Dynasties: The Ashtons. Maureen Child

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       Chapter Three

      Cole’s mouth kicked up in a grin. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you move that fast before.”

      “I was trying to rescue your stupid dog.” She was out of breath and disheveled, her chest heaving beneath a skimpy T-shirt that read, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History.

      Tilly was calmer now that she’d found backup, though she still huddled behind Cole. He ran a hand over the top of her head soothingly and tried to sound severe. “You’re supposed to keep your demon cat inside.”

      “Guess what? He got out.”

      “Wouldn’t matter,” Eli said, “if Cole’s dog weren’t so pathetic.” He looked at Tilly, crouched behind Cole. “I know the cat is big, but you still outweigh him by fifty pounds.”

      “Like that matters.” Cole shook his head. “As far as Tilly’s concerned, everything in the world is bigger and meaner than she is.”

      Dixie sauntered closer, as casually graceful as her cat and a lot more interesting to watch. “She may be right about meaner. I’ve seen earthworms with more backbone.”

      “Earthworms are invertebrates.”

      “You get my point.”

      Eli had been noticing Dixie’s legs. In all conscience, Cole couldn’t blame him. “Aren’t you cold?” Eli asked, concerned. “This isn’t exactly shorts weather.”

      Cole could have warned him not to suggest that Dixie didn’t know what she was doing at all times. He wouldn’t have, of course, but he could have.

      Dixie eyebrows flew up. “It’s shorts weather to me. I’ve gotten used to a more rugged climate.”

      “Rugged.” Cole nodded. “Yeah, that’s the first word I think of when I think of you. I like the Tshirt.”

      “I noticed that you’d become a slow reader.”

      Since the letters were stretched across a pair of lovely breasts, he just grinned.

      While they were talking, Hulk was infiltrating. Nonchalant as only a cat can be, he’d wandered closer. Tilly kept retreating until she was behind Eli. Hulk, triumphant, stropped himself against Cole’s leg, purring.

      “Yeah, I can see how innocent you are,” Cole said, bending to pick the cat up. He promptly went limp, purring manically. Automatically Cole stroked him.

      Dixie smirked. “He likes to be rubbed behind the ears.”

      “That’s a dog thing.”

      “Tell him, not me.”

      “Okay, I get it.” Eli nodded. “See you two later.”

      Cole glanced at him. “What are you talking about?”

      “Going back to work. You remember about work? It’s something some of us like to do at this hour on a weekday.”

      “Good idea.” Cole looked back at Dixie. “Take Tilly with you.”

      “Forget it. You deserve a few handicaps. Nice to see you without that camera, Dixie,” he said, then headed off.

      Dixie watched Eli leave, looking vexed. “I like your brother.”

      “So do I, at times.” Especially when Eli had the good sense to go away. “Why does that bug you?”

      She huffed out a breath. “I wasn’t paying attention, I guess. Of course, he’s very closed up, even worse than you. Hard to read. But I was not trying to play the two of you off each other.”

      “I didn’t think you were. You can’t help flirting—that’s like breathing for you. A process I enjoyed watching, by the way, while reading your T-shirt, but never mind that for now. You don’t play men off each other. That would be calculated, and there’s nothing calculating about you.”

      “That came perilously close to a compliment on something other than my breasts. Backhanded, but averaging more positive than negative.”

      “Don’t let it go to your head. Here.” He held out twenty pounds of limp feline. “Take your monster. Tilly’s having a breakdown trying to figure out how to hide behind me when I’m holding her enemy.”

      She draped the beast over her shoulder and started at an easy pace for the carriage house. Cole fell into step beside her.

      Dixie slid him a sideways glance. “You think Tilly has some kind of canine PTSD?”

      “I’m putting it down to poor parenting. Her former owner must have mistreated her.”

      “She was previously owned by a cat?”

      His СКАЧАТЬ