Naturally Naughty - Leslie Kelly [30]
Kate rolled her eyes. “Bare Essentials is not a porn shop. But you’re right, it sure would cross number one off my revenge list, wouldn’t it?” Then she chuckled. “And some of the Winfields are still in town to get even with, right?”
Cassie obviously understood. She knew what had happened on prom night, just as Kate knew what had happened to Cassie. They’d shared their most anguished secrets one night a few years ago over a bottle of cheap tequila and an entire key lime cheesecake. Then Cassie gasped. “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot. Did your mom tell you someone wants to rent her house?”
“Yeah. I guess if I come back to town, I’d better ask her not to so I’ll have someplace to stay.”
“Don’t be silly. You can stay with me. It’s too late, anyway, your mom told me she heard from the renter today. It’s J. J. Winfield. He’s renting her place in a couple of weeks.”
Kate reeled. J. J. Winfield was going to be living in her mother’s house? Why would he stay on the seedy side of town when his family lived on the sunny one? “Impossible!”
“Swear to God. Your mom seemed really touched by it.”
Kate wasn’t surprised her mother hadn’t called her back to tell her. Kate had never admitted knowing about her affair, but Edie knew she couldn’t stand the Winfields, anyway.
Kate suddenly saw an opportunity. Mayor John Winfield was gone, but there would soon be another John Winfield in Pleasantville. Could she possibly get vengeance on the late Mayor Winfield through his son? Seduce him, break his heart, get some serious payback on behalf of the Tremaine women?
She wondered if she could really go through with it. Physically, yes. Kate wasn’t vain. But she knew something about sex and seduction. It was her stock in trade. So yes, she could do it. It was the emotional part she worried about.
But men did that kind of thing every day, didn’t they? Look at what had happened to her in good old Pea-Ville ten days before. A man had taken what he wanted—admittedly giving her some pleasure, too—and walked away without a single word since. Hurting her. Though, damn it, she’d never admit that to anyone!
Her decision was easy. With a few shipments of goods, and some vacation time this summer, she could look out for Cassie, give a major screw-you to the old guard in Pleasantville…and seduce and break the heart of the son of the man who’d broken her mother’s. Throw in a humiliating moment for Darren and Angela, and she’d make all her teenage dreams come true.
“Cassie,” she finally said, knowing her cousin awaited her decision. “Do you think Flo would let me stay in her old place?”
5
JACK COULD HAVE CHOSEN the master bedroom when he moved into Edie Jones’s house. Since he’d be in town for at least a month settling his father’s tangled financial affairs, he probably should have made himself comfortable in the larger bed. He didn’t, for several reasons, but mostly because of the image of his own father—and Edie—in it. He shuddered at the thought.
He still couldn’t believe it. His father and Edie had been lovers for two decades. He hadn’t just taken Angela’s word; his mother had admitted it. That was when he’d decided he couldn’t stay in his parents’ house during his trip home this summer.
Most sons would probably have felt as much anger toward Edie as toward his father. Jack felt only pity and regret for the woman, who’d been the kindest part of his boyhood. His parents’ marriage had been as convoluted as his father’s finances, and Edie had been a victim more than anything else. Looking through his father’s records, it became obvious the pittance he’d left Edie in his will didn’t come near to covering her paychecks, some of which she hadn’t cashed over the years.
His family owed Edie something. Staying here, fixing up her house, doing repairs and maintenance so she could sell the place and make a new life for herself, was the least Jack could do.
“Sleep, Jack.” He glanced at the clock, which showed the hour had moved past one. Sleep proved elusive here, especially