Carly's Gift Read Online Free Page A

gentle, insistent nudge toward the door. Pointedly, she said, “Enough visiting—you can’t afford to miss biology again.”
    â€œAre you going to be here for dinner?” Andrea asked David, sidestepping her mother’s efforts. She could hardly wait to tell Susan and Judy she had a real live celebrity in her house. Alex Pettyfer or Timothy Olyphant would have been a lot better, but David Montgomery wasn’t bad.
    Instead of answering directly, David gave Carly a questioning look. Flustered, she stammered, “Mr. Montgomery is only going to be here a couple of days, and there are a lot of people he wants to see.”
    â€œHe has to eat somewhere, doesn’t he?” Andrea insisted, sending her mother a pleading look. She was unwilling to let go of what would probably be her one chance in life to hold something over Janice Wilburn whose first cousin was in a band that had opened for Taylor Swift when she was on tour. “You could ask him to dinner.”
    Carly shook her head. “I don’t think—”
    â€œI’d love to,” David answered.
    â€œ Fan -tastic. I can’t wait to tell everyone.” She gave Carly a kiss on her cheek and headed for the door. “Gotta go. I promised Victor I’d make it fast.”
    Carly waited until she was sure Andrea was gone before she turned to David, her hands curled into tight fists at her sides. “Why did you do that? I told you Ethan asked me not to see you.”
    â€œAnd do you always do everything he says?” he asked. “Even when it isn’t what you want?”
    â€œThis is his house. He has a right to—”
    â€œ His house?”
    She ignored the dig and went on. “You can’t come here tonight.”
    â€œHow are you going to explain my absence to Andrea?”
    â€œI’ll tell her you forgot you’d promised to have dinner with someone else.”
    â€œShe might buy that, but Ethan never will. If I don’t show up tonight, he’s going to think we’re trying to hide something.”
    The important thing had been to keep Ethan from finding out David had been there at all.
    The thought terrified her. With David there, Ethan was sure to drink more than his usual cocktail before dinner, wine with dinner, and Courvoisier after. She’d heard the argument a hundred times—alcohol was a minor and innocent way of coping with the problems he faced every day at work, something she could never understand, living the stress-free life of a housewife. Besides which, her paranoia about drinking had nothing to do with him. It was her father’s alcoholism that had prejudiced her. So what if there was that rare occasion—once or twice a year—when he said or did something he might later regret because he’d had a few too many? It didn’t happen that often and besides, he made up for it in other ways. Had he ever forgotten a birthday or an anniversary? Wasn’t he there for every one of the boys’ basketball games? And hadn’t he been in the stands for close to half of Andrea’s swim meets, even though she rarely won and the boys played on championship teams?
    Enough. She mentally shook herself. If there was hell to pay later, she’d pay it. She went to the closet to get David’s coat. Handing it to him, she said, “We eat at seven.”
    â€œSeven it is.” He met her gaze with a determined look. “I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, but I came here for something that I’ve waited too long to leave without.”
    She shook her head sadly. “You’re not the David Montgomery I used to know.”
    He took the time to put on his coat before answering her. “Who are you trying to convince—me or you?”
    Fear crawled up her spine. If she was that transparent to him, he was even more dangerous than she’d first thought.

Three

    Carly reached for the oven door to check on dinner.