Read Sutherland’s Pride for Free Online Page B

smiled. “I was thinking about Johnny. If you take him on your boat, you’ll have to tie him to the mast. Otherwise, he’s sure to fall into the water.”
    “Like that time you wound up in the water?”
    “I got caught by the wind,” Pride said, with dignity. “You’d better plan some way to keep the children confined to the deck if you really intend to take them sailing.”
    “I’ll think of something,” he promised.
    Why was Pride thinking about Johnny? Probably, she was covering up her thoughts of a new boyfriend in Lake Charles.
    He hated to ask, but he couldn’t stand not knowing.
    “Are you dating anyone special?” He cursed himself because the question didn’t sound nearly as casual as he hoped.
    “No.”
    He’d have sworn Pride told the absolute truth, but he’d been fooled by Pride before. He’d better remember that, and rip out this growing desire to believe anything she told him, or she would really rake his heart over the fire this time.
    “Why not?” he asked.
    “Are you?” she countered.
    “No, because I’ve been too busy establishing my practice to put a lot of time into developing a so-called meaningful relationship,” he said and smiled at her astonished expression.
    “Good for you.” She sounded half-choked.
    “Well?”
    “Well, what?”
    “Why aren’t you dating anyone special?”
    “Like you, I’ve been too busy making a living to cultivate interpersonal connections.”
    Flynn began to laugh. He’d forgotten how entertaining it was to hear the way Pride phrased things.
    “Don’t you remember?” he asked. “In my office this morning, I told you that you’re now a relatively rich woman. You don’t have to work any more if you don’t want to.”
    “Is that right?”
    She really thought he was lying. Flynn’s eyes widened with shock. “When I show you your father’s stock portfolio, you’ll understand.”
    “I didn’t know he had one,” Pride said. “How interesting.”
    Her tone implied it was anything but. Flynn considered that a moment, recalling what she’d said earlier about her father. “Is it true your father believed you weren’t his daughter?”
    “Heavens, Flynn, do you think I’d say so if it weren’t? Yes, it was true, and yes, you can probably check it out if you’re sufficiently interested. He used it as an excuse to be rude to Mama in public constantly. It was almost a relief to me when she died, because she’d never have to put up with that again.”
    It was the longest speech Pride had ever made about her childhood. Flynn had never thought of it before, but he knew almost nothing about Pride’s upbringing. That was strange, because Judge Alan Donovan had been a fixture at the courthouse in Anahuac for as long as Flynn could remember. He was known as a tough, but fair, judge.
    Puzzled, Flynn glanced at her. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this when we were dating?”
    “Why should I? It had nothing to do with you, and there’s nothing more boring than having to listen to the more horrid parts of someone else’s childhood.”
    Flynn spotted the restaurant and guided the Bronco beneath the blue canopy that marked the entrance. “I would have been interested.”
    “I’m sure you would,” Pride said, in that same flat tones she used when she refused to argue with him about her pregnancy.
    Flynn found it a stunning shock to realize that she had no intention of arguing with him about his interest in her childhood any more than she intended to argue with him about her alleged baby’s father. Her attitude said something to him, and it took Flynn a moment to get a grasp on what it was.
    He sat still a moment, ignoring the restaurant employee who intended to park his car.
    Years ago he had watched his college roommate suffer through a love affair that was on and off so many times, that at last all the feeling had been burned out of the man. When the woman came back one last time, Flynn’s roommate wore that same patient, detached