Seduction Of The Reluctant Bride. Barbara McCauley

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СКАЧАТЬ think he had nearly lost his sanity to those blue eyes.

      “Sorry, Ms. Courtland.” He almost felt a touch of regret. Almost. “Not interested. You’re just going to have to learn how to deal with your business problems some other way.”

      Her shoulders went as rigid as her voice. “If you won’t take me, I’ll just hire someone else.”

      He shrugged. “It’s your money. Waste it any way you choose. I suggest you don’t try to hire anyone from these parts, though. You tell anyone that you’re going into the mountains to look for Digger’s body because his twohundred-million-dollar business is in trouble and they’ll put you in a padded cell.”

      “You can’t stop me from looking for him,” she said coolly.

      “Who said anything about stopping you?” He felt unreasonably angry. “That’s your unofficial fiancé’s job. And speaking of him, I’d like to know what kind of a man would let his wife-to-be go traipsing off into the mountains with a strange guy?”

      Imperceptibly, her chin rose higher. “Harold is extremely understanding. He would never presume to tell me what to do. Our relationship is based on mutual trust and respect.”

      “Mutual stupidity, is more like it.” He grabbed both arms of the chair she sat in, effectively caging her in. “That would be the day I’d let the woman I loved go off with another man.”

      She held her calm gaze level with his, but Sam could have sworn the pulse at the base of her neck was trembling. He felt strangely torn between wringing that gorgeous neck and kissing it.

      “I’m not ‘going off with anyone.” Icicles hung from her words. “And fortunately, your antiquated attitude toward the modern woman has nothing to do with me. I don’t like loose ends, Mr. McCants. Especially where Elijah Jane is concerned. Once this matter can be put to rest, the company can proceed smoothly and effectively. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a great deal of paperwork I’ve brought with me and several phone calls to make.”

      He knew when he’d been dismissed. Damn if this foolish woman didn’t know how to test a man’s patience. His hands tightened around the arms of the chair, and he leaned closer to her. The flicker of fear in her eyes gave him tremendous satisfaction. “What will you do, Faith,” he murmured, “if you do go off into those mountains with the wrong man?”

      “Well, Mr. McCants—” her breathing had deepened, but she didn’t budge or look away “—I guess I’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

      

      “Jake Stone,” Savannah softly chided her husband, “our guest has been here at least two full minutes and she hasn’t a drink in her hand. Shame on you.”

      Faith, still recovering from Jake’s bear hug greeting and Savannah’s warm welcome, barely had time to open her mouth and decline before Jessica, Jake’s younger sister, pressed a glass of white wine into her hand.

      “The boy’s slow, but harmless,” Jessica said, referring to her brother. Then she handed her husband Dylan a bottle of beer. The baby boy in his arms leaned close, mouth open and ready to clamp onto the bottle. “You give our son a taste of that beer, Dylan Grant, and you’ll spend the next week sleeping in that shed you’re building behind the jail in Makeshift.”

      Dylan and the baby both looked disappointed, until Jared walked in carrying a blond-curled toddler wearing a darling denim dress. Annie, who looked even more pregnant than the day before, waved off Jake and Jessica’s offer of assistance.

      There were more greetings, more hugs, more kisses. No kiss-the-air, stiff-backed hellos that Faith was used to, but rib-crunching hugs and loud smacks on the cheeks that made her head spin.

      She nearly had the names straight when a beautiful young girl around thirteen years old came into the living room with a pink-cheeked, dark-haired toddler perched on one slender hip. The teenager, with her dark hair and deep blue eyes, looked like Jessica’s clone.

      “This is our sister Emma.” Jake kissed the youngest Stone sibling on the top of her head, then scooped up the toddler, who shrieked with delight as she was tossed up in the air. “And this is Madeline.”

      Without warning, Jake pushed the laughing child into Faith’s free arm.

      “Swift work, brother-in-law.” Annie fell into the couch with a sigh. “Throw your daughter up in the air, then hand her over to your guest whose gorgeous pantsuit is not only white, but also happens to be a Peter Nygard.”

      From the blank expression on Jake’s face, Annie might as well have been speaking a foreign language. Faith suddenly felt out of place here again, wishing she’d worn something more casual. Which would have been impossible, since she hadn’t brought anything casual.

      But her wardrobe seemed to be the least of her worries right now. Afraid to move, afraid to breathe, she stared at the baby in her arms. She’d never been around babies before. She’d never even held one. The cherub grinned at her and bounced up and down, wanting to be tossed in the air again. She smelled wonderful, Faith thought. Like baby shampoo and soap. Madeline pushed the end of Faith’s nose with one chubby finger.

      “You’re supposed to honk,” Jared offered.

      Honk? Self-conscious, she uttered a tiny squeak that sounded more like a pig. Madeline didn’t seem to mind, though. She giggled with delight and pushed Faith’s nose again. Warming to the toddler, Faith gave it another go, then laughed herself when Madeline squealed in pleasure.

      That’s how Sam found Faith when he walked in. Standing in the middle of Jake’s living room, dressed like a goddess in white, holding a giggling baby in one arm, a glass of wine in the other, honking like a goose.

      Damn, but the woman was beautiful.

      “Don’t look now, Ms. Courtland.” Sam grinned and touched the brim of his black Stetson as Faith’s head snapped in his direction. “Jared’s got the video camera.”

      Eyes wide, Faith glanced across the room. Her playful expression turned to one of alarm as she realized that Jared, indeed, was recording her ridiculous—but adorable, Sam thought—honking.

      That’s when Madeline decided to throw up.

      Everyone—everyone except Faith—moved quickly. Body rigid, she stood frozen while Jake gently removed his daughter—who seemed no worse for wear, just a little confused over what all the fuss was about—and Emma ran to get towels. Savannah, frowning at her husband, led Faith, who appeared to be in shock, into the other room, with Jessica clucking her tongue behind. Annie gave Jake an I-told-you-so look, and he hightailed it out of the room with his daughter. Laughing, Dylan followed, his own son in his arms.

      Jared kept filming.

      “You get that on tape?” Sam asked Jared, who nodded over his camera but, in light of his wife’s glare, knew better than to smile. “I’ll pay you a roundup’s take on my cattle for a copy of that.”

      “You should both be horsewhipped,” Annie said irritably, shifting her heavy weight on the couch. “I’d do it myself, if I could move.”

      “She gets a little more cranky every day as her due date gets closer,” Jared said good-humoredly. “The last two weeks she was pregnant with Tonya I’d have to wave СКАЧАТЬ