Breath of Scandal(101)

Telling Graham the truth wasn't an option she considered. If he knew that he was the result of a rape, he would likely blame himself for living. She refused to lay that kind of guilt on her child, recalling the cruel responsibility Velta had placed on her the last time she'd seen her.

Cathy disagreed. Every time Graham raised the topic of



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his father, she urged Jade to tell him, but to no avail. The stigma of not having a father was bad enough, without his knowing the rest. To help ease his conflict, she had given him permission to lie. "I hate lies, Graham. You know that. Sometimes, though, I think they're okay, if they're told to protect someone else and not oneself.

"So, when your friends ask you about your father, you can protect them from being embarrassed by simply saying that he died. I give you my permission to say just thathe died before you were bom. Okay?"

Evidently it had been okay, because Graham had never broached the subject again. He had reached a level of maturity where he could work it out for himself. Thinking about how quickly the years were passing made Jade's heart wrench with homesickness for him. She couldn't wait till June, when he would join her in Palmetto.

"You've drawn quite a crowd."

Jade snapped out of her reverie and turned her head in response to the low voice near her ear. Dillon sat down in the vacant chair beside hers. "Good morning, Dillon. You look very handsome."

"Thanks," he replied self-consciously.

He was wearing a new suit for the occasion, and his hair had been trimmed.

She had dressed with utmost care herself. There would be old-timers in the crowd who remembered the scandal she had created when she left. Most were merely curious about Palmetto's new industry. Either way, she wasgoing to be the focal point of everyone's attention today. She wanted to dazzle them.

"I drove out to your trailer last night, but you weren't there," she told Dillon.

"Sorry I missed you."

"it looked as though you're settled in."

"There wasn't much to settle. I'm ready to get to work. "I didn't know you had a dog."

"Dog?" "There was a dog lying on the top step of the tr"er.



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Sandra Brown



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"Oh, him," he said, frowning. "He showed up a few days ago, and I made the mistake of feeding him a few table scraps. "

Tilting her head, she smiled teasingly. "And now he's adopted you?"

"Not for long. I'm going to take him to the pound the first chance I get."

"After his leg heals, you mean. That looked like a homemade bandage," she said, her goading grin still in place. Dillon's scowl deepened. "He'd been in a fight, had a



bad scratch. I poured peroxide into it and patched it up. That's all."

"I don't know, Dillon," she said breezily. "I think you've got a pet for life - "

He switched subjects by nodding out over the crowd. "Did you expect this?"

"Yes. For the first time, my name appeared in the local newspaper yesterday evening."

His gaze swung back to her. "Any reason why your name should spark so much local interestT

"There might be. I grew up here.'

He reacted to that as to an electric shock. His hazel eyes focused on her sharply. "Funny how you failed to mention that. "

Before she had an opportunity to reply, Palmetto's mayor approached her. "Ms. Sperry, let's give these folks another five minutes or so to find a seat, then you can make your presentation. How long d'y'all figure it'll take?"

"Approximately ten minutes. Then I'll open the floor for questions. "

"Mighty fine. Take all the time you want, little lady. This is a landmark day - I still can't get over it."

Cutting short his sexist effusiveness, she introduced Dillon to him. As the two men were shaking hands, Jade chanced to glance between them and spotted a woman seated in the crowd.

Reflexively her lips formed the name. "Donna Dee." Her former friend had never had her overbite corrected;

her small face still came to a point above her upper lip. She was wearing her hair in a short bob now, but it was still unrelentingly straight.

Nevertheless, there were marked changes in her appearance. She no longer looked comically animated, but harsh. Her eyes seemed to have receded into her skull, making her look more furtive than ever. She resembled a mistrustful animal peering at the world from inside its lair.

Her gaze now was uncharacteristically still, fixed on lade. Time had etched distinct lines on each side of her protruding mouth. Jade and Donna Dee were the same age, yet Donna Dee looked at least a decade older.

Jade felt a sharp twinge of remorse that she couldn't remember with fondness all the nights they had slept over at each other's house, giggling and planning their futures, which invariably revolved around the men whom they would marry-Gary and Hutch. At least one of them had gotten her wish. Jade's thoughts must have manifested themselves in her expression because Donna Dee was the first to break their stare. She lowered her eyes to her lap.

It was odd that Hutch wasn't in attendance. There were a number of deputies helping to control the crowd, but Hutch wasn't among them. Hutch had always been big and strong, but basically a coward. No doubt he was trying to avoid their first confrontation in fifteen years.