Free The Gentling by Ginna Gray

to relief, Katy turned to go. Before she had taken two steps the door was jerked open.
    "Katy! Well, this is a surprise. What are you doing here?"
    Katy turned and smiled. "Oh, I was just at loose ends and I thought I'd see if you were busy."
    "No. Of course not." Jane stepped back and opened the door wide. "Come in, come in. Everyone is out back around the pool. Come on out and join us."
    Katy hung back. "Maybe I'd better not. I don't want to interrupt your Sunday with your family."
    "Nonsense!" Jane reached out and grabbed her by the arm. "There's no reason in the world why you can't join us. As I recall, you left one of your swimsuits in the pool house the last time you were here. Besides, we all think of you as a member of the family anyway."
    Frank and the kids were in the pool playing a game of catch with a beach ball when Katy and Jane stepped out onto the-patio. They paused just long enough to chorus a quick "Hi, Katy," before returning to the game, playing fast and furious, as though their very lives depended on the outcome. The Cawleys' fifteen-year-old twins, John and Jason, were on one side, teamed against Frank and seventeen-year-old Martha on the other.
    "Good grief! It makes me tired just to watch them. How do you keep up with this crew?" Katy asked as she sank down onto a padded lounger.
    "It isn't easy, believe me." Jane sighed and plopped down on another lounger. Arms stretched out behind her, she leaned back on her hands, then turned her head and gave Katy an inquiring look, her brown eyes narrowing shrewdly. "So, tell me. What happened at the farm to send you scurrying into town?" she asked with typical directness.
    "Nothing." Katy kept her eyes on the game of catch and avoided looking at her friend. "It's just that Dad was up all night with an ailing horse, and he's exhausted. I thought I'd stay away from the house and give him a chance to catch up on his sleep."
    "Mmmrn, and that's all there is to it, huh?"
    "Yes, of course. What else could there be?"
    "What else, indeed." Jane sniffed. "Only the most eligible, best-looking man in the county, that's all. And don't sit there and give me that big-eyed look. I know perfectly well that Trace Barnett is involved in this somehow."
    "Of course he's involved. It was his ailing horse."
    "Katy Donovan! Don't try to con me. I know good and . . ."
    "Hey, Katy!" Jason called from the edge of the pool. "Why don't you get into your svvimsuit and you and Mom join us? We'll have a three-man relay. Girls against the boys. What do you say?"
    Katy grabbed at the chance to escape Jane's inquisition. Jumping up, she headed for the poolhouse. "Sure. Just give me five minutes," she called as she skirted the pool. "We gals are going to beat the pants off you, you'll see."
    A feeling of intense relief washed over Katy when she arrived home and turned into the empty drive. Though it was after nine, she had half expected to find Trace's pickup parked next to the house, but there wasn't a vehicle of any kind in sight. She relaxed and drove around to the back where she parked the car next to her father's pickup.
    She smiled as she climbed from the car and started toward the house on slightly unsteady legs. She was feeling pleasantly exhausted by the afternoon and evening spent with the irrepressible Cawley clan. They had played water games until hunger had forced them to call a halt. Then, among a storm of unmerciful teasing and lighthearted squabbling, they had grilled hot dogs over the barbeque pit and stuffed themselves like ravenous wolves.
    Katy had stayed as long as she had dared without raising Jane's suspicions any further. But by nine, after all the mess had been cleared away and the children had wandered off, jane once again began to ask probing questions, and Katy had beat a hasty retreat.
    A long rectangle of yellow light spilling from the kitchen lit her way as Katy climbed the back steps and opened the door to the screened-in utility porch. The soft tap-tap of her heels