Best Kept Secrets by Sandra Brown Read Free Book Online

left his truck and reentered the courthouse, he cursed the day Alexandra Gaither had been born, just as he had on that day itself. At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder if her smart mouth wouldn't be good for something besides spouting accusations and legal jargon.
    He'd bet his next win at the track that it would.

    Four

    Judge Joseph Wallace was the Prairie Drugstore's best customer for Mylanta. He knew as he pushed away from the lunch table that he'd have to take a swig or two of the stuff before the afternoon was over. His daughter Stacey had prepared the meal for him--as she did every day of the week except Sunday when they went to the country club buffet.
    Stacey's dumplings, light and puffy as always, had landed like golf balls in his stomach.
    "Something wrong?" She noticed that her father was absently rubbing his stomach.
    "No, it's nothing."
    ' 'Chicken and dumplings is usually one of your favorites.''
    "Lunch was delicious. I've just got a nervous stomach today."
    ' 'Have a peppermint.'' Stacey passed him a cut-glass candy dish, conveniently kept on a dust-free cherrywood coffee table. He took out a wrapped piece of red-andwhite-striped candy and put it in his mouth. "Any particular reason why your stomach is nervous?"
    Stacey had become her father's caretaker when her mother had died several years earlier. She was single and rapidly approaching middle age, but she had never exhibited any ambition beyond being a homemaker. Because she had no husband or children of her own, she fussed over the judge.
    She had never been a raving beauty, and age hadn't ameliorated that unfortunate fact.
    Describing her physical attributes
    with tactful euphemisms was pointless. She was and always had been plain. Even so, her position in Purcell was well established.
    Every important ladies' league in town had her name on its roster. She taught a girls' Sunday school class at the First Methodist Church, faithfully visited residents of the Golden Age Home each Saturday morning, and played bridge on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her activities calendar was always full. She dressed expensively and well, though far too dowdily for her age.
    Her etiquette was above reproach, her decorum refined, her temperament serene. She had weathered disappointments in a style that was noble and worthy of admiration. Everybody assumed that she was happy and content.
    They were wrong.
    Judge Wallace, a sparrow of a man, pulled on his heavy overcoat as he made his way toward the front door. "Angus called me last night."
    "Oh? What did he want?" Stacey asked as she pulled the collar of her father's coat up around his ears to guard against the wind.

    "Celina Gaither's daughter turned up yesterday."
    Stacey's busy hands fell still, and she took a step away from her father. Their eyes met. "Celina Gaither's daughter?"
    The voice coming from her chalky lips was high and thin.

    "Remember the baby? Alexandra, I believe."
    "Yes, I remember, Alexandra," Stacey repeated vaguely.
    "She's here in Purcell?"
    "As of yesterday. All grown up now."
    "Why didn't you tell me this last night when I came in?"
    "You were late coming home from the chili supper. I was already in bed. I knew you'd be tired, too, and there was no need to bother you with it then."
    Stacey turned away and busied herself picking the empty cellophane wrappers out of the candy dish. Her father had an annoying habit of leaving the empties. "Why should the sudden appearance of Celina's daughter bother me?"
    "No reason in particular," the judge said, glad he didn't have to meet his daughter's eyes. "On the other hand, it'll probably upset the whole damn town."
    Stacey came back around. Her fingers were mutilating a piece of clear cellophane. "Why should it?"
    The judge covered a sour belch with his fist. "She's a prosecutor in the D.A.'s office in Austin."
    "Celina's daughter?" Stacey exclaimed.

    "Helluva thing, isn't it? Who would have guessed that she would turn out that well, growing up with only