Caprice Read Free

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    about avoiding Jeffrey for a while?'
    She then frowned for a moment, a tiny furrow appearing between her
    brows which was gone the next second like a cloud passing by on a
    sunny day. 'Yes, I did,' she admitted, while she worked on her spicy,
    sauce-covered veal. 'He's entirely too obvious for my taste. But
    Roxanne is crazy about him. I'm afraid she might get into something
    she can't handle if she were to go by herself.'
    'Something she can't handle?' grunted her father.
    She shrugged. 'She's crazy about him, but he isn't crazy about her. If
    he plays around with her, she might end up getting quite hurt.'
    Richard Senior frowned. 'Would young Langston do that?'
    She looked to her father and a slow, sweet smile spread across her
    lips. 'Not if I'm there,' she said.
    After a blank moment, he took a bite of veal and then asked, 'Do you
    mean you plan on keeping an eye on your young girl friend for the
    whole blasted weekend?'
    'Oh no,' she replied, with a little laugh. 'I mean that, if I'm there,
    Jeffrey won't be paying an inordinate amount of attention to
    Roxanne.'
    'You see,' said Irene, exasperated with her obtuse husband, 'Roxanne
    is crazy about Jeffrey, but Jeffrey is crazy about Caprice.'
    Caprice had forsaken alcohol during the course of supper, and she
    reached for her iced waters feeling the slick wetness of the sweating
    glass as she raised the cold drink to her lips. 'Entirely too obvious,'
    she repeated, not without a sneaking degree of satisfaction.
    'And who's chaperoning this weekend fling?' asked her father.
    She shook her silver blonde head. 'I haven't the faintest idea. I would
    think it's quite respectable, knowing the Langston family. I wouldn't
    put anything past Jeffrey, but his parents surely wouldn't let him have
    the full use of the lodge unquestioned. Someone will undoubtedly be
    there.'
    'Langston,' mused Richard, idly. 'What's the older Langston boy
    doing?'
    Caprice didn't know, but Irene did and said, 'I think he's managing
    the New York branch of the family business now. And he's hardly a
    boy, dear. Heavens, he must be close to thirty by now.'
    'I never met an older brother,' Caprice said then. 'What's his name?'
    'Pierce, I believe,' replied her mother, absently. 'And it's really not
    surprising you haven't met him, dear. Not really your age group, is
    he?'.
    The next day, Caprice received a phone call from Roxanne, who
    wanted to make plans for the weekend. She listened as the other girl
    chattered about flights from Byrd Field, but then interrupted gently.
    'Rox, I don't want to fly.' She made her voice sound slightly plaintive.
    A pause. 'What, did you want to drive up? Really, Cap, it would be
    much easier to just get that flight out of Richmond, and much
    quicker, too.'
    'Yes, you're right of course,' she replied immediately.
    The satisfaction was evident in the other girl's voice. 'So shall I book
    two flights on Friday for us?'
    Flying would be much easier, but it would also leave them trapped
    for the entire weekend without independent transportation, and she
    said slowly, 'No, I don't think so. Thanks anyway.'
    Swift alarm now, in Roxanne's voice. 'What do you mean? You
    haven't changed your mind about going, have you?'
    Caprice smiled at the hall stairs, where she happened to be staring.
    'You go ahead and book a flight for yourself,' she replied,
    understanding^. 'I believe I'm going to drive.'
    Friday dawned bright and clear. She had her suitcase already packed,
    so, -after dressing in khaki shorts and a rich cream sleeveless shirt, it
    was a simple matter of running downstairs to sit down at the light
    breakfast Liz prepared for her, and then throwing her suitcase in the
    back of the Porsche. The day was already quite hot, so she took out
    the sun roof before leaving the driveway, and about fifteeen minutes
    later she was pulling up at her friend's house and leaning on her horn.
    For a few moments the front door didn't budge an inch, and then it
    exploded open with the