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Prologue
The whole town of Trinity Harbor—probably thewhole state of Virginia—was buzzing like a swarm ofbees, and whose fault was it? His daughter's. RobertKing Spencer slammed down the phone for what hadto be the fifteenth time that morning and rued the dayhe'd ever bred such an ungrateful lot of kids.
Daisy, of all people, his beautiful, headstrong, butpreviously sensible thirty-year-old daughter, was stirringup gossip like a rebellious teenager. It was exasperating.No, King thought, it went beyond that. It washumiliating.
He had half a mind to go charging over to her placeand put a stop to things before she tarnished the Spencername with her shenanigans, but he'd learned hislesson on that score. A father interfered in his children'slives at his own peril. Better to handle thingsfrom the sidelines, subtly.
King could all but hear the laughter of his familyand friends at that. It was true, subtlety wasn't exactlyhis style. Never had been, but for once he could seethe value in using other people to do his dirty work.His sons, for instance.
Tucker and Bobby ought to be able to straighten outthis mess. Tucker was the sheriff, for goodness' sakes.Maybe he could wave that badge of his around and getDaisy to see reason.
King sighed. Not likely. Tucker took his duties seriously.He wasn't likely to use his office to carry outhis daddy's personal wishes. And Bobby ... well, Bobbywas an enigma to him. No telling what he would do—probablythe exact opposite of what King wanted.
That was the way it hadbeen lately. Not one of hischildren paid a bit of attention to him, or to their Southernheritage. What kind of respect could a man expectin his golden years if his own children went aroundstirring up the kind of trouble Daisy had gotten herselfinto?
Respect was important to a man. King had alwaysliked being a mover and shaker in Trinity Harbor. Hefigured he deserved it, since his very own ancestors hadwandered over from Jamestown to start the town. Thatpretty much gave him the right to have his say abouteverything that went on, from raising Black Angus cattleor growing soybeans to politics. Most people actuallylistened. Being a Spencer in this town still meantsomething. Or it had until a few hours ago.
Nope, it was clear that Daisy didn't give two hootsfor tradition or bloodlines or any of the other thingsthat made the South great. She was just hell-bent ongetting her own way, no matter what it did to herdaddy, her brothers or the family reputation.
It was her mother's fault, of course. Mary Margaret—Godrest her soul—was the one with the modernideas. Let her shoulder the blame for Daisy's behavior,even if she had been dead for twenty years. Sheshould have done something—though he couldn't saywhat—before she went and abandoned them all.
Since Mary Margaret wasn't around to fix things,though, it was up to King to save Daisy from herself.He prided himself on being clever when clever wascalled for, and today certainly seemed to be one ofthose days. He had the headache to prove it.
Chapter One
Daisy Spencer had always wanted children. She justhadn't expected to wind up stealing one.
Okay, that was a slight exaggeration. She hadn't exactlystolen Tommy Flanagan. The way she saw it, nobodywanted the boy. His father was long gone and hispitiful, frail mother had had the misfortune to die inthe recent flu epidemic. The story was the talk of TrinityHarbor and had been for weeks now.
While they searched for relatives, Social Serviceshad placed Tommy with three different foster familiesin as many weeks, but Tommy wouldn't stay put. Hewas scared and angry and about as receptive to love asthat vicious old rooster Daisy's father insisted on keepingover at Cedar Hill.
Despite all that, Daisy's heart just about broke whenshe thought of all the pain that ten-year-old had gonethrough. She figured she had more than enough love tospare for the little boy who'd been one of her brightestSunday school students, a boy who was suddenly allalone in the world, a boy who'd lost his faith in Godon the day his mother died.
Daisy's own faith had been tested half a dozen yearsago when she'd been told she would never have childrenof her own. The news had almost destroyed her.It had destroyed her relationship with Billy Inscoe, theonly man she'd ever loved.
All Daisy had cared about was having children shecould shower with love. Adoption would have suitedher just fine.
But Billy hadn't been able to see beyond the factthat his fiancée was barren. Billy had wanted sons anddaughters of his own. He'd wanted his blood runningthrough their veins, proof of his manhood runningthrough the streets. He'd wanted to start a dynasty asproud as the Spencers'. When Daisy couldn't give himthat, he'd taken back his ring and gone looking forsomeone who could.
With the exception of Daisy's minister, nobodyknew the truth about what had happened between herand Billy. Daisy kept quiet because she'd been so humiliatedby the discovery that she wasn't womanenough to give Billy what he thought he needed froma wife. Billy had been discreet for his own reasons.
Her own father thought the broken engagement wasthe result of some whim on her part, as if she'd turnedher back on marriage because she thought someonebetter might be waiting around the next corner. Hecouldn't conceive of the possibility that his handpickedchoice for her had been the one to walk out, and Daisyhad let him have his illusions.
And so, until this morning Daisy had pretty muchconsidered her dream of a family dead and buried, rightalong with every bit of respect and love she'd ever feltfor Billy Inscoe.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from About that Man by Sherryl Woods. Copyright © 2001 by Sherryl Woods. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
