Read From the Heart for Free Online Page B

grandmother asks you if you were building mud sculptures behind the rhododendrons, you have to confess.”
    Alison pushed her untidy hair behind her ear. “But she’d never ask me anything like that.”
    “That simplifies things, doesn’t it?” She pushed open the patio door. “I liked the dog you made. I believe you have artistic talent.” As they walked through the brocaded parlor, Kasey began to search her pockets for a match. The room jangled her nerves.
    “I liked your bust better. It looked just like— Uncle Jordan! ”
    “Yes, it was rather good.” Kasey stopped at the foot of the stairs and dug in her back pockets. “You know, I never seem to have a match when I need one. I wonder why that is.” Then, noting Alison’s stunned expression, she glanced up. “Oh, hello, Jordan.” She smiled amiably. “Have you got a light?”
    He came down the steps slowly, looking from girl to woman. Alison’s linen pants suit was splattered with dirt. Her hair had escaped from its band and had traces of mud clinging to it. Her eyes stared out at him from a thoroughly dirty face.Her hands were brown past the wrist. So were Kasey’s. A dozen reasonable explanations coursed in and out of his mind and were discarded. If he had learned nothing else during the past days with Kasey, it was to explore the unreasonable first.
    “What the hell have you been doing?”
    “We’ve been engaged in art appreciation,” she returned easily. “Very educational.” Kasey gave Alison’s hand a squeeze. “You’d better go see about that bath, love.”
    Alison’s eyes flew from her uncle’s to Kasey’s. She scurried up the stairs and disappeared.
    “Art appreciation?” Jordan repeated, staring after his niece. He frowned back at Kasey. “You look as if you’d been wallowing in mud.”
    “Not wallowing, Jordan. Creating.” She pushed her own untidy hair out of her eyes. “We’ve been building mud sculptures. Alison’s very good.”
    “Mud sculptures? You were playing in mud? We don’t even have any mud.”
    “We made some. It’s really very easy. You just take some water—”
    “For God’s sake, Kasey, I know the formula for mud.”
    “Of course you do, Jordan.” Her voice was soothing and calm, but he caught the laughter in her eyes. “You’re an intelligent man.”
    He could feel his patience ebbing. “Would you stay on the point?”
    “What point was that?” She gave him a guileless smile that nearly turned into a grin as he heaved a deep breath.
    “Mud, Kasey. The point was mud.”
    “Well, there’s little else I can tell you about that. You said you knew how it was made.”
    He swore as his fingers tightened. “Kasey, don’t you think it’s a bit juvenile for a grown woman to take an eleven-year-old girl and spend the afternoon in a mud pile?”
    So you know how old she is, Kasey thought and gave him a long look. “Well, Jordan, that depends.”
    “On what?”
    “On whether you want an eleven-year-old girl for a niece or a forty-year-old midget.”
    “What the hell are you talking about? Even for you, that’s hard to follow.”
    “The child is bordering on middle age, and you’re so wrapped up in Jordan Taylor, you don’t see it. She reads Wuthering Heights and plays Brahms. She’s neat and quiet and doesn’t intrude on your life.”
    “Just a minute. Back up a bit.”
    “Back up a bit!” Her anger had a habit of springing quickly. She pushed at her hair again. “She’s just a little girl. She needs you, needs someone. When’s the last time you talked to her?”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. I talk to her every day.”
    “You speak to her,” Kasey countered furiously. “There’s a wealth of difference.”
    “Are you trying to tell me I’m neglecting her?”
    “I’m not trying to tell you anything. I am telling you. If you didn’t want to hear it, you shouldn’t have asked.”
    “She’s never complained.”
    “Oh, damn !” She whirled away, then spun back again. “How can