Carolina Isle Read Online Free Page A

hear that you did that two weeks ago with one of the girls who lives by the mill?” The old cotton processing plant hadn’t been used in forty years, but it still marked the different parts of town. The tiny houses that had been built for the millworkers were now protected by historical covenants, but that didn’t change the fact of where they were.
    â€œJealous?”
    â€œOf what?” she said as she read through the latest news on R.J. Ariel looked at David. He was stretched across her bed, all long, lean, masculine energy, and she thought that Sara would probably like him. For all of Sara’s sarcasm and acting as though she was a tough girl, Ariel thought she was pretty soft. Yes, she thought, Sara and David might get along splendidly.
    â€œMom wants me to ask you to the dance next Saturday. Shall we do the usual?”
    The “usual” was that he’d ask some other girland Ariel would be his cover. Actually, for the past six months David had been dating just one girl and Ariel was beginning to think he was serious about her. Her name was Britney and she was from the worst side of town that anyone could be from. Her father drove a truck around the U.S. and her mother cleaned people’s houses. If David’s mother found out about her, she’d probably put herself in the hospital with a panic attack—and stay there until David agreed to give up the girl. He hadn’t said so, but Ariel was beginning to think that the real reason David was still in town and hadn’t taken a job in another state was because of Britney.
    He rolled onto his stomach and looked at her. “So what is it with you and this guy Brompton?”
    â€œI’m going to marry him.” David and she had few secrets from each other. They were in prison together, so why shouldn’t they be friends?
    â€œGreat!” he said. “Told your mother yet?”
    â€œNo. I’m going to let you tell your mother, then she can tell mine.”
    David rolled onto his back and tossed her kangaroo in the air. “How about if you and I get married, move to another state, then get a divorce? If, after living with me, you want a divorce, that is.”
    Picking up her scrapbook, Ariel sat on the bed beside him. “I know you think I’m joking, but I like this man. Yes, he’s older, but he’s not too old. The best thing is that he’s powerful and rich, so maybe he’ll please my mother. If not, he can support me when she disowns me.”
    â€œYou could get a job, you know.”
    â€œWhat can I do? Clean houses like Britney’s mother?”
    David gave her a look that let her know she’d crossed the boundary.
    â€œOkay, I apologize. I’m sure Britney is a very nice person, and that you like her for something other than her impressive bra size.”
    â€œYou can be a nasty little bitch, you know that?”
    â€œTell your mother that you can’t marry someone like me.”
    Sighing, David turned onto his side and took the scrapbook from her hands to look at pictures of R.J. “You’ll have ugly kids—if a man that old can still do it, that is.”
    â€œHe seems to make women happy.”
    â€œHe buys them diamonds and they fake orgasms. Not that you would know anything about orgasms. Or do you?”
    When she didn’t make her usual comeback, he reached out and patted her on the shoulder. “Come on, Ariel, it’s not that bad.
I’m
not that bad. People in other countries often have arranged marriages. It won’t be so bad, I promise.”
    Ariel glared at him. “Being made to marry someone you don’t love is horrible. A lifetime of never hearing bells ring when you kiss! A whole life of never feeling little tingles in your scalp when he looks at you. Years of—”
    David yawned. “You’ve been reading paperbacks again, haven’t you? Listen, I’d better go.”
    â€œBritney calling