Page 11 of The Honorable Texan
He hesitated.“I have to talk to you and your mother.It’s important.May I come over?”
Violet’s mind raced.The house wasa mess.She was a mess.She was wearing jeans and a shirt that didn’t fit.Her hair needed washing.The living room needed vacuuming…!
“Who is it, dear?”Mrs.Hardy called.
“It’s Mr.Kemp, Mama.He says he needs to speak to us.”
“Isn’t it nice that we have some of that pound cake left?”Mrs.Hardy wondered aloud.“Tell him to come right on over, dear.”
Violet ground her teeth together.“It’s all right,” she told Kemp.
“Fine.I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”He hung up before Violet could ask him what he wanted.
She turned worriedly to her mother.“Do you think it might be something about me coming back to work for him?”
“Who can say?You should wash your hair, dear.You’ll have just enough time.”
“Not to do that and vacuum and pick up around the living room,” she wailed.
“Violet, the chores can wait,” her mother replied amusedly.“You can’t.Go, girl!”
Violet turned like a zombie and went right to the bathroom to wash her hair.By the time she heard Kemp pulling up in the driveway, she had on a nice low-cut short-sleeved blue sweater and clean white jeans.Her hair was clean and she left it down, because she didn’t have time to braid it.She was wearing bedroom shoes, but that wasn’t going to matter, she decided.
She opened the door.
Kemp gave her a quiet going-over with his pale blue eyes.But he didn’t remark about her appearance.Hewas scowling.“I have something to say that your mother needs to hear, but I don’t want to upset her.”
There went her dreams of being rehired.“What is it about?”she asked.
He drew in a sharp breath.“Violet, I want to have your father exhumed.I think Janet Collins killed him.”
CHAPTER THREE
Violet wasn’t sureshe was hearing right.She knew there was something going on with Janet Collins.Curt had come by her office when he carried a note to Duke from Jordan Powell, his boss.He’d told her that he and Libby were going to have to have their father exhumed because there were suspicions that Janet, their stepmother, might have killed him.She was suspected of killing at least one other elderly man by poison.Violet and her mother knew about the waitress Mr.Hardy had had his fling with.But they’d never questioned the cause of death.And they’d never found out who the waitress was.Now, a lot of questions she hadn’t wanted even to ask were suddenly being answered.
Her lips parted on a husky sigh.“Oh, dear.”
Kemp closed the door behind him and tilted Violet’s chin up to his eyes.“I don’t want to do this,” he said softly.“But there’s a very good chance that your father was murdered, Violet.You don’t want Janet Collins to get away with it, if she’s guilty.Neither do I.”
“You’re right,” she agreed.“But what about Mama?”
He drew in a long breath.“I have to have her signature.I can’t do it on yours alone.”
They exchanged worried looks.
His eyes suddenly narrowed on her oval face in its frame of dark hair.Her skin was clean and bright.Shewasn’t wearing makeup, except a touch of pink lipstick.And that sweater… His eyes slid down to her breasts with quiet sensuality.They narrowed, as he appreciated how deliciously full-breasted she was.She had a small waist, too.The jeans emphasized the nicely rounded contours of her hips.
“I’ve lost weight!”she blurted out.
“Don’t lose any more,” he murmured absently.“You’re perfect.”
Her eyebrows arched.“Sir?”she stammered.
“If I weren’t a confirmed bachelor, you’d make my mouth water,” he replied quietly, and the eyes that met hers were steady, intent.
Her heart began racing.Her knees were weak.He wasn’t blind.Any minute, he was going to notice her helpless, headlong reaction.
“But I am a confirmed bachelor,” he added firmly, as much for his own benefit as for hers.“And this isn’t the time, anyway.May I come in?”
