Fairy-Tale Family. Pat Montana

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ all of this...this mayhem. Through it all he caught the rich aroma of coffee.

      Thank god. Evidence of adult-type beings. What were kids doing in his father’s place anyhow? Living here, from the looks of this room. What the devil was going on?

      The little girl straightened. With a gesture that reminded him of a queen, she swept her thin bangs to one side.

      “My name means angel,” she offered, as if she’d read his mind. “But really I’m a princess.” She studied him from the foot of the bed with those grave brown eyes.

      She looked more like a waif. She was about as skinny as a puppet, and her mouse brown hair stuck out in feathery wisps from a pink thing on top of her head. On closer inspection, he saw that the netting of her tutu drooped, and the straps across her thin little shoulders had shed most of their shiny stuff.

      Mitch eyed her warily. For a princess, this kid’s treasures looked mighty tattered. But she didn’t seem to know. She acted as self-assured and expectant as any royalty he’d ever entertained.

      In spite of his growing annoyance, Mitch allowed himself a half smile. Such seriousness in one so little. Seemed to him that a kid her size ought to be giggling about something, not looking as if she carried the weight of a kingdom on her shoulders.

      But what did he know about kids? Or care?

      Grabbing the edge of the sheet, he held it against his bare middle and slid to the side of the bed. He hadn’t come all the way back to Missouri to be stalled by a little squirt’s solemn face. He had business to take care of. And a plane to catch back to Colorado this evening.

      He’d told Jack he would be back in Winterhaven in two days—Jack Winter who’d taken him in when he’d been an angry, scared runaway of almost seventeen. Jack had given him a place to stay, a job. His wife, Josey, had given him the courage to call King and tell him where he’d run. Over the years, Jack had become his mentor—and his friend. Mitch wasn’t about to let him down.

      So... Still clutching the sheet, Mitch swung his feet to the floor. One thing he’d learned teaching skiing at the Lodge: where there was a princess, there was bound to be a king or a queen. He needed to seek a royal audience pronto. Whoever was living with his father could be the answer to his problem.

      “Okay, Princess, I’m...Mr. Kole, and I’d like to get up now so—”

      “I know. You’re The Prince.”

      “Seri? Where are you? You’d better not be bothering Mr. Kole.”

      Hell. Mitch pulled the sheet of redheaded mermaids a little higher around him. If he remembered his fairy tales, princesses weren’t supposed to catch The Prince in bed naked.

      “Seri, I told you not to—” A woman appeared in the doorway. “Oh...” At the sight of him her eyes widened.

      Mitch watched color rosy the woman’s cheeks. Things were taking a decided turn for the better.

      There could be no mistaking Seraphina’s mother. This woman promised everything the funny little princess would someday become. The kid was skinny, but her mother—now here was pleasure to behold. The kind of woman the word “petite” must have been invented for, with feathery hair the color of light ale brushing her shoulders when she moved.

      In spite of her size, she acted about as regal as the kid. Even in that long, shapeless dress, and that brown sweater—which had to be a hand-me-down from her grandfather—she still didn’t manage to hide a figure that was...lush. It was the only other word Mitch could think of. Or wanted to.

      Until he looked into her eyes. They were blue, the blue of Colorado skies. Of columbine flowers. Of deep, cool mountain lakes.

      Or an Alaskan glacier. He tugged the sheets closer.

      None of her daughter’s studious curiosity there. Instead he found wariness—and other feelings he recognized. Anger. Resentment.

      She studied him as if he were some form of outer space alien, a very stupid alien who had witlessly landed in her daughter’s bed. A state of affairs she definitely didn’t approve.

      “Go on now, Seri. To the kitchen.” She shooed the girl out the door.

      Given the same circumstances in his bedroom at Winterhaven, Mitch would have stretched into a slow, sensuous yawn, given the woman a provocative grin...and stood up. But something about this woman made him hesitate.

      Her gaze came to a halt at the fistful of sheet he held against his stomach. Her eyes thawed just a bit. Her honey-colored brows ticked upward.

      Fascinated, he watched a corner of her pale pink mouth curve ever so slightly. To his dismay, he felt himself respond. Clearly this was a woman he couldn’t unnerve, not even with the threat of six feet of buck nakedness. The thought pleased him.

      “Did not!”

      “Did, too! Mo-om!” Crash!

      A dog barked.

      Mitch winced.

      The woman didn’t even flinch, but her gaze refrosted. “Your father didn’t tell you about us, did he?”

      Obviously a rhetorical question, because she spun out of the doorway before he could decide between a bitter laugh and a fierce growl. He hadn’t come here to get turned on by a little bit of a woman, a woman who was apparently living with his father!

      Flinging the sheet aside, he slammed his feet to the floor. Just then the kid popped into the room. Mitch lunged back under the concealing mermaids.

      “Seri?” The woman reappeared in the doorway. One glance and she grabbed the kid and ushered her toward the door.

      “But, Mommy—”

      “Let Mr. Kole get dressed.”

      They disappeared together, but not before Mitch could check her hand. The woman wasn’t wearing a ring. The discovery left him teetering between a definite upswing in mood—and pure raw anger.

      “Wait! Miss... Ms....” How was it she already had him analyzed and categorized while he hadn’t even known she existed? His frustration level shot skyward. “Hey, lady, who are you?” he shouted. He didn’t like being out of control. He didn’t like being so...perturbed by such a...woman.

      She reappeared in the doorway. The kid peeked from behind her legs.

      “Sander. Ellie. I’m the one who called about your father’s accident.”

      There was that resentment again. That anger.

      “I told him we didn’t need to bother you, but he insisted.”

      Mitch scowled into Ellie Sander’s rejecting azure eyes. Damn it, she did bother him. She bothered him a lot.

      “There’s breakfast in the kitchen,” she announced flatly, then swung out of the room, her hair fanning her shoulders like a silk skirt.

      “Just coffee,” he shouted after her. “I don’t do breakfast.”

      Damn! He didn’t need СКАЧАТЬ