Gilt by Association Read Free Page B

driveway’s entrance. A visitor who decided not to come in? A wrong turn on a snowy night?
    Caprice gave herself a mental shake. She was just paranoid because she’d been followed once before . . . and almost killed.
    Nothing was going to happen tonight.
    Lady dashed into her crate. Caprice lavished her with praise and another tiny piece of doggie cookie. After she climbed in, buckled up, and started the van, she followed Nikki’s car out of the driveway.
    Her sister’s car had just turned off onto a side street when the snow swirled in almost-blizzard proportions with a howl of wind. Recently, snow squalls seemed to become more prevalent in the Pennsylvania winter weather patterns. She was glad Lady was safely enclosed in her crate.
    Caprice was carefully slowing for a stop sign when her cell phone played the Beatles’ “Good Day Sunshine” from her cup holder. She thought about not taking the call, but then her curiosity, as usual, got the best of her.
    Checking the caller ID, she saw that the caller was Grant Weatherford, her brother’s law partner. She listened to a few more notes of the music and took a deep breath. Lately, Grant’s voice made her feel both excited and nervous. They’d been getting along better since he’d adopted Patches, Lady’s brother. They discussed training techniques and used similar strategies, comparing notes. But there was still so much tension between them.
    She swiped her finger across the face of her phone and picked it up. “Hey, Grant, what’s up?”
    â€œI think we have a problem,” he warned her.
    She started off again across the intersection, wishing she still had taillights in front of her to follow. “And what might that be?” she asked.
    â€œI think your brother is in love with Roz Winslow. What are we going to do about it?”
    The question so startled Caprice and broke her concentration that she hit a patch of ice and slid sideways into a snowbank by the side of the road.

Chapter Two
    Grant must have heard Lady barking at Caprice’s sudden jerking stop. He also must have heard Caprice’s low groan of disapproval as the passenger side wheel seemed to stick in the snowbank.
    â€œWhere are you?” he asked.
    â€œI’m driving home from the Downings.” She’d told him about this open house last week when they’d spoken at a puppy training and socialization session at Furry Friends Veterinary Clinic.
    â€œAre you all right?” Grant wanted to know. “It’s snowing pretty heavily out there.”
    â€œWe’re fine,” she muttered with almost gritted teeth, hoping she could back out of the snowbank, hoping even more that she didn’t need any help.
    While she spun her wheels, she thought about Vince and what Grant had said. Her brother was in love with Roz? Her brother was a serial dater, and he seemed to be a confirmed bachelor. Her friend Roz had been widowed less than a year. Just what was Grant basing his theory on?
    â€œWhy do you think Vince is in love with Roz?” The van’s engine vroomed as she gained a small amount of traction.
    â€œBecause he wants to handle all her paperwork.”
    Caprice scoffed and rocked the van back and forth as her dad had taught her. “That’s not proof.”
    She couldn’t see much with a blizzard whiting out her front and back windshields.
    Lady barked again.
    Caprice gave up the rocking motion for the moment so she could have this conversation with Grant. She carried a bucket of cat litter in the back of the van and she could use that to gain traction under her wheels.
    â€œHe told me this afternoon he’s going to ask Roz to the Valentine’s Day dance,” Grant explained. “Vince had a twinkle in his eye, and he asked me about corsages. This is your brother, Caprice. He doesn’t think about corsages.”
    Grant was right about that. He and Vince had gone through law school