Children of Dynasty Read Online Free Page B

“Mariah!”
    Mid-twenties like her, he stood tall and skinny. A mass of freckles decorated his face below a mop of unruly red-brown hair he’d inherited from Tom Barrett, her father’s right hand man.
    “You nearly missed me.” Charley’s rain parka was in his long-fingered hand.
    “You’re going out?”
    His grin widened, revealing a chipped tooth Mariah knew came from a tumble off his bike. “Got a poker game with the guys. High stakes.”
    His boyish enthusiasm was that of someone much younger. As kids, he and she had both talked of going to college, but ADD and dyslexia had limited his options. Though he now worked as a construction laborer for Grant Development, the disparity in their positions had not diminished their friendship.
    Charley checked his watch and shifted his weight from one lanky leg to the other. “With this weather, I’m gonna be late.”
    His insistence on going out to play cards worried her, for his father Tom had once had a gambling problem. Though she considered asking him not to go, she kept silent, trying not to mother him.
    As for herself, Mariah didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved at not being able to visit. Charley knew all about the heartbreak she’d suffered with Rory. When it had happened he’d struck the right balance between sympathy and telling her she’d been an idiot to go for the wrong guy. Now she wondered if he might think her foolish when he heard how powerfully she’d reacted to the man who’d once dumped her.
    Rising on tiptoe, she kissed Charley’s cheek. “You run on. I haven’t got anything that won’t wait for another evening.”
    He ran down the steps two at a time and slammed out of the foyer.
    She stood on the landing for a long time, studying the relentless rain.

     
    Rory rammed his Porsche through the gears on the way to his father’s house. Lightning flared, and the gutters ran full. Heading back to the scene of last night’s party, he wondered what he’d been thinking to invite Mariah. Curiosity, he’d told her, but after eight years, he’d expected she would be out of his system.
    Nonetheless, on the terrace he’d immediately recognized the woman with spun-gold hair, and spiraled back to that long-ago summer, reverted to a raw kid raging with hormones … Seeing Mariah again had brought back the heady feeling of possibility, a sensation he thought he’d lost. Now, as he guided his 911 through puddles into the mansion’s drive, Rory wondered again what life would be like had he not made the boyish decision to give her up so easily.
    Beneath the porch’s overhang, he brushed water from his sleeves and rang the doorbell. Years ago, he’d found out his key no longer fit the lock, but refused to admit he’d noticed.
    Beyond the sidelight, Anna, in her usual uniform of dark dress and severe coif, opened the door. “Mr. Rory!” she said with a smile.
    Once inside, he headed for the family room. In the two-story space, an Alaskan brown bear stood on hind legs, lips drawn back in a snarl. A rhino’s head hung above the fireplace, while a full standing lion with a black mane guarded the French doors.
    Rory entered, his wet shoes squeaking on the slate floor.
    His father emerged from the depths of a wing chair, his Oxford-cloth shirt open at the neck.
    “Where’s Mom?” Rory asked. He’d always known there was something missing in his parents’ marriage, but usually when he was invited to dinner, he found them together.
    Davis’s expression darkened, but before he could speak a door closed in the rear of the house. Someone came in from the garage, rapid footsteps pattering across the stone.
    “Good evening, gentlemen.” His mother paused in the hall archway, her flaming hair backlit by the foyer chandelier.
    Davis turned on his wife. “Where have you been?”
    “Out.” She smoothed her pantsuit, frowning at some damp spots.
    “Where?”
    Rory went to the windows. Dusk was falling early, darkening the sea.
    “Where