Runaway Heiress. Jennifer Morey

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СКАЧАТЬ the horizon a dark blue with the rugged black outline of the mountains.

      “She was very special.”

      Startled that he’d responded, Sadie’s curiosity only intensified. She didn’t interrupt him, only let him take his time.

      “Kind. Never jealous. She believed in herself, and that made her more than physically beautiful to me.”

      Sadie pictured the confident woman he described and felt the bond he had with her. Although he didn’t say much, what he had said revealed the depth of his regard for the woman. How many men could say that about their women? Her father certainly had never spoken that way about her mother. Had Jasper had true love with his woman? It seemed that way.

      “What happened?”

      The warmth of memory faded as the end of something he’d considered good, if not life-lasting, came to an end. “The usual.”

      Someone’s heart gets broken.

      “Could she not handle your profession? The hours you work?”

      “She could have handled it.” Jasper offered no more. She’d already asked what happened between them and he clearly didn’t want to say. The usual. But she had been strong and he’d admired her no small amount. Yes, she must have been quite a woman to capture this fascinating man’s heart.

      Sadie didn’t welcome the flowering spark of envy. She rarely felt this way. When she was under her father’s reign, she’d been too busy feeling sorry for all of his subjects. And afterward, too busy crusading for the homeless. No man had threatened her femininity that way, whether intentionally or not. In this case, Jasper hadn’t intended to make her feel like that. She’d done that all on her own, and by no conscious will of her own. What an odd sensation.

      She stood with him under the stars, seeing one of her security guards making his patrol on the inside of the fence, disappearing into some trees. It provided an adequate distraction.

      “What about you?” Jasper broke the silence. “Has a man ever broken your heart?”

      Broken her heart? Had she ever really loved anyone? “No one’s ever broken my heart but I’ve been betrayed.”

      “An ex-husband?”

      “Fiancé. He was an impulsive decision. We met and moved in with each other within six months.”

      “How long ago was that?”

      “Five years. I had a really nice townhouse I left to be with him.” She sighed. “You don’t get to know anyone until you live with them, right?”

      “My experience was different than that.”

      Meaning he’d known his woman well. “Then you were married?”

      “No.”

      He’d had a lengthy relationship with the woman and something had split them up before marriage had a chance. Had the woman not felt the same as him?

      “Did you meet yours in San Francisco?” Jasper asked.

      Yours. Sadie would not think of her ex-fiancé in such kind light. He’d treated her like a piece of property. If anything, she’d been his whether she liked it or not. With her mind on that, she didn’t have to sweat too much when she said, “Yes.”

      “What made you move somewhere so remote?”

      She shouldn’t have opened the conversation to this. “I’ve always loved the mountains.” A partial truth.

      “But you belong to social clubs and drive a flashy car.”

      Hearing his skepticism in the well-planted question—ever the detective—Sadie tried to counter. “You think it’s odd I like mountains? Can’t I be social and live reclusively? I happen to enjoy my alone time as much as I do my friends. The car is an investment and I don’t drive it very much.”

      “San Francisco fits a social, material-loving kind of woman more than all this does.” His eyes went from her face down over her front and back up. “Flannel doesn’t really match your tastes.”

      “You know my tastes?” Now he was being cocky.

      He grinned and didn’t answer.

      Playfully cocky? She resisted how the discovery appealed to her baser instincts.

      He’d interpreted her tastes with little or no provided information. The Ferrari gave her away. Maybe she should park it in the garage and start driving the Jeep instead.

      “I do love San Francisco.” She didn’t have to hide the truth in that statement.

      “What did your ex-fiancé do?” he asked, more digging.

      He asked as a detective rather than an interested suitor. She had a quiet debate with herself over whether to answer. She toyed with the temptation her infatuation presented. But temptation might prevent her from making smart choices.

      “He manufactured parts for spacecraft.” At least that wasn’t a lie. Talking about Darien depressed her. Mostly because she felt so stupid and insignificant for being so easily duped. A girl was supposed to feel important with her man. Special. Like Jasper’s lady must have felt.

      “How did you meet?”

      “He tripped me as I came out of a restaurant.” She’d scraped her palm on the concrete and he’d retrieved an alcohol wipe and bandage from inside the store. “He didn’t catch me like I starred in my very own fairy tale, either. I should have seen that as divine intervention, a sign to stay away from him.”

      “How did he betray you?”

      He sure was quick with his questions, like he had them all planned ahead of time and had only to wait for her next answer.

      She decided to echo his words. “The usual.”

      Feeling him linger on her profile, she sensed he hadn’t missed her response and maybe suspected her betrayal may not have been all that usual. Maybe his broken heart hadn’t, either.

      The faint sound of breaking glass from a distance preceded Sadie’s notice that one of the perimeter lights went out.

      “What was that?”

      “Someone shot out the light.” As Jasper started to turn, the next light went dark along with more shattering glass.

      Taking Sadie’s hand, he rushed with her back into the house, where they ran into one of the security guards.

      “Take her to her room!” Jasper said.

      “Roger.” The man took Sadie’s other hand and Jasper let her go, seeing her look back at him as though she considered going with him. He was glad when she faced the other way and went with the guard. He’d fight to keep the attackers from getting into the house.

      * * *

      Jasper ran to the gatehouse where he’d seen an equipment room. On his way, СКАЧАТЬ