To love and to honor by Emilie Baker Loring Read Free Book Online

Damon, Colonel Bill Damon, is registered. You can tell the clerk you are expecting a friend and are interested to know if he has arrived."
    "Why the fictional approach? Do you still doubt that the guy on the beach is the person he claims to be?"
    "I just want to know if he is really Bill Damon, here to represent Kenniston Stewart."
    "You don't need anyone to represent Kenniston Stewart. I'm here."
    "I know you are here and I'm worried. Something tells me you had better keep out of the limelight. Page Counselor Armstrong for confirmation of that opinion. To return to the man we left behind us. You sold me on the idea that he might be other than he claims when you said: 'I'll bet he's a guy homing in for a take when

    the oil property is sold, like one of those five-per-centers being front-paged.' " She had a close-up of the man's steady eyes, his suggestion of invincibility. "He gives me a shivery sense of ruthlessness, but much as I dislike him, I believe he is honest."
    "But, not so sure that you don't want to check on him, are you? Here we are at the Inn. Snappy outfit with prices in character. I've never seen such corking flower borders."
    "We do those things well in the State of Maine."
    He whistled softly.
    "And here comes a sliver of pulchritude who fits into the picture," he declared as a girl in white linen blouse and shorts, tennis racquet under her left arm, ran down the broad steps. Her short hair was definitely red, not auburn. Her eyes were definitely green, not hazel. She stopped beside the convertible with a dramatic start of surprise.
    "Cindy Clinton, as I'm alivel" Her eyes lingered for a split second on the man at the wheel before they flashed back to the girl beside him.
    "Or is it Cinderella Stewart now? Is this the absent groom returned to claim his bride at long last?"
    The mocking voice sent hot color to Cindy's hair. Catl Pride conquered anger.
    "Wrong number, Lyd." Her voice was miraculously gay considering the tumult within. "May I present Thomas Slade, attorney, from the great open spaces. Tom, Lydia Fane, the runner-up for the State of Maine Tennis Championship last year."
    Slade, who had stepped from the car, gently pressed the hand Miss Fane eagerly extended.
    "I can't see you as a runner-up," he declared smoothly. "You look like champ material to me—in every way."
    "Tom is staying here at the Inn." Cindy was giving the girl a chance to think up a reply worthy of the saccharine tribute. "His tennis is something to write home about, too."
    "Really?" The green of Lydia Fane's eyes deepened. **There are so few men here you'll be mobbed, Mr. "

    "Hasn't my pal Bill Damon checked in yet?" Tom Slade's surprised question cut into the prophecy.
    "Do you know him? Sure he is here. We are all craz>' about him in spite of the fact that so far he doesn't know we are on earth. Hands off, Mrs. Stewart," the green eyes flashed to Cindy. "I saw him first. And his car—this is a nice deluxe station-wagon type, isn't it?— but his is one of those new club coupes, long and dark green and sensational. The garage man told me it has a hundred and five horsepower engine. Mr. Slade, we'll plan some tennis. I'm late, I'll be seeing you. By!"
    She dashed along the drive and opened the door of a light gray sedan. Tom Slade waited until her car had coasted out of sight before he started his.
    "Huhl The fair Lydia certainly punctured my belief that I was buying something snappy when I bought this car," he griped.
    "You did. It's a beauty and the latest and smartest model I've seen this summer. Don't mind Lyd Fane. She always leaves a thorn pricking in one's heart."
    "I knew that when she took the first crack at you. What did you think of my cagey inquiry about my pal—what's his name?"
    "Bill Damon. It was a masterpiece of subtlety. Now that I know he is the person he claims to be let's forget him and get on with our day. In spite of your recognition of her claws, you fell flat on your face for the lovely Lydia, didn't