Read Town Square, The for Free Online

thing she’d brought to Dare, and not intentionally. Who knew she’d decide that she needed to wear it even though her reasons weren’t in the least bit sexy? It wasn’t like she could buy anything suitable here, and it would take too long to order from the catalogue. Staying in this town any longer wasn’t an option. She would destroy him, and she and Maybelline would leave.
    The radiator was sputtering again, making the house cold, and her white robe wasn’t cutting the mustard. Her bare feet were freezing as she walked to the phone. After all, who wore socks to seduce a man? The glass of brandy she’d poured earlier still had a splash inside, so she downed it. The fire burned from her throat to her belly, but it didn’t loosen the knots in her stomach.
    Lying to Maybelline had been hard enough, but she still had to get through tonight. Thank God she’d managed to talk Maybelline into going to Denver to withdraw more money from the bank account they’d opened there. Paying cash for everything had reduced the stash she kept in the cereal box in the cupboard. She’d suggested her sister do a little shopping while she was in the city and then spend the night, since it would be dangerous to drive on the icy roads in the dark. Maybelline missed city life terribly, so she had been all too eager to agree.
    Harriet poured herself another glass of brandy. The bottle was an unknown vintage from the local liquor store. She snorted at the memory of how the shopkeeper had raised his eyebrows at her while he rung her up. Maybe it would give her the boost she needed to pull off her first seduction attempt. Her stomach fluttered, thinking about kissing Arthur and having him touch her.
    It was fear, she told herself. Not attraction.
    There was no way she was attracted to the man who’d ruined her father and her family. She just couldn’t be.
    Would Arthur really go for what she had in mind? And when it came right down to it, could she go through with it? Could she really have intimate relations with the man who’d destroyed her father?
    If it would hurt his reputation as a community leader in his hometown, then yes, she could. He had to pay for what he’d done to her family.
    Another bead of arousal quickened in her belly, and she told herself again it was only fear.
    For heaven’s sake, she just needed to call him already. The clock’s short hand had just ticked past nine o’clock.
    The phone beckoned, so she dialed the numbers for Arthur’s party line. This would be her first step in setting him up. People gossiped all the time about what they heard on the phone. Since his house was out of town, she wondered how many people were on his party line. Six? She and Maybelline shared theirs with four neighbors, and even though they’d been assigned a unique ring like everyone else, they never heard it. There was no one to call them.
    “Arthur?” she asked when he answered.
    “Harriet?”
    A palpable pause.
    She waited to hear a click from someone else picking up on the party line. This was one time when she hoped her neighbors would snoop, especially since she and Maybelline never received any calls.
    One click sounded and then another, and she smiled. Inquiring minds…
    “Is something wrong?” Arthur asked. “It’s a bit late to be calling.” Even on the phone he sounded gruff.
    Right, and she had never called him. “I know, and I’m sorry. There’s something moving around in the attic, and I’m afraid an animal might be up there. Can you come check it out? I’m scared to look myself.”
    There was another pause, and for a minute, she was sure he wasn’t buying it.
    “Might be a raccoon,” he finally said, “or a squirrel.”
    “Or bats,” she added. She’d overheard a man telling a story about finding three of them in his attic the other day in the American Legion post while she and Maybelline were eating hot roast beef sandwiches.
    “Great. So, my choices are something flying at me or biting me if I