at C & D—he told me he worked for one of our
suppliers. The funny thing is, I never go out with married men. I don't
need that kind of trouble. You have to sneak around, and all they want
to do is tell you their troubles. But Tom begged me to meet him, and he
was so sweet that I broke my rule and made an exception for him."
    "I think you'd better unmake it," Randy said. "That
brother-in-law of his is liable to come up here and strangle you if you
don't."
    Randy didn't miss the calculating look in Linda's eyes. "I
was supposed to see him again this weekend. I really am fond of him."
She shrugged a trifle too dramatically. "But it looks like I'd better
end it. I'll make you a deal. Randy. I'll try to talk some sense into
Tom and send him back to his no-doubt loving wife if you'll stay with
me for a week or two and keep me company." She flashed an engaging
smile at her sister. "What do you say?"
    "You were going to stop seeing him anyway, I could tell,"
Randy protested.
    "And you were going to agree to stay here with me anyway,
I
could tell," Linda shot back.
    Randy, knowing when she