A Private Affair by Dara Girard Read Free Book Online Page A

do—”
    “Then watch yourself little brother because I know you a lot better than you know me. We both came from a father who knew how to tear you down so he could manipulate you. You can try to come close to being like him, but we both know you’ll be a pale imitation. Now this is what I can offer you—a way to find an extra couple hundred where you’re falling short, but you’re the one who’s going to have to talk to your wife. That’s the deal.”
    He sighed. “Okay.”
    Carissa knew he had to be desperate, since he agreed so readily. “Good. We’ll talk later.” He had to learn to support his family because she didn’t know how much longer she’d have a job, and besides, she’d promised herself to stop rescuing him.
    Glenn was quiet as he set the table in the dining room. He then returned to the kitchen and said, “I love her so much. I want to give her everything she wants. I want to be a good provider.”
    “You are, but she has to learn that what you can provide has a limit.” She playfully nudged him. “You’re a great catch, remember?”
    “Except when I’m a complete jerk. I shouldn’t have said that to you…about being jealous.”
    “It’s okay.”
    He shook his head. “I’m the one who’s a little jealous. You’re so smart and confident. The way I should be.”
    She waved a knife at him. “Careful, you’re starting to sound like Dad again. You’re fine the way you are. You’re not only the first one in the family to graduate from college, you also got a four year scholarship from the Notrevir Fund, something we’d never even heard of,” she said with a sense of pride. That was rare for their family. There had never been a sense of pride in the York line. Her great-grandfather had been just as shiftless and reckless in America as he had been in his home country of Guyana. There was no American Dream story to hand down—no sense of purpose, except to get by, marry and breed. Not necessarily in that order. Her brother had broken that pattern by being the first person in their family to get a college degree. “You are a good man, a great husband and an okay brother.”
    He rested against the kitchen counter. “Only okay?”
    “Yes, when you’re in moods like this I have to deduct points.”
    “I don’t want my marriage to fail.”
    “It’s not going to fail.”
    “I thought dinner was almost ready!” Lina called. “Isn’t it done yet?”
    “Almost darling,” Glenn said, stopping Carissa from offering a rude reply.
    Carissa sighed as she carried the baked dish to the table. “She’s right. The shrimp’s probably rubbery now.”
    “I’m sure it’s fine. Is it really over between you and Morris?”
    “Yes.”
    He sighed. “Mom’s going to blow her top.”
    “She’ll survive. In a month she’ll forget about me and,” she patted her stomach and did an imitation of Lina, “focus on little York.”
    “You’re not giving up are you?” he asked as she returned to the kitchen and pulled warm wheat rolls out of the oven.
    “Giving up?”
    “On finding the right—”
    She held up her hand. “Stop right there. It’s bad enough having a kid I used to babysit and my sister-in-law discussing my love life, I will not add you to the mix. Understand?”
    “Yes. Although I think I know a guy who—”
    She wet her hand under running water and playfully splashed him. “Get out of my kitchen or I’ll let you both starve. I’m through with men!” But even as she said the words, she briefly wondered if Riverton was enjoying his pineapple.
     
     
     

Chapter Six
     
    Carissa never thought that watching a man read could be so fascinating. But since she’d handed Riverton the personnel files he’d requested and started reading, she hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off him. She remembered providing a brief summary about each person while he looked at their file, mentioning that Mia had worked for the company nearly as long as it had been in operation and that