Pretty Dangerous by Lynn Emery

usual her big sister beat out the competition.
    He didn’t look up from his Blackberry. She
watched with amusement as he kept going down the brick sidewalk
without seeing her or the SUV. MiMi gave his wool and silk blend
thousand dollar black suit an appreciative nod. Chris had his
faults, but selecting his outfits wasn’t one of them.
    “Hi Chris.” MiMi was about to tease him but
stopped. Christopher Jameson Fortenberry, IV had little, if any,
sense of humor.
    “Hi MiMi. Adrienne’s inside. I have to go
back to the office. Hope you had a nice trip.” Chris gave her a
brief smile.
    “I had a real bang up time.” MiMi couldn’t be
mad at him because Chris had no sense of irony either. He always
said exactly what he meant, or he kept quiet.
    “Great.”
    “Yeah, great,” MiMi said dryly.”
    “So I have to go. A group of Chinese
shareholders are in town and we’re having a business dinner.” Chris
smoothed down his expensive silk tie.
    “I’m surprised Adrienne’s not in one of her
fabulous cocktail dresses and already in the car. She loves those
international social affairs.”
    Adrienne missed no opportunity to hit up the
well-heeled for her charities. Not to mention she’d make contacts
for her private consulting business. Supporting her man was way
down on the list. Chris knew it, too. As usual, her small arrow of
sarcasm missed the target with Chris.
    “Hmm, she claimed she couldn’t find a
babysitter. I think she didn’t want to share Sage with anyone,”
Chris said as he looked at his Blackberry again.
    MiMi felt a twinge of nerves at his
observation. “Adrienne? She worked at home when Brayden was a
newborn to stay in the game.”
    “Maybe having a little girl makes the
difference. Brayden stopped wanting to be fussed over when he was
four. He’d rather be out with me and my brothers, listening to us
talk business and sports.” Chris smiled in a way that actually lit
up his hazel eyes.
    MiMi smiled back at him. His chief redeeming
quality in her eyes was his genuine devotion to his son. It
probably helped that Brayden looked so much like his father.
“Strong kid if he won’t let Adrienne boss him around.”
    “Yeah, drove her nuts until she realized it
was a losing battle. He’s got her genes after all.” Chris held up
his Blackberry with a frown. “Wow, I have to go. Sorry to rush off,
MiMi. You know how it is.”
    “Yes, I do,” MiMi said and watched him rush
off.
    Chris glanced at one of the bay windows. His
face lit up when he saw Brayden waving energetically at him through
the glass. He waved back and then got in the BMW. MiMi blew a kiss
at her nephew which got her a wide boyishly handsome grin. When she
turned to the door, Adrienne stood staring past MiMi down the
driveway.
    “He’s working late at least twice a week
these days. Business is good.” Adrienne gave a short laugh that
contained no humor. Then she focused on MiMi. “Welcome back to
freedom.”
    MiMi ignored the subtle dig about her time in
jail. “You look well.”
    “This old thing? I’m taking it to our charity
designer consignment shop next week.” Adrienne smoothed a hand down
one leg of the lovely blue cotton lounge jumpsuit. Pewter gray
leather flats completed her look as the wealthy lady who does
lunch. “Well come on in. Sage is still playing with her doll house.
She’s absolutely in love with the thing, and the set of dolls
mother got her.”
    “I hope they don’t have any small parts.”
    “Give me some credit. They’re all organic
cotton cloth dolls, the best by the way, from Children’s Palace.
It’s a new store in Towne Center.” Adrienne closed the door behind
them once inside. She glanced at MiMi from head to toe as they
stood in the spacious foyer. “You don’t look the worse for wear
being in the big house. Do they still call it that, or have I been
watching too many vintage gangster movies?”
    “I’m not in the mood to hear your attempts at
humor about it either.”
    “Trust