Big Sky Mountain - By Linda Lael Miller Page 0,84

her or had he simply wanted her sexually? She’d never thought of herself as anything more than moderately attractive, but she’d had her share of admirers—too many of them shallow and inherently noncommittal.

Sure enough, the picture of her and Hutch in the three-legged race had been taken down, along with the bitchy remark that had accompanied it, but the smear campaign against the errant groom continued, unabated.

That troubled Kendra—made her feel defensive on Hutch’s behalf—which was probably just more proof that she was teetering on the edge of the same old dark abyss as before, when he’d essentially handed her over to Jeffrey like a book he’d already read and hadn’t found all that interesting in the first place.

She sighed, clicked over to her email.

There were friendly notes from both Tara and Joslyn, along with one from Treat McQuillan. Kendra had, of course, given him the address she used for business, after he’d stopped by the office late that afternoon to pick up his keys. He had seemed pleased about putting his double-wide up for sale and moving on to whatever it was he meant to move on to; they’d come to terms quickly and the contract was signed.

But this was her personal email account—supposedly, only friends knew it.

Hi, Kendra, the deputy had written, as though they were pals from way back. The rodeo is coming up this weekend, as you know, and I was wondering if you’d like to go with me. If you got a sitter, we could have some dinner and stay up late to watch the fireworks. Maybe even make a few of our own.

Instinctively, Kendra lifted her fingertips off the keyboard, as if it had suddenly turned slimy. Maybe even make a few of our own.

Was he kidding?

She recalled McQuillan’s tirade in the Butter Biscuit Café that morning, when he’d practically ordered her to stay away from Hutch Carmody—as if he had the right to dictate anything to her.

And now he had the nerve to suggest fireworks? Where did he get off, making a remark like that?

She breathed in, breathed out. Lowered her fingers back to the keyboard, and replied, Thanks for the invitation, but I’ve already made other plans. Also, I normally try to keep my business and social lives separate. Best, Kendra Shepherd.

The message was short, to the point and only partially true. She did have other plans, heaven help her, to go the rodeo, the carnival and the fireworks display with Hutch, bringing Madison along. And socializing was a big part of her business; she did a lot of lunches and dinners, sometimes threw parties for clients, and before Madison entered her life, she’d dated the occasional business contact, too, though only casually.

Seeing Deputy McQuillan on a potentially romantic basis, however, was certainly not in her game plan. She didn’t find him attractive, but that was the least of it. She disliked him; it was that simple. He went around with the proverbial chip on his shoulder and the way he’d treated Brylee at the bar that night didn’t do him any credit, either.

The male ego being what it was, Kendra fully expected McQuillan to respond to her refusal, however politely it had been offered, by firing her and finding someone else to sell his home for him. There were two or three other real estate brokers in the county, each with a few sales agents on staff, but hers was the only firm in Parable.

A competent businesswoman, through and through, Kendra hated to miss out on a commission, even the relatively modest one she could expect if she found a buyer for the deputy’s mobile home, but if things went down that way, so be it. Even at best, real estate was a catch-as-catch-can affair—you showed a lot of houses, the more the better, and if you worked hard and had decent luck, you eventually sold a few.

McQuillan’s response popped up in her online mailbox just as she was about to shut down the computer, push back her chair and brew another cup of herbal tea.

You think you’re too good for me? was all he’d written, in a line of lowercase letters, oddly spaced and with no punctuation.

A chill slithered down her spine, but anger immediately quelled it. Please see the first email, she responded tersely, and hit Send.

He replied within seconds, but Kendra didn’t open the new message. She blocked any further communications from Deputy McQuillan’s email address and logged off with an irritated flourish.

Was the man merely obnoxious, she

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