Read To Love and Cherish for Free Online Page B

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    â€œMost of it, yes. Danny…?”
    â€œPlease look lovingly at me,” he pleaded, darting a glance toward the other table. “Mary Kate is really turning on the charm. Don’t sacrifice me—!”
    â€œOh, you crazy man,” she laughed. She laid a hand on his forearm. “Danny, I do like you.”
    He grinned. “I like you, too. Don’tlet King upset you. He improves on closer acquaintance.”
    â€œYou told me that two years ago, and it hasn’t happened yet,” she reminded him.
    â€œYou haven’t gotten close enough yet.”
    Her eyes darkened. “I don’t want to,” she said fervently.
    â€œAre you afraid of him, Shelby?”
    She looked up. “Terrified!” she admitted. “Danny, don’t leave me alone with him again.”
    â€œHoney, I’m trying,” he laughed. “It’s just that Mary Kate keeps…”
    â€œYou’re going to miss the river race,” King said, coming up beside them with a can of beer in one lean hand.
    â€œCan’t let that happen, can we?” Danny chuckled. He picked up their refuse and took it over to a nearby garbage can, leaving her with King.
    â€œWhat do I do about an innertube?” she asked him conversationally.
    â€œForget it,” he bit off. His jaw tautened. “You’re not going to kill yourself in the river to prove anything.”
    â€œBut, King…!”
    â€œScratches on that perfect skin would put you out of work, wouldn’t they?” he asked with an uncanny insight.
    She glared down at her sandaled feet. “That seems to bother everybody more than it bothers me,” she said tightly. “I’m not made of glass. I don’t care if I get scratched.”
    â€œNice try, honey,” he said with a cold smile. “But I’m not that dense. Save the act for Danny. He’s young enough to be taken in by it.”
    She started to argue, but what was the use? He’d never change his mind about her. She turned to Danny and slid her arm through his as he cameback from emptying the trash. He smiled down at her.
    â€œStill want to get in the river?” he teased.
    â€œShe’s not racing,” King said firmly, his dark eyes meeting his brother’s doggedly. “It’s too risky.”
    â€œTell her, not me,” Danny laughed. “I’m not that much of a daredevil. Now, he is,” Danny told Shelby, jerking a thumb toward his elder brother. “He’d scare you to death in a canoe.”
    â€œI wonder,” King said narrowly, studying Shelby in earnest.
    â€œOh, Danny!” Mary Kate called, moving forward to capture the arm Shelby didn’t have a claim on. “Would you get into the three-legged race with me? I don’t have a partner.” She made it sound like a federal offense.
    Danny looked at Shelby apologetically. “Do you mind?” he asked,but Mary Kate was already dragging him away.
    â€œI thought you were engaged to him?” King murmured, and there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. He drained the can of beer and tossed it into a nearby trash can.
    Shelby clasped her hands behind her, staring at the retreating couple and smiled wistfully at her only source of protection as it was shanghaied away. “A willful girl is Mary Kate Culhane,” she murmured. “You planned this, didn’t you, King?”
    â€œHell, yes,” he admitted shamelessly. “Mary Kate has something to offer.”
    â€œIndeed she does,” Shelby agreed quietly. “A sixteen thousand acre ranch with a herd of purebred Santa Gertrudis cattle, oil rights, and three real estate companies. And all I have to offer,” she added in a subduedtone, “is a common background, a career that ends when I reach thirty or thereabout, and an infamous mother.” She turned away, feeling the hurt all the way to the bone, as if she’d really been