Children of Dynasty by Christine Carroll Read Free Book Online Page A

of innocence.
    “Have lunch with me,” he asked again, quietly. “We’ll go someplace where lots of people will see us together.” He stated it like a vow, the way he’d once promised forever. Something in his voice made her want to believe.
    She was tempted, but … “I’ve already been chewed out this morning for talking to you at the Marriott.”
    “So, now it’s you who’s afraid of Daddy?”
    The challenge she’d thrown him about dancing to his father’s tune sounded different on the receiving end. Maybe it wasn’t as easy as throwing convention aside, especially as she’d given her word she wasn’t seeing Davis Campbell’s son.
    “This is insanity,” she told Rory. “I’ve got to go.”
    Yet, when she put the phone back into its cradle, she kept her hand on it for a long time.

     
    After a light lunch at her desk, Mariah set out for Grant Plaza. Though she walked briskly, when she turned the last corner and caught sight of the rising spire she stopped on the sidewalk. A man behind her nearly stepped on her heels and muttered something about her not using her brake lights.
    Still, she stood gazing up at the partially completed edifice backlit by a crystal sky. The girders and floors were complete, the main electrical conduits in place, and the glass going in. Once the wind no longer swept its uninhibited way through the building, the interiors could be started.
    When someone else bumped into her, she shook free of her reverie and hurried on to the site. There she grabbed a hardhat from the main trailer and headed out to find the supervisor.
    A group of workers stared at her. A big man with a black beard, his hammer hanging from his belt, murmured, “Mariah Grant.” Her name passed from man to man.
    Someone nudged her.
    She jumped and turned to find Charley Barrett grinning down at her. “You’re a celebrity.”
    “Hardly.” Mariah laughed. “You win the pot last night?”
    “Hardly.”
    “I take it you two know each other.” Cassie Holden, one of the city’s few female supervisors, fixed them with direct eyes in a sun-beaten face. The close-cropped gray curls peeking from beneath her hardhat said she’d paid her dues.
    Charley turned to his boss. “Mariah and I grew up together. Partners in war …”
    “He throws a mean clump of green onions,” Mariah agreed. “Sent more than one soldier on the opposite side in tears to tell his mother.”
    “Partners in crime, too.” Charley chuckled. “Remember when we knocked out the big window at the dry cleaners with a bottle rocket? I never saw so much broken glass.” She’d escaped with him to Stern Grove, a city preserve near John’s house, and hidden out in the redwoods until after dark.
    “Shhh.” She put a finger to her lips in mock embarrassment.
    Cassie smiled as the three of them waited for the construction hoist. With a creak and groan, it arrived.
    Inside the cage, a glazier with bunched muscles watched over several window panels covered in protective paper. He dipped his head to Cassie. “Special order of smaller panes for the top floor corners. The crane operator’s busy.”
    “Go ahead, Andrew,” Cassie agreed.
    Charley stuck out a wiry arm and stopped the metal gate. “You can drop me at twenty-seven.”
    Mariah stepped forward, but he put out a hand. “Weight limit.” Flashing a smile through the wire mesh, he pushed the button to ascend. “My place tonight. Pizza.”
    “Okay.” She’d tell him the latest episode in the saga of her and Rory. Rather than thinking her foolish as she had feared, Charley had listened to the stories of the DCI party and the Marriott with sympathy.
    While the hoist rose smoothly up the outside of the building, Mariah craned her neck to follow it. Nothing she imagined could begin to touch the majesty of building a skyscraper.
    Above, the car started to slow near the twenty-seventh floor when a sudden sharp crack sounded like a rifle shot. In the same instant, the purring whine came to