Tempting A Texan. Carolyn Davidson

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      Chapter Three

      As if he’d never before seen the back of a woman’s lower limbs and ankles, Nicholas found himself obsessed over the next days by the vision of Carlinda’s slender underpinnings. The remembrance invaded his dreams, haunted his waking hours, even managing to insinuate itself into his thoughts as he discussed a loan with Sam Ferguson two days later.

      He felt like an errant schoolboy, and that thought did nothing to elevate his ego. Sam sat across his desk, hat in hand as he enumerated the reasons for needing two hundred dollars. It was a considerable sum, one which should have required Nicholas’s full attention, and he bent his mind to the matter.

      “We’ll take a look at your account here,” he said quietly, leafing through the paperwork before him. “I see no reason to deny you the loan, Sam. Your business is thriving. Adding on additional space for feed and supplies makes sense to me.” He looked up and smiled at the anxious livery stable owner. “Give me half an hour and things should be in order.”

      Sam’s wide shoulders fit neatly through the doorway Nicholas noted as the man left his office. The papers before him were a blur, but he straightened them and then initialed each of the three pages. “Thomas,” he called, aware that his clerk hovered nearby. He held the papers out as the young man appeared in the doorway. “Take care of this for Mr. Ferguson, will you?”

      “Certainly, sir.” Thomas was efficient, his expression bland, but his eagerness to please was a point in his favor, Nicholas decided. “There is a young lady to see you, sir,” he said now, a faint flush apparent as he cut his eyes to the left side of the door.

      Patience. He’d lay money his visitor was the very impatient Patience. He’d neglected her for the past three days, and he could pinpoint the exact moment his attention had strayed from her. Upon Carlinda’s arrival, his suit of Patience Filmore had come to a screeching halt. And stood no chance at all of resuming its previous pace.

      Now he sighed beneath his breath. “Send her in, Thomas.” Scooping up a stack of papers from his left, he spread them quickly before him and bent his head. Then he looked up as the dark-haired beauty halted before his desk.

      “Good morning,” he said, coaxing his voice into a welcoming note. “What can I do for you today?”

      Her mouth twisted a bit and she hesitated, as if ruing her decision to approach him. “I suppose you can explain why you haven’t been at my front door for the past several evenings.” Her eyes were suitably lowered, as if she were embarrassed by her own inquiry. Nicholas was not fooled. One thing he’d come to admire about Patience was her forthrightness. If she wanted an answer, she asked for it. This pose of injured pride was just that, a pose, a transparent request for his attention and apology.

      “I have company in my home, Patience,” he said quietly. “It would be rude of me to abandon Miss Donnelly and my niece to themselves for the evening.”

      “Ah, yes. I heard rumors that you’ve discovered a long-lost relative. I would enjoy getting to know your niece,” she countered.

      “Well, I’m only beginning to do that myself,” he said, lifting a paper from those he’d strewn before him.

      Patience allowed her gaze to touch upon the delaying tactic. “I can see you’re very busy,” she said, and rising, touched her index finger to her cheek. “I really only dropped by to remind you of the party tomorrow night at the Millers’ home. I’ve told them we would attend.”

      Nicholas dropped the paper from his hand and looked up, his gaze ascending the lush figure of the woman before him. “You shouldn’t have done that, Patience. I don’t recall agreeing to that.”

      Her smile was cool. “Perhaps not, but we have become something of an item of late. People expect us to arrive at such gatherings together. I’m sure you’re aware of that.” She took small steps, circling the side of his desk and approaching him with her hand outstretched. Long, slender fingers touched the sleeve of his suit coat and she smiled invitingly into his eyes. “Perhaps I misunderstood your interest in me, Nicholas.”

      He felt perspiration break out in a narrow line down his spine, and at the same time he was chilled and angered by the thought of being manipulated in such a way. His gaze dropped to where her hand lay against his arm and, for an instant, he felt her grip tighten, then relax, sliding from its place until her fingers held СКАЧАТЬ