Tinsel Town Read Online Free Page B

bookworm myself.”
    She gave him a suspicious look. “A bookworm with plenty of Saturday night dates, I’m sure. I find it hard to believe that you would be an ugly duckling sort.”
    He conceded with a shrug. “I never had to worry about who I was taking to the prom, that’s true. But I had to be careful who I asked out. I took a girl on a date once and was afraid to roll down my windows for fear that her head would float out of the car.”
    He smiled when she giggled, amused by the glow of relaxation that was radiating around her. He tipped more wine into her glass, enjoying her rosy hue.
    “So, why did you move to Elizabeth Falls? I can’t believe it’s because of your family.”
    She blinked at him for a moment. “No, not my family. I suppose I wanted to see more, to do more. My father says it’s the Irish gypsy in me. Johnsburgh is a fine town, a good place to live for families and certain types of people.”
    “And you’re not that type of person.”
    “Not right now. For one thing, they don’t have a symphony of any sort. My only choice would be teaching music or…teaching music.”
    “Not much of a choice.”
    She took a drink of wine and nodded. “Exactly. So, I went to college --”
    He watched as she visibly flinched. “College couldn’t have been all that bad.”
    “Oh, it wasn’t college. I loved college, actually. It was what happened during college.”
    She seemed to brace herself, taking a deep breath before she plowed ahead. “The ex-all-American quarterback of our high school class decided I was suddenly worth a second glance, and I let him look. He started bumping into me in the oddest places, calling me when Tinsel Town

    21
    I was home visiting, e-mailing me when I was at school. I was overwhelmed; I’d never had a man give me that much attention, and for no apparent reason. So when he asked me out on a date, I said yes. Before I knew it, we were exclusive, and then we were engaged. I was, I don’t know, shell-shocked. But I was happy, or at least I thought I was happy.”
    She was scrunching her cloth napkin in her hand, strangling it with her fingers on the table. Clive reached over, gently covered her hand with his, and gave her an encouraging smile. Her movements immediately stopped, and she gave him a wan look.
    “We’d been engaged for three months when I found out he was fooling around with the mayor’s daughter. It had been going on for weeks.”
    He had the sudden urge to knock the other man’s head completely off his shoulders.
    He had a black belt, and in fact helped teach at the YMCA during the summer; he was sure he could take an ex-football player with very little effort. Especially the one who had broken Kate’s heart.
    “Please don’t look like that,” she said, giving his fingers a squeeze. “I’ve had enough pitying looks to last a lifetime. I’m glad I found out when I did. Another six months and I would have been married to him.”
    “He was a fool.” Staring at her, Clive willed her to see the intense attraction that he felt. A sweet, blush crept up her cheeks, and he knew she did. “If you’d agreed to marry me, I would have dragged you to Las Vegas that same night.”
    “Th-that’s nice of you to say.” Her lips wavered up as she gazed at him, with confusion swimming in the copper depths of her eyes.
    Nice, hell, it was the truth. That little factoid smacked him like a three-hundred-pound wrestler, which nearly knocked him off his seat. Now was definitely not the time to analyze his reaction. He’d do it later, when he was alone…and wasn’t so dazed.
    Kate cleared her throat, bringing him back to reality. “So, Clive, how did you…that is, your choice of careers. Why did you…?”

    22 Flesa Black
    He tried for a carefree grin, hiding his irritation as she pulled her hand from his. He knew he had to go carefully here, tell her the truth without revealing the details. “Actually, I just sort of stumbled into it. I met Nina, and she