The Gentleman Rancher. Cathy Gillen Thacker

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СКАЧАТЬ remember, always drifting off into daydreams and conjuring up movies in her head. It was a heaven-sent gift that was as much a part of her as her straight black hair, and just as impossible to explain.

      She sighed and looked Jeremy in the eye. “The only reason I would want you to read my book is because you enjoy that type of story. Since I can’t really see you ever picking up a chick lit novel by anyone else—to read for pleasure—then the answer is a resounding no. Do not do me any favors!”

      Merriment crept into his dark brown eyes. “I could broaden my horizons.”

      Taylor snorted and kicked back in her chair, too. “I’m not saying you don’t need to do that.”

      “But?” Electricity sparked between them.

      She shook her head, aware her heart was racing. “Not at my expense.”

      His handsome features tightened into a mock-reproving look. “You’re awfully prickly.”

      “You’re awfully pushy,” she retorted.

      “And moody.”

      “Keep it up, I dare you.”

      His grin broadened. “So what’s really going on with your life?”

      Taylor jumped up to clear the table. “What do you mean?”

      His movements as lazy as hers were restless, he got up to help. “You told Paige you drove eighteen hours straight to get here, when you could have taken a flight and had your Jeep shipped back to—where was it you said you’d been living?”

      “Chesapeake, Virginia.” Taylor slid dishes into the dishwasher, straightened, all attitude once again. “What’s your point?”

      “My point is,” he explained, his voice as silky-smooth as hers was blunt and impatient, “that you told Paige the move back home could have been done for you, at movie studio expense, if you had been willing to wait another few weeks for it all to be arranged, by their business affairs office. Instead, you got in your car and drove all the way here, on very little notice.”

      He was far too observant for comfort. Worse, he’d always seen things that no one else noticed. She tilted her chin at him. “So?”

      Jeremy stared at her with a steely resolve that matched her own. “The last time you took off in your Jeep—that I know of anyway—and drove that long and that hard, was the day you quit med school.” He paused, his gaze roaming the contours of her face, lingering on her lips, before slowly returning to her eyes. “So what’s happening in your life that Paige and I don’t know about?” he asked, even more softly. “What are you running from this time?”

      Chapter Two

      “And Last But Not Least,” Anchor Mandy Stone read the teleprompter with a salacious smile, “up and coming novelist-turned-screenwriter Taylor O’Quinn set tongues to wagging when she skipped the wrap party for Sail Away. Insiders were not surprised. Dozens of rewrites for the troubled pic have left everyone feeling frustrated and unhappy—including the film’s two leads, Zak and Zoe Townsend.”

      (Cut to film of wrap party.)

      “The story had some problems, as it was originally written,” Zak admitted, presenting his best side to the camera and taking his wife’s hand.

      “But we’ve done our best to fix them,” Zoe added, pausing earnestly.

      “We just hope Taylor’s all right.” Zak wrapped an arm around Zoe’s shoulders and pulled Zoe in close to his side.

      Zoe nodded, looking even more doe-eyed and distressed. “When Taylor left the set, and drove off in her SUV, she was in tears…”

      June 2 edition of Short-takes! Celebrity Entertainment Network

      Taylor couldn’t help feeling relieved when their heated confrontation was interrupted by Jeremy’s pager. As he put in a call to his answering service, she scrambled to come up with a reasonable response to his accusation. Unfortunately, her reprieve was short-lived.

      Medical crisis averted, Jeremy snapped his cell phone shut and gazed at her expectantly. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?”

      Taylor set the damp dishcloth down with more than necessary care. She turned back to Jeremy, her expression stoic. “I’m not running away.” She enunciated each word distinctly, then moved past him.

      Arms folded, Jeremy watched her head for the exit. Her actions evoked bittersweet memories of a time when they could have had everything. If only she had stayed in Texas, instead of heading off for parts unknown… “Then why are you bolting the kitchen?”

      As she whirled back around to face him, her long black hair rippled across her shoulders. “Perhaps because I’m done talking to you?” She smiled sweetly.

      Jeremy shook his head. “You’re running from me the way you ran from whatever’s going on in Los Angeles.”

      Defiance gleamed in her blue eyes. “You’re wrong.”

      “I don’t think so.” He closed the distance between them. “I’ve always been able to read you like a book.”

      Temper flared in her cheeks, turning them a rosy pink. “Then you know how ticked off you’re making me right now.”

      “It doesn’t change the truth,” he drawled.

      “I’m going to bed.” She glared at him.

      He glared right back. “I’ll still be here tomorrow.”

      She breathed in deeply and appeared to be counting backwards from…one thousand. “Hopefully you’ll be at the hospital by the time I wake up,” she predicted.

      Aware he had gotten under her skin as quickly as always, he straightened. “Then I’ll be here tomorrow night.”

      “Like Paige said, it’s a big ranch house.” She propped her hands on her slender hips. “We can coexist without actually coming in contact with each other.”

      Her heart was beating much too quickly—he could tell by the pulse in her throat. He twisted his lips into a crooked line then murmured, “That’s not what Paige said.”

      “It’s what I inferred,” Taylor huffed.

      Jeremy strolled closer, trying not to notice how quickly his body was responding to her. “You didn’t let me help you the last time you were in trouble,” he reminded her, making no effort to mask his frustration.

      She stomped out the back door, through the screened porch. The door banged behind her. “That’s because you weren’t interested in helping me—you were trying to tell me what to do, think and feel, and I had enough of that from my family!”

      Jeremy followed her across the decorative stones of the patio, toward the driveway. “You’re right. My behavior was bad.” He caught up with her next to her red Jeep. “It doesn’t mean I can’t make up for it now.”

      Taylor lifted the cargo door in stormy silence. СКАЧАТЬ