Outlaw Carson by Tara Janzen Read Free Book Online

man to stay up
there in the woods with you!”
    “It’s not the woods, Jenny,” Kristine said,
tucking the portable phone between her shoulder and her ear as she
dug through her sock drawer in search of a matched pair. “And I
already have a mother. What I need is a friend who can—”
    “And I should call her right now and tell
her what her crazy daughter has done. Muriel won’t like this, young
lady. She won’t like this at all.”
    “Well, I’m not about to tell her, and if you
don’t, she’ll never know.” Many times over the past year Kristine
had doubted her decision to take on as her assistant the oldest
graduate student in the history of the history department. None of
the other professors had to put up with being called “young lady”
by their assistants, or have their nutritional knowledge challenged
at every turn. But Jenny had proven her worth more than once,
especially when it came to the minutiae of research and office
politics. “Besides, Jenny, you were behind this project one hundred
percent.”
    “I thought it would be a good career move
for you to work with the man. I didn’t expect you to take up with
him!”
    “I haven’t taken up with him.” Pink, white,
blue, striped, hearts, argyles, cotton, nylon, wool. How could a
person have so many socks without two of them even remotely
resembling each other? Kristine wondered, digging deeper. “I need
you, Jenny, bustling around the office for a week, looking busy.
I’m giving you free rein. Organize whatever you want, throw out the
rest.” She picked up a purple sock and, miracle of miracles, found
another.
    “You’re up to something, Kristine Richards,
and I want to know what it is. Every time I get near that trash can
you pitch a fit.”
    “So take advantage of my temporary
insanity.”
    “Tell me, Kristy,” the older woman
insisted.
    Kristine sat down on the edge of the bed to
pull her socks on, then immediately jumped back up.
    Searching in the pile of sheets and blankets
she found her long-lost hairbrush and stuffed it into the pocket of
her robe. “I’m just doing what you told me to do, Jenny. I’m making
a career move, working my way up the ladder.”
    “Kristine.” Jenny spoke her name slowly,
with the voice of authority granted her by her years. “I know the
man has an international reputation, but it’s not all that good,
and there is absolutely no way for you to sleep your way to the top
in this business.”
    “You’ve shocked me, Jenny, really shocked
me.” She tugged one sock on and reached for the other. “You know I
don’t sleep with anybody for any reason.” The instant the words
were out of her mouth, she knew she shouldn’t have opened the
discussion.
    “And you’re not getting any younger,” Jenny
shot back. “It’s time for you to get back into circulation. Muriel
and I still don’t understand why you stopped seeing Grant
Thorp.”
    “I wasn’t seeing him. We had three dates,
three long, boring dates, and I wish you and my mother wouldn’t
talk about me behind my back. Can we get back to business.”
    “We could if I knew what business we were
talking about.”
    “Suffice to say, Carson doesn’t want the
trunks moved, and he doesn’t want to leave them. Therefore, he
stays here with the trunks. Simple logic.” She refrained from using
the word protection, knowing it would only unnerve her assistant.
“All I’m asking you to do is field any questions that might come up
for the next week. Nobody seems to want anything to do with him, so
you shouldn’t have too much trouble.”
    “Nobody except you,” Jenny said knowingly.
“What does he look like?”
    “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She
switched the phone to her other ear as she shrugged out of her robe
and hung it on a hook. A moment later it slid to the floor, but by
then her hands were full with juggling the phone and trying to pull
on her jeans.
    “Try me,” Jenny said.
    “Well, he’s got this auburn braid