Read No Place Like Home for Free Online Page B

afternoon...” He reached out to scratch the cat’s chin; Omar stretched his neck out and looked blissful, and when the scratching stopped, he strolled across the couch and began stroking himself against the tweed sleeve of Brendan’s sports coat. “What’s the problem?”

    “ I’m going to look at a house tomorrow with another real estate agent.”

    “ Is that all? I thought Graham had come up with a creeping case of bankruptcy or something.” He didn’t sound disturbed.

    “ You don’t understand,” Kaye said, feeling a little desperate. “Graham wants me to work with him from now on, and not with you.”

    Brendan raised an eyebrow at that, but he merely looked down at the cat, who was in his lap by now, and said, “Who is it?”

    “ Andy Winchester.”

    He nodded. “I see.”

    “ You know him, of course?”

    “ Everyone in town knows him. The man has quite a reputation. Well, don’t worry about me, Kaye. It’s all right; I hadn’t spent quite all of the commission money yet, anyway.”

    “ Brendan, I’m really sorry.”

    “ And in any case, I’ve never even driven a BMW, so I won’t mind so awfully much having to cancel my order. I hope there’s still time. Don’t you feel bad about it.”

    She felt stricken, her green eyes huge in a white face as she stared up at him. It was just the sort of thing her father would have done, she thought—spending a windfall before he got it, because he was incapable of realizing that it might not come true.

    Brendan McKenna would be safer playing Russian roulette, she told herself. It isn’t my fault what he does, but I don’t like to feel responsible. I should be glad that my association with him is over. Nevertheless—

    Well, he had been very generous with his time, and he had seemed to be truly interested in her, not just the sale.

    Stop it, Kaye, she told herself. Graham doesn’t want you to deal with Brendan, and that is that.

    She said, stiffly, “I wanted to tell you myself that as of tomorrow I’ll be house-hunting with Andy Winchester.”

    “ That’s your privilege,” he said cheerfully. “I can’t say I won’t mind, of course; there are limits to my self-sacrifice. But I certainly can’t tell you who you should hang around with.”

    “ Graham has always worked with Mr. Winchester.”

    “ And of course if he’s found a person he trusts to do his buying and selling, he’d want to stay with that person. That doesn’t mean you can’t ever talk to me, and if I find something I think you’d like, we can still go look at it.”

    Kaye shook her head. “Graham doesn’t want me to,” she said. “He thinks I’d just be wasting your time.”

    Brendan’s jaw tightened just a little. It made her the slightest bit uneasy. “It’s my time to waste.”

    “ I think it would be best if we just forgot the whole thing. Graham was very definite about it.”

    Now there was no doubt about it; he was smoldering. So Brendan McKenna has a temper after all, Kaye thought. She was glad it was Graham he was angry at, and not her.

    “ Tell me,” he said, very gently, “has Graham always shown this tendency to jealousy?”

    “ Of course not... Jealous? What on earth do you mean?” Then she started to laugh. “Do you think that Graham might actually be jealous of you? Don’t be ridiculous! Graham’s a businessman—he’s not the sort to let personal feelings interfere. And he doesn’t even know you, anyway.”

    “ You sound very certain of that,” Brendan said. “But of course you’re correct—what on earth am I thinking about? Graham Forrest has no reason to be jealous of any man on earth—certainly not a mere insect like me.”

    “ That wasn’t what I meant.” She realized, belatedly, how very tactless she must have sounded.

    “ Don’t apologize for telling the truth,” he said, and there was a hard edge to his voice. “I just thought it was possible that Graham didn’t want you associating with any