Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood Read Free Book Online

mother.”
    “The fight’s about my mother?” she asked, trying to understand.
    Harriet shook her head. “I don’t think so, but your father dragged your mother into it. From what I overheard, it’s about some charity that lost money.”
    The poor housekeeper was beside herself with worry. She kept folding and refolding a dish towel. “Emma never raises her voice,” she whispered. “So you can see how serious this situation is.”
    “Yes,” Olivia agreed. “Harriet, you said my father threatened Emma?”
    “He did. Something to do with your mother. Whatever it was upset Emma.”
    Olivia opened the door. “All right. I’ll go in now and see what I can do.”
    “May I offer a suggestion?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “If I were you, I’d listen at the door to find out what’s going on. Once Emma sees you, she’ll stop the argument, and you’ll never know what it was about.”
    Harriet was right. Since Olivia was a little girl, Emma had tried to shield her from any unpleasant family conflicts. Even though Olivia was an adult now, Emma continued to protect her.
    Olivia didn’t like the idea of eavesdropping on a private conversation, but she thought she just might linger at the door for a few minutes to get the gist of the argument. That wouldn’t be considered eavesdropping, would it? Of course it would, she admitted. But right or wrong, she was still going to do it.
    As it turned out, she couldn’t lean against the door because Mary had gotten there first. That didn’t matter, though. Olivia could hear every word from down the hallway.
    Her father’s voice was furious. “If you try to make trouble, I’ll leave Deborah, and you know what that will do to her. She says she can’t live without me. Shall we find out?”
    “Do it,” Emma challenged. “Leave my sister. You’ve made the threat to divorce her how many times now? I’m not giving you any more money to stay with her. I made that mistake years ago, and I won’t make it again. My sister may be a fool but she deserves better, and if she can’t see it, then she’ll have to wallow in self-pity when you leave.”
    “If Deborah does anything crazy, it will be on your hands.”
    “Are you suggesting she might harm herself? What do you suppose that will do to your reputation, Robert? Investors want stable managers, and they don’t like scandal. Tell me,” she continued, “did you ever love Deborah?”
    Olivia stopped a few feet from the door. Mary, Emma’s cook for the past twelve years, a sturdy German woman who always wore her silver-gray hair pulled back in a tidy bun, stood in front of her, unaware that she’d approached. Looking embarrassed to be listening in on a conversation that had become so personal, Mary turned to leave and saw Olivia standing behind her. After giving her a sympathetic smile and a pat on the arm, Mary went down the hall toward the kitchen. Olivia stepped up to the door. It was open a crack and the voices were loud and clear. She waited for her father’s answer to Emma’s question, but she didn’t hear one.
    Then Emma asked, “Are you capable of loving anyone but yourself?”
    “The question’s ridiculous. You still haven’t told me what you plan to do—”
    “About Jeff Wilcox?” Emma asked. “That depends on you. Are you going to stand by and do nothing while Jeff goes to prison because of your lies?”
    Olivia leaned forward and peeked into her aunt’s study through the tiny opening in the doorway. She saw her father pick up a magazine from the desk and flip through it nonchalantly as he responded. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Stand by and do nothing. I didn’t put a gun to his head and force him to give me the money and make the investments for his charity.”
    “Believe me, if I had known that he was going to do that, I would have put a stop to it immediately. If Daniel were alive, he would never have let Jeff get involved with you.”
    Olivia recognized the name. Jeff Wilcox