Read Friends and Lovers for Free Online Page B

she jumped. She ran to answer it, vaguely hoping that it might be John. Was he going to pursue her so quickly?
    She grabbed the receiver with trembling hands, her heart slamming wildly in her chest as all kinds of pictures flashed across her mind.
    “Hello?” she whispered.
    A chuckle came over the line—a voice not as deep as John’s—and Madeline’s heart sank. “My goodness, who were you expecting?” Donald Durango laughed. “I’ll have to tell Cousin John that he’s got competition.”
    “Oh, hi, Donald,” Madeline said, recovering quickly. “How are you this morning?”
    “Just fine. You left so suddenly last night, I never got a chance to issue my invitation to supper tonight,” Donald said. “How about it? I’ll have Maisie fix pepper steak and peach cobbler,” he added temptingly.
    She glanced out the window at the rain which was now streaming down the windowpanes and frowned. “I don’t know. It looks pretty awful outside, and they’re predicting heavy thunderstorms….”
    “Are you sure that’s the reason?” Donald teased. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Big John would explode if he knew you were spending the evening with me?”
    “Don’t be silly,” she chided. “I’m not afraid of John, and he doesn’t tell me with whom I can associate.”
    “He’d like to, especially where I’m concerned,” he reminded her.
    “John has a blind spot about you,” she told him with a laugh. “He just doesn’t appreciate your great intelligence and charm the way I do, though heaven knows I’ve tried to help him.”
    Donald sighed. “It’s my own fault in a way. If I hadn’t been with Ellen so much…He hasn’t been the same since she died. Well, how about supper?” he asked gruffly.
    That bit about Ellen hurt unexpectedly. Of course John had loved his wife, they’d been childhood sweethearts, and the wedding had had a Cinderella quality about it. Madeline had read about John Durango years before she met him. He was a legend in Texas politics as well as business.
    “Supper?” she murmured absently. “Well, I suppose I could.”
    “I’ll come after you,” he assured her. “About five-thirty?”
    “That sounds fine. See you.” She hung up, staring at the receiver.
    It wasn’t going to please John that she was having a meal with his cousin, but then, she’d never knuckled under like most women he knew. She lived her own life in her own way.
    She stared at the typewriter keys blankly. It still seemed like a dream. Her whole body tingled with the memory of John’s hungry ardor, the feel of his hands touching her.
    “Go away, John, and let me work!” she muttered aloud. Even when he was out of sight, he haunted her. Was this what she could expect from now on?
    ***
    The skies were dark and the rain was violent, when Donald came by for her.
    “I’m glad you came after me,” Madeline told the blond-headed man at the wheel of the big Lincoln.
    Donald tossed a blue-eyed glance in her direction and grinned boyishly. “No doubt. It’s not the best time to drive around for fun.”
    She leaned back against the seat, and the action made her slinky black pantsuit cling even closer to her slender body. She sighed. “Funny, you driving a Lincoln,” she murmured, “and John driving a Ferrari. Personality-wise, it’s odd. You really ought to switch cars.”
    “John only looks conservative, darling,” he chuckled. “I
am
conservative. The cars match us exactly. It’s just that you don’t know Cousin John quite as well as you think.”
    “What an understatement,” she murmured, remembering his kiss with a vividness that destroyed her peace of mind.
    “Your trouble, little lady,” he said conversationally, “is that you’re repressed. What you need is a man.”
    She blinked at him. “Stuffed or mounted?” she asked politely.
    He laughed delightedly, guiding the big car around a deep puddle of water in the middle of the lane. “Writers,” he