Colton Undercover. Marie Ferrarella

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СКАЧАТЬ mean ‘get out’ get out,” he told her, tempering his tone. He didn’t want her to misunderstand what had motivated his words. “Just get out.”

      This was only getting more muddled. There wasn’t much in her life that she was sure of these days, but she was sure that Mac wouldn’t deliberately hurt her or abandon her.

      Taking a breath, she asked, “And the difference being?”

      He wasn’t much for talking, more a man of deeds rather than words. He tried to make himself understood again.

      “The difference being that you need to get out there, little girl. Get out there and mingle. You can’t just hide up here in this tiny space above the stable indefinitely. That’s not going to solve anything and the longer you hide, the harder it’s going to be for you to finally get out there.” His eyes met hers, hoping he was getting through to her. “Thirty-one is way too young to become a hermit.”

      She sighed. Turning from him, she crossed back to the bed and sat down on the edge. “You’re right.”

      Mac had no choice but to follow her in. “Of course I’m right. I’ve always been right.

      “Well, almost always,” Mac corrected. “The point is, little girl—go out. Breathe some fresh air. Get in touch with yourself again. There’s a really nice person inside there,” he told her. “You might like her. I know that I do.”

      She offered Mac a ghost of a smile. “You have to say that.”

      “No, I don’t,” he informed her. “That’s not even in the fine print,” he added affectionately. “Now get out of here before I hitch you up and use you to plow the north forty,” he pretended to threaten.

      Leonor laughed. She knew that, as usual, Mac only had her best interests at heart. And he was right. She couldn’t just hide here in this little studio apartment forever. Eventually, she had to get back to her life. Getting up off the bed, she said, “I’m gone.”

      His brows drew together in a skeptical furrow. “I can still see you.”

      “Then close your eyes,” she told him with a laugh. “I need a head start.” With that, Leonor left the apartment and hurried down the stairs.

      Once in her car, Leonor drove into town. She decided to go get some lunch at the new restaurant that had just recently opened just across from the bed-and-breakfast.

      Although she lived in Austin now, Leonor knew in her heart that Shadow Creek would always be home to her, and despite everything else that was going on in her life, she did take an interest in the town’s development and growth, slow though it was.

      Leonor tried to tell herself that checking out the new restaurant would be a fun thing to do. Most of the people in the area, while not completely forgetting about her mother and the scandal attached to both Livia’s arrest and her trial, had for the most part moved on. At the very least, most of the locals had come to realize that the sins of the mother did not always necessarily come down on the offspring.

      The town seemed to finally be coming around to the fact that none of them were anything like their mother.

      Heaven knew that she certainly wasn’t, even though she had gone to visit her mother several times in prison. That was more out of a sense of filial obligation, more because she felt sorry for her mother than anything else. Everyone else in the family had abandoned Livia and turned their backs on her.

      Leonor supposed that she was the most sensitive one in the family.

      However, being sensitive didn’t mean that she was a pushover, she told herself fiercely, although there were some who undoubtedly thought she was.

      Even so, she had to give herself a pep talk before she entered the restaurant. Because she was the daughter of the “notorious” Livia Colton and because she hadn’t really been around these last ten years, she knew there would be those who would be looking at her with unspoken curiosity. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t that awkward, gawky girl whose body had taken its sweet time before all the parts were in equal proportion.

      She was who she was, Leonor reminded herself, and she had to own that no matter what. If being Livia Colton’s daughter made other people uncomfortable, that was their problem, not hers. People didn’t get to choose their family.

      Now all she had to do was believe that, Leonor thought ruefully.

      Happily, the restaurant, while doing a nice, brisk business, wasn’t crowded in the big city sense of the word. The restaurants she had gotten accustomed to in Austin were the kind that had lines curling outside the door even with reservations. Waiting was more or less a way of life in Austin.

      That wasn’t the case here.

      “Table for two, Ms. Colton?” the hostess asked as Leonor came up to the reservations desk.

      Leonor was surprised that the hostess knew who she was. But she knew she shouldn’t have been.

      * * *

      Standing not too far away, Josh heard someone being addressed as “Ms. Colton.” He looked up sharply.

      It was her.

      Leonor Colton. She looked just like her picture. Talk about luck, he thought. He’d just stopped to get something to eat and he’d struck the mother lode.

      As unobtrusively as possible, Josh made his way over to the reservations desk, trying not to appear to be in any sort of hurry.

      Leonor’s eyes met the hostess’s. The latter appeared to be friendly. There was no condemnation or curiosity in the young woman’s eyes. Leonor relaxed.

      “No, just for one. I’m dining alone,” Leonor told the hostess.

      “You know,” a deep voice directly behind her said, “I really hate dining alone, but I’m new in town so I suppose that I’ll have to. Unless, perhaps, you wouldn’t mind sharing a table with me.”

      “I’m sorry,” Leonor replied without bothering to turn around. “I don’t eat with strangers.”

      Rather than pretending to be put off, Josh circled around her until he was right in her line of vision. The hostess, who was looking on, seemed utterly charmed by him. But his target was not the hostess: it was Leonor Colton.

      “My name’s Joshua Pendergrass. Now, if you tell me your name, we won’t be strangers anymore.” He put out his hand, but Leonor made no effort to take it. Her hand remained at her side.

      “Look, Mr. Pendergrass,” she began patiently, “knowing your name doesn’t make you any less of a stranger to me.” She didn’t want to cause a scene, but she really wanted the man to go away or at least back off. Granted, he was exceedingly handsome, but so was David, and look where that had gotten her. “I don’t know the first thing about you.”

      Unfazed, Josh began to give her a thumbnail version of the bio that had been drawn up for him in the field office. “Easily taken care of. My father’s Elliott Pendergrass and he and his firm have built some of the tallest buildings in Dallas and Austin. Much to my socialite mother’s delight, my father loves finding new ways to build up the family fortune.”

      Leaning СКАЧАТЬ