Where the Heart Leads by Jillian Hart Read Free Book Online Page B

going to happen. I’m sorry.”
    “You’re not sorry!” Nora pushed a lock of carefully coiffed hair out of her face. Diamonds glittered as she whirled around. “I don’t know what that girl did to get her hooks into my son, but I’m going to do my best to get her to let go —”
    “Nora.” Aumaleigh lowered her voice, surprised to hear the threat ringing there. But she wasn’t sorry for it. “You have given my sweet niece a lot of grief, and if you do anything to stand in the way of Magnolia and Tyler’s happiness, I will make you regret it.”
    “Your mother was always right about you.” Nora’s lovely face pruned with an ugly emotion. “No wonder you’re alone at your age. You get what you deserve.”
    “Be careful, Nora. You just might wind up with what you deserve.”
    With a disdainful noise, the elite woman stalked off, perhaps in search of more upper-class and sophisticated folks to speak with.
    “Don’t listen to her.” A familiar smoky baritone seemed to rumble through her. “She’s wrong.”
    “I know.” It took all her strength to turn around and face the one man she’d vowed to avoid. “Gabriel. Are you enjoying the party?”
    “The food is tasty, and dinner hasn’t even been served yet. The kids look happy, don’t they?” He took a biscuit off the tray.
    She wanted to fall through a hole in the floor and disappear. Where was a rotten floorboard when you needed one? “I think Rose and Seth are going to be very happy together. After all, he is the kind of good and gentle man who would never break Rose’s heart.”
    “I agree. And Rose seems like the kind of young lady who would never hurt Seth.” Gabriel’s gaze pinned hers. His eyes were the same stormy gray. “I get the feeling that we aren’t talking about the kids anymore.”
    “Of course we are,” she denied. “What else would we be talking about?”
    “How about the reason you seem so angry with me?”
    Ooh! The calm and sincere way he spoke riled her up again. Anger welled up until she could barely breathe. The nerve of him! “I’m hardly angry with you. After all these years, why would I be?”
    Any moment now a bolt of lightning was going to strike her dead. Horribly, utterly dead.
    “My mistake.” He took a bite of the biscuit. “Hmm, you made this, didn’t you? I’d know your cooking anywhere.”
    He probably meant that as a compliment, so why did she have to fight off the overwhelming urge to beat him with the serving tray? A few sharp whaps upside his head would make her feel a whole lot better.
    “That’s my daughter.” He gave a chin-jut in the direction of the parlor, where a charming young lady with ringlet curls and a stunning blue gown chatted with Rose and Verbena. “I wish my sons could have made it, but both of them are away at school. I’m a widower, you know.”
    “Josslyn mentioned it.” Her anger wasn’t really anger at all. “I’m sorry. I hope you and your wife had many happy years together.”
    “We did.” Sorrow passed over his features, and the grief in his gray eyes reminded her of the young man she’d known, so sincere at heart.
    Her eyes burned and she turned around before he could notice. “I’ve got to go circulate. Good seeing you again.”
    “You, too. Hey, Aumaleigh?”
    She kept going, plowing into the parlor and knocking into someone’s arm with the corner of the tray. “Excuse me.”
    “Aumaleigh! We’ve been looking for you.” Rose stole the tray and set it aside. “You’ve got to meet my new cousin! Well, cousin by marriage. This is Gabriel’s daughter.”
    “Yes, I know. Your father pointed you out to me.” The instant she looked Gabriel’s daughter in the face, emotions gripped her tight again. “You have your father’s eyes.”
    “Yes, I do. And his chin, although the dimple in it isn’t as deep, thank goodness!” Gabriel’s daughter flashed a charming grin. “I’ve heard so much about you. Not so much before my mother passed away, but