Scarlet Lady by Sandra Chastain Read Free Book Online Page A

thought of kissing her again.
    “Montana? Are you still there?”
    “I’m here.”
    “I assume if you’re holding his markers, you have an address.”
    “I know where he lives, in a dilapidated plantation upriver. But I’ve never been there socially. I’m a Mississippi riverboat gambler, remember. I don’t get many invitations to hobnob with society.”
    “Well, here’s your chance. A little culture might be good for you.”
    “So, what do you want me to do?”
    “Go talk to the sister, Katherine. Someone has to take Carson in hand, someone who isn’t family.”
    Go and visit Katherine Carithers, just what he needed.
    “Montana, are you listening?” Mac asked, interrupting the gambler’s grumbling.
    “I’m listening. You want me to forgive his debts?” That wasn’t something he was happy about, but he owed Mac—anything he asked.
    “No. I was asked to help him and his sister. Now I’m asking you to do for someone else what I once did for you.”
    “You want me to give him a job?”
    “I’ll leave the details up to you.”
    “Consider it done,” Montana answered. “I’ll get back to you.”
    He hung up the phone. The lady in red would have to wait. His obligation to Mac came first. First thing tomorrow, he’d head for Carithers’ Chance. Some name for a plantation. He’d heard young Carson brag about his home so often that he’d once driven by to see it.
    “Built before the War Between the States,” Carson would say, not in pride but in a mocking voice. “By the first Carson Carithers, a man of vision who took a chance and raised the best cotton in Louisiana.”
    Taking a chance seemed to be the one trait the present-day Carson had inherited. That and the name. He wondered about the sister. But mainly he wondered what he could do about a kid hell-bent on self-destruction.
    Rhett Butler Montana had spent years cursing families who held their reputation and their traditions as the most important thing in life, who hurt and punished in the name of honor. He’d decided long ago that being responsible for himself was the only thing that mattered. A family’s expectations only brought pain, and he had no intention of ever subjecting himself to that again.
    Now, come morning, he was headed for Carithers’ Chance and the very thing he’d avoided—a woman whoapparently believed in the one thing Montana refused to believe in—unconditional commitment to family.
    It was very late when Carson returned to Carithers’ Chance, surprisingly sober and contrite.
    Katie met him at the door. She had trouble believing that the tall, dramatic-looking man with the poetic eyes was her younger brother. Growing up, she’d always thought he was meant to be a Byron or Shelley. But he’d given up on using his creative talents when their father died and left him in charge of a dwindling shipping business. Barges weren’t glamorous, and over time they were less and less profitable. And though Carson was never a businessman, he wouldn’t let Katie have any more say in the business than her father had.
    “Where have you been, Carson?”
    “I flew to Philadelphia to see mother’s friend Sterling. You remember, she’s the secretary in that import-export firm, the one who works for that millionaire, Conner Preston.”
    Katie gasped. “Sterling? Why?”
    “I thought she might be able to help?”
    “You tried to borrow money from Sterling?” As soon as she let the accusation fly, she regretted it. The wince on Carson’s face was too familiar. She’d seen it often when she’d reacted negatively to his decisions.
    “No, Katie. Though I wouldn’t be too proud to ask for a loan if I thought she had enough money to bail us out.”
    “Then what did you ask for?”
    “It doesn’t matter. It didn’t work. I just wanted to stop you from going out gambling tonight.”
    “How did you know what I was doing?”
    “I heard you talking to Cat. I knew you’d lose. Don’t worry. I’m not going to rake you over