Kate's Vow (Vows) by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

the problem?”
    “Kate Newton is the problem,” he complained without thinking.
    “Who’s Kate Newton?” Her eyes lit with sudden awareness. “I don’t suppose she’s that beauty who stormed in here on Friday night?”
    He’d done it now. She’d pester him until she knew every last detail. “The same,” he admitted, hoping that would be enough to satisfy her curiosity.
    “You never did say what she wanted.”
    “No,” he said pointedly. “I didn’t.”
    Dorothy scowled at him. “I can’t help if you clam up. Now who is she?”
    “My son’s lawyer.”
    Her eyes widened. “Uh-oh,” she said, settling into a chair and putting aside the clipboard with its timetable for the various stages of the
Future Rock
set designs. “Let’s hear it.”
    “Shouldn’t we be going over that schedule?”
    “In a minute. Now, talk.”
    David sighed and handed her the latest handwritten document with its list of demands for parental attention. Dorothy read it and nodded approvingly.
    “So, what’s the big deal?” she asked.
    “The woman is trying to legislate my life.”
    “I’ve been trying to do that for years. You don’t let me get under your skin. What’s different about this woman? The fact that she’s young and gorgeous and single, if the lack of a wedding ring is any indication?”
    He regarded her in amazement. “You noticed whether or not she was wearing a ring?”
    “I’m always on the lookout for single women for you. My goal in life is to see you happily involved again,” she said complacently.
    Those words, coming from a woman with Dorothy’s determination, sent a shudder of dread through him. He decided she needed to understand that Kate Newton was not the woman for him.
    “Did you even read that thing?” he demanded. “If I’m not careful, she’ll be telling me which jobs to take.”
    “Maybe that would keep you from taking on too damn many,” Dorothy shot right back. “Somebody has to slow you down. I’m certainly not getting through to you. And that agent of yours would have you working twenty-four hours a day just so his piece of the action would climb.”
    “Dammit, don’t you see? She’s trying to separate Davey and me.”
    “From the looks of this, I’d say the opposite is true,” she countered in that logical, reasonable tone that made him want to chew nails. “David, all she’s asking is that you spend more time with your son. What’s so terrible about that? You and Davey used to spend all your spare time together. It’s no wonder he’s feeling neglected.”
    David sighed and rubbed his temples. His head was pounding. “I know,” he admitted.
    Dorothy regarded him curiously. “Are you sure there’s not something more to your reaction? Are you feeling the slightest bit disloyal to Alicia because you’re attracted to this woman?”
    Leave it to Dorothy to nail it, he thought ruefully as he recalled the regrettably powerful and very masculine response he’d had to Kate Newton the night before. For one brief instant there, he’d actually found himself flirting with her. And enjoying it!
    Almost the instant her car had pulled out of his driveway and he’d turned toward the house, he’d been weighed down by guilt. He’d vowed on the spot to call this morning and cancel the dinner invitation. He’d worked himself into a state over the paper Dorothy held, using indignation over that as an excuse for bowing out.
    She regarded him sympathetically. “You’re a widower. You have been for six months now. Being attracted to a woman is not a sin,” Dorothy told him gently, obviously operating on the assumption that she’d guessed the truth. “Come on, boss. Alicia wouldn’t want you to stop living. You know that. She’d want you to grab whatever happiness you can find.”
    Happiness in the form of Kate Newton, an attorney with ice in her veins? He struggled just a little with the concept. And yet, she definitely represented living. Everything about her suggested