My Man Pendleton by Elizabeth Bevarly Read Free Book Online Page B

thinking? It makes perfect sense for you to be the one who deals with them."
    "What if they find out about…" Holt dropped his gaze down toward his coffee again. "About my … history?" At his father's rough chuckle, he snapped his head back up again. "I'm serious, Dad. You might think it's no big deal that the second-in-command of one of
Kentucky
's biggest distilleries is a recovering alcoholic, but there are other people who might use the information in a way that is, shall we say, not sporting? And that could affect us all."
    His father grimaced. "Nobody knows better than I do what your … condition … has caused this family."
    This time Holt was the one to chuckle, but there wasn't an ounce of good humor in the sound. "No, Dad, I think I can safely say that I do know better than you."
    His father glared at him. "I'm no more anxious for anyone to learn about your past than you are. All I'm saying is that, your perception of temperance being what it is, you can keep an open mind better than I could, and you'll certainly be more tolerant of these people than anyone else would be."
    "Don't count on it."
    His father uttered an exasperated sound. "Just take care of it, all right? And don't screw up."
    "Yeah, right." Holt shook his head and sipped his coffee and wondered what he'd done lately to piss his father off. Hell, usually Kit was the one who was the focus of all of the senior McClellan's miscreant tendencies.
    As if reading his mind, his father said, "So. What did you think of Pendleton?"
    The quick change of subject jerked Holt out of his reverie, and he was thankful for the interruption. "He's all right. But I don't know why you think you'll have success with him when none of the others have worked out."
    His father sipped his Bourbon slowly. "Pendleton's different."
    "In what way? Other than the fact that he left the house tonight without a food stain on some part of his person."
    "I'm not sure. I can just feel it. When I interviewed him to take over for Riordan, Pendleton came across as smart. Hungry. Plainspoken. The type to go after what he wants, but who doesn't put up with any nonsense." The older man glanced at his son with a knowing smile. "And did you see the way Kit was looking at him all through dinner?"
    "Yeah. Like she wanted to strangle him."
    His father smiled. "Exactly."
    "And you think that's good?"
    The elder McClellan nodded. "Damned right it's good. The way Kit was looking at Pendleton was just the way your mother used to look at me."
    Holt shook his head. "I'm not sure that's such a good thing, Dad. By the time she died, Mama'd had it with you."
    McClellan, Sr. waved off his son's concern. "She'd had it with all of us. That doesn't mean she didn't love us."
    Holt glanced down into his coffee and said softly, "But she loved Kit best. She always loved Kit best."
    "Kit was Lena 's only daughter," his father replied softly. "Women always look out for each other."
    "To the exclusion of the rest of the family?" Holt asked, unable to quite mask the bitterness he felt. "Dad, we only have a little over two months to find someone to—"
    "Pendleton is going to work out," his father insisted. "He's the man for Kit."
    Holt wished he could feel as certain. "You know, we wouldn't be in this boat now if you'd just left her alone to marry Michael Derringer."
    His father spat out an angry sound. "Michael Derringer was a self-serving, egotistical, gold-digging sonofabitch."
    Takes one to know one, Holt thought.
    "He would have made Kit miserable," his father concluded.
    And since when did you ever give a damn about Kit's happiness? Holt wanted to ask. But aloud, he only said, "She seemed happy enough to me when she was with him."
    His father waved him off again as he crossed to refill his glass. "Oh, what the hell do you know about it? Back then everyone seemed happy to you."
    Instead of rising to the bait, Holt steered the conversation back to the task at hand. "Mama changed her will because of what you