Hale's Point by Patricia Ryan Read Free Book Online Page B

perspiration. The wisps of hair that
had sprung loose from her ponytail clung in damp curls around her face.
    When she opened her eyes, he said, “This Jamie, does he live
next door?”
    She nodded, shifting position so that the soles of her feet
were together, and leaned over to touch her forehead to her ankles. It looked
effortless; she was limber. “His name is Jamie Tilton.”
    Tucker thought back. “Oh, man, I know who that kid is! Mrs.
Tilton was pregnant with him when I left here.” He glanced down at the beach,
where Jamie stood knee-high in the surf, juggling. “Wow.”
    “He just graduated in the top of his class at Princeton.”
    “What law school is he going to?”
    “Harvard.” She looked up. “How did you know he was going to
go to law school?”
    “They all do.”
    “‘They’?”
    “Rich boys who don’t have to work, but feel the need to make
themselves—” now he adopted his own exaggerated imitation of the Hale’s Point
accent “—useful to society.”
    “Are you saying there’s something wrong with that?”
    He sighed. “No. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    “Because there’s nothing wrong with that.”
    “That’s what I just said.”
    She crossed her legs, put both hands on her waist, and
twisted back and forth. “He’s a very nice person, he’s been very friendly to
me—”
    “I’ll bet he has.” Harley rolled her eyes. “You think he
wouldn’t jump at the chance to get into your spandex?”
    Still twisting, she said, “Not every man on the face of the
earth thinks about sex constantly.” Tucker just laughed. “Anyway, he’s not
interested in me.” With every twist, her breasts strained against the white
cotton of her tank top.
    “Don’t be so sure.”
    “I am sure. He’s in love with the au pair. His stepmother
told me. He just talks to me to make her jealous.”
    “Stepmother? What happened to Mrs. Tilton? The first Mrs.
Tilton. Well, technically, the second Mrs. Tilton. There’d already been a first
Mrs. Tilton.”
    “Well, now there’s a third Mrs. Tilton. No, she must be the
fourth Mrs. Tilton, ‘cause there was an in-between Mrs. Tilton.” She stood,
shaking out her arms and legs. “In answer to your question, Jamie’s father
divorced the first, second, and third Mrs. Tiltons ,
each time in favor of a younger Mrs. Tilton. Jamie says it was his hobby,
collecting wives.”
    “‘Was’? Has he finally found one he’s happy with?”
    “He died a year ago of a heart attack.”
    “Younger and younger wives will do that to you.” Tucker had
liked the second Mrs. Tilton, but had thought her husband petty and
self-important, and was not sorry he was dead. Back down on the Tiltons ’ piece of beach, two young women and a fat toddler
had joined Jamie. “Which one’s the Widow Tilton?”
    Harley squinted. “The dark-haired one. Mimi. She’s really
nice, I like her.” She was very slender, with dose-cropped hair and delicate
features. She stood ankle-deep in the water, holding up the skirt of her
flowered sundress. The other woman—a copper-penny redhead in a yellow
bikini—squatted next to the child and quickly undressed her down to her pink
disposable diaper. When she stood, Tucker saw that she was no more than
eighteen or nineteen, but very tall, with a nonstop centerfold body. She had
pale, freckled skin, and her hair was a blazing mop of corkscrew curls. Jamie
couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
    “Is that the au pair?” Tucker asked, and Harley nodded. “Nice.”
From the corner of his eye he saw her glance at him, then back at the au pair,
who was folding the child’s clothes and looking around for a place to put them.
    Then Harley actually said, “If you like that type.”
    Tucker laughed. “I’ve got news for you, hon —Harley.
Half of the human race likes that type. Very much.” Actually, Tucker, unlike
some men, did not find redheads irresistible, no matter how buxom. Harley’s
reaction to his interest, her obvious