The Case of the Missing Secretary by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online

brought her out here, she was going to go walking with them. I begged her not to, God knows I did.” He shook his head. “Last time I saw her, she was fishtailing her car all over the road trying to get back to the highway, and those damned kids were rolling in the dirt laughing.” “What did they do to her?” Kit asked curiously. “Damned if I know,” he said. “They never would tell me,” “You’re staying the night, aren’t you, Kit?” Tansy asked.
    Kit’s eyes widened. “Well, no!” she stammered. “I’ve got a return ticket late this afternoon for Houston.”
    “No problem,” Emmett said easily. “Hand it over and I’ll get you a flight tomorrow afternoon. I’ll make barbecue and serenade you with my guitar under a romantic Texas moon.” “Oh, no, not that. Anything but that!” Tansy wailed. “Shut up,” he muttered at her. “I took lessons.” “Don’t sing. Trust me,” Tansy said, batting her eyelashes at him.
    He let out an exaggerated sigh. “Another singing career ruined by critics. Well, I’ll play for you, Kit. Kit? What’s it stand for?”
    “I don’t know,” Kit said quietly. She’d never talked about her parents. The subject was much too painful, and the last person she could tell was this wild-eyed Texan. “I didn’t bring a bag…” “I’ll loan you one of my pajama jackets,” Emmett offered.
    “You can have one of my gowns, Kit,” Tansy said, elbowing a grinning Emmett out of the way. “Will you stop? Honestly, anyone would think you’d never seen a woman before!” “Well, I haven’t,” he argued. “Not like this one. Chris is always
     
    The Case of the Missing Secretary335 ranting about how nice she is, and if you like her, that’s a character reference in itself. She’d make a perfect mother for those kids.” “She’s going to marry Logan one day. He just doesn’t know it yet.” “I’d tell him fast if I were you, by the sounds of things.” “I wouldn’t have Logan on toast!”
    Emmett pursed his lips and made a whistling sound. “That sounds suspiciously like cannibalism. Speaking of cannibalism, did you know that there’s fossilized evidence that Homo erectus was a cannibal and ate his own kind? There are smashed bones and burned bones in late Pleistocene camps…”
    “Go away!” Tansy wailed. “Emmett, don’t start on this poor child. She’s not a prehistoric culture addict like you.”
    “I did a course in anthropology and I did my minor in paleon-tology,” Emmett confessed. “Dinosaur bones, that sort of thing. Did you know that there’s a fossilized link between birds and lizards? A fellow called archaeopteryx-”
    “Later, later, Emmett. Now what’s this about Betsy?” Tansy persisted.
    Emmett watched them walk toward the living room. He could sure do worse than that sweet young thing. She was only about ten years his junior and the kids had already taken to her. For an instant, he remembered what Tansy had said about Logan’s new secretary, and his blood began to burn. But he forced the thought of Melody away. He wouldn’t have to see her, thank God. He never went near Logan’s office. On the other hand, Kit was right here and he liked her a lot. He started whistling as he went out to feed the horses in the barn….
    “Well, I won’t come meekly home with you and that’s that,” Tansy said at supper.
    “A Christian should be meek,” Amy piped up. She and the boys were cleaned up, but they still looked pretty much alike. With her very short haircut, Amy could have passed for a boy. “That’s right,” Kit said, smiling at the child. Amy smiled back, and without mischief. “You’re nice. Are you

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    going to marry Emmett? We voted, and it’s okay with us. You’ll have to learn the rules, of course.”
    “Right,” Guy agreed. “Bedtime is at eleven sharp. No card playing on Sunday. When Dad’s got a girl in the living room, no peeking over the back of the sofa, no matter what sort of