Caprice by Amanda Carpenter Read Free Book Online Page A

Roxanne and Gwynne treating her
    performance like a huge joke. She threw open her arms, and laughed
    again, calling out, 'My sweet public! My audience!'
    'Come on in, you nut!' Jeffrey called back, his pique of last night a
    thing of the past, almost forgotten already. 'Breakfast is hot and
    ready!'
    She glanced back at Pierce, who looked indolent, hands in his
    pockets and head tilted back as he looked at her with a half curled,
    lazy smile. She did not like that smile. 'Nice show,' he told her,
    sardonically. She blew him a kiss, and thankfully ran away. Just as
    she reached the others, she remembered her coffee, by now probably
    quite cold and abandoned on the pier, but for the life of her she
    wouldn't go back to get it. He brought it out. He could take care of it.
    She didn't care.
    Behind her, unheard, Pierce repeated conversationally, 'But I still
    don't believe you.' Then he bent and picked up the cups, and went
    back to the lodge also.
    Inside, she followed the others to the large, tasteful dining room
    where several hot dishes had been set on the sideboard. As each
    began to compile a breakfast, Caprice found a silent presence at her
    elbow. Pierce handed her cup to her, which she took without a word
    and drained. Then she refilled it at the sideboard, and sat at the table,
    unobtrusively putting distance between herself and Pierce.
    'What, no breakfast?' Jeffrey teased, as he sat beside her.
    Too aware of Pierce's presence, too aware of his aloofness from the
    others and his idle contemplation of herself, Caprice turned to Jeffrey
    and replied, with a careless flick of her finger to his collar, 'That's
    right, love. And do you know why?'
    'No, why?' His eyes devoured her, and she saw Roxanne out of the
    corner of her eye, a bit pale.
    'Because I'm playing tennis with you after breakfast,' she told Jeffrey,
    letting her eyes go wide as she stared into his. She licked her parted
    lips, and saw him swallow. 'And do you know what?'
    'What?' he whispered. Everyone was watching them, avidly.
    She found herself looking to Pierce. He was frowning slightly at her
    as though she were an alien species that he couldn't quite identify.
    Then she looked back to Jeffrey and told him sweetly, 'I'm going to
    win.'
    Emory, who had just come into the room, laughed.

    She looked into sunlight, letting it blind her for a full moment to
    make her dry eyes water. Then, with her head bowed, she rubbed at
    them with thumb and forefinger for they stung. She looked across the
    court at Jeffrey, who was stretching lazily while he waited. Full of
    confidence, he had eaten a large breakfast while teasing her
    unmercifully. She had responded with warmth, in an attempt to
    demonstrate to Pierce that she was indeed the flirt she'd claimed to
    be. It had apparently worked, almost too well. Roxanne wasn't
    speaking much to her, and while every one of the guests was present
    to watch the match, Pierce wasn't. Life could be, she reflected
    sighingly, almost excruciatingly predictable.
    'Ready?' she shouted enthusiastically to Jeffrey, who threw her a
    mock salute. The tennis court was privately owned by the Langstons,
    and somewhat secluded from the lodge by a row of pine trees, though
    still visible.
    He had given her the first serve, and, as they positioned themselves
    in the appropriate corners, everyone settled at the sidelines. 'Go get
    'im!' called Emory, as he sprawled in the grass.
    'Piece of cake!' She turned to smile sweetly at Jeffrey, and then
    turned sideways. A graceful, leisurely throw of the tennis ball up into
    the air, her borrowed racquet coming up with a snakelike quickness,
    and both her feet left the ground with the force of that first blow.
    Jeffrey never saw the ball pass him.
    Nor did he see the second ace she slammed over the net. Emory
    looked ridiculous, with his mouth hanging open, and Roxanne had
    finally come out of the sulks, laughing until she had to hold her sides.
    Astonished and rather furious, Jeffrey pulled