HOT SET: Playing with Fidelity (A romantic suspense novel) Read Online Free Page B

Engineer, so Penelope (now known as Penny) raised the girls in the same way she was; finishing school politeness, consideration and above all, non-confrontation.
    Kate ’s biggest influence was the difference to her sister. Patricia was scholarly, accomplished, attractive and popular; Kate was an average student who excelled in the creative classes. Patricia inherited Michael’s height and her mother’s fair skin whereas Kate was small, curvy and dark. Patricia was charmingly stubborn, Kate was gentle and obedient. Penny loved her girls equally but unconsciously favoured Patty’s spark and Kate learnt at a very early age that she could never compete with her sister. So, in order to gain her mother’s favour, she’d model her behaviour on her mother’s most valued characteristics. Eager to please, compliant and adaptable to others’ wishes, Kate found her niche as the person to rely on, who wouldn’t say “no” and was constantly cheerful. It would dictate her relationships for the rest of her life.
    In her senior school years, Kate continued with her drama classes and regularly topped the grade with her accurate portrayals. She loved being able to release her self-imposed obedience, shut down her reserve and morph into someone else. She graduated from her final year with regular marks in all subjects but drama and home economics, which she received high grades for. For a while, Kate worked as a kitchen hand in a small café, enrolled in some local productions and at 21 was successful in attaining a place at Sydney’s coveted National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA). It was a three-year degree and she eagerly moved to Sydney and attacked her studies, quickly becoming well-known for her realistic camera personas. The move to Sydney was a temporary choice as she intended on building her career in New Zealand after graduation.
    NIDA is located opposite the University of New South Wales, which was where Mark had been teaching Architecture for seven years. This was how, one day in a local coffee shop, he met Kate.
     
    Mark Johnson was born and raised in Sydney. He had a straightforward childhood until the age of eight when his father, Jonathan, decided he couldn’t hack life as a responsible parent anymore and didn’t come home from work one night. Esther frantically called the hospitals and his known hangouts to no success. Then, at 11pm that night, when Esther was almost collapsing in fear, Jonathan called. Her relief palpable until he curtly informed her he was in Bali and wasn’t coming back. It was her fault for being a nagging shrew; she should have looked after him better.
    Esther was stunned into silence; he’d never once raised these issues with her and she assumed things were fine. But, the icing on the cake happened two days after when she found he’d cleared their joint account of every cent (that she also paid her part time wage into) and had spent most of it on a first class ticket to Bali.
    The following years were hard on them both. Mark grew up seeing his mother struggle and vowed to never do that to a woman; that he would be loyal, careful and supportive.
    Esther’s parents stepped in to help and Mark became very close to his Grandpa, a cheerful fellow who’d take Mark fishing in creeks and on long hikes through state forests. Garry Fischer was a strong man, young for his age of 61, and Mark adored him; they had a special bond.
    When Mark was 13, Garry was diagnosed with a malignant, aggressive brain tumour that would take him in six weeks. On the last day of Garry’s life, he was propped up in bed, a shadow of the robust man he’d been only two months earlier. His eyes were sunken deep into large sockets, his mouth was slack and his skin as thin as paper. Mark and Esther were visi ting Garry in hospital when Esther slipped out to get lunch, leaving Mark alone. Mark held Garry’s thin, fragile hand, fighting to stop the tears from blinding him and talked gibberish about their fishing