Colton Cowboy Protector. Beth Cornelison
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Название: Colton Cowboy Protector
Автор: Beth Cornelison
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Короткие любовные романы
Серия: Mills & Boon Romantic Suspense
isbn: 9781474029346
isbn:
Tracy’s doll-like features crumpled, and she looked as if she might be ill. “He was. But I couldn’t very well say that at dinner with Seth listening.”
Jack folded his arms over his chest. “I see. So you plan to base this relationship you want with my son on lies? Can you see why I don’t trust you?”
Her shoulders drew back defiantly, causing her small breasts to jut toward him. “I was trying to protect him from the ugliness of the truth! He’s too young to hear about such things as prison murders and shanks made from a sharpened toothbrush.”
“And when he first asked about his mother, he was too young to know about a mother who could walk away from her family for purely selfish reasons.”
Tracy opened her mouth, clearly planning to defend her cousin.
“Don’t even start,” Jack said, stopping her by pressing a finger to her lips.
Tracy jolted as if his touch had caused a static shock, drawing a sharp breath and flinching.
Too late, he realized the mistake of his move. He, too, felt a crackle of something electric that briefly sidetracked his thoughts and caused a tremble deep in his marrow.
Their gazes clashed for a moment, and he withdrew his hand, rubbing his thumb over the spot in his finger that still tingled.
From the next room he heard Seth’s youthful laugh as Brett roughhoused with his nephew, and Jack recalled the point he’d been making. “I was there, not you. I was the one she divorced, the one she argued her case to, the one left cleaning up in her wake. I was the one who paid her settlement and stayed up nights with a colicky baby after she walked out. I have every right to determine what my son knows about Laura and what remains unspoken. You will not tell him anything that contradicts what he now knows about his mother. Or you will be removed from the ranch and Seth’s life if I have to carry you to the highway myself.”
Tracy’s gaze flitted to his arms and chest, as if imagining him making good on his threat. She swallowed hard, and her feet shuffled slightly as she shifted her weight. He could see the pulse point at the base of her throat fluttering, and he was swamped by a primitive urge to taste the skin there. To suckle her neck, nip the skin and feel that rhythmic pulsing with his lips.
Hellfire! What was he doing? He didn’t need to be indulging in lustful fantasies about this woman if he was going to do his job as a father and protect Seth from her meddling.
Tracy took a step back from him and bumped the wall behind her. Flexing her hands and wiping her palms on the skirt of her dress, she wet her lips and raised her chin. “I won’t tell Seth anything that contradicts you.” The nervous glint in her liquid eyes belied the set of her shoulders. “But neither will I lie to him if he asks me directly.”
Jack gritted his teeth. “Ms. McCain, I’m warning you...”
“You don’t need to make threats, Jack. I told you I have Seth’s best interests at heart, same as you.” She placed a trembling hand on his arm and pushed at him. “Now let me pass.”
He didn’t move right away, stubbornly keeping her trapped to let her know he would have the final say, not only with Seth but in this discussion. Finally, he stepped aside and swept a hand toward the living room, granting her passage. She stalked away, leaving a hint of her sweet floral scent behind. He experienced an unwanted, but not unpleasant, visceral reaction to the heady honeysuckle aroma she trailed in her wake. Maybe, he thought wryly, the vixen had gotten the last word, after all.
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