The Glory Game Read Free

midline bisecting the three-hundred-yard-long field.
    The quick score against his team appeared to have eliminated the anxious jitters Rob usually suffered in the early minutes of a game; he looked settled and calm, ready for serious play. Luz smiled faintly, pleased with his developing maturity. Hewas outgrowing those abrupt mood swings from high to low and back again that had marked his early teens.
    â€œThere’s Drew coming now.” At her mother’s announcement Luz turned, hearing an unspoken reminder that Audra had warned he would miss the start of the game.
    As far as Audra Kincaid was concerned, good manners dictated punctuality, and there was no excuse for tardiness. Luz could remember the raging argument she’d had with her mother when she was seventeen and wanted to arrive fashionably late to a party. On reflection, Luz realized that it hadn’t quite been a raging argument; she had raged, but her mother had never raised her voice, and the argument had been lost. The lesson had been learned well, Luz realized, because she was rarely late for any appointment now.
    And Drew was rarely on time, which was a constant source of annoyance to her. As he approached the box, she could see there wasn’t a glimmer of regret that he had missed the opening play of the match even though he knew how important this game was to Rob.
    Smothering that flash of resentment, Luz reminded herself of his good qualities as a provider, father, and husband. He was still an attractive man, distinguished with those silver tufts in his dark hair, proud of the way he’d kept his shape by playing a lot of tennis and golf instead of turning into the round butterball Mary’s husband had become.
    His thriving law career took a lot of his time, and even when they did spend time together, they didn’t talk much, but after being married for nearly twenty-one years, they knew just about everything there was to know about each other, so what was there to discuss? Politics? The weather? The children? A recap of the day’s happenings? Luz didn’t mind the silences. She supposed they were what writers described as “comfortable” ones.
    â€œI see his guests finally arrived.” Audra’s observation prompted Luz to glance at the couple following Drew to the box. Her first glimpse of the woman startled Luz. This strikingly lovely brunette with her curious eyes and laughing smile did not fit the mental picture Luz had of a female lawyer, with a prim mouth and black-rimmed glasses. Drew had failed to mention how beautiful she was. Surely in the month she’d been with the firm he had noticed that little detail.
    Immediately, Luz detected the catty tone of her thoughts and suppressed it. She wasn’t going to play the role of a jealous wife just because her husband had hired some pretty young thing to work in his office. She had her suspicions that Drew had stepped out on her in the past. They’d only been one-night stands. Every man she knew indulged in those, given the opportunity. But Drew had never kept a mistress, she was sure of that.
    â€œI remember that Eberly boy now,” Audra murmured to Luz. “He’s the bachelor that gave Mary’s Barbara such a rush last fall.”
    â€œYes.” Luz couldn’t ignore the relief she felt when she finally noticed the handsome junior partner in the law firm. Tall and dark, definitely Harvard, he could have been a Madison Avenue model for a rising young attorney.
    As the three late arrivals entered the ringed enclosure, the polo match resumed play. Courtesy dictated that Luz ignore the action on the field in order to meet Drew’s guests. Drew offered an excuse about traffic for their tardiness, for Audra’s benefit.
    â€œI hope we didn’t miss much,” the brunette said, smiling. She was very poised yet disarmingly open and friendly.
    â€œThe game has barely started,” Luz assured her graciously.
    Drew took