Once Upon a Groom. Karen Smith Rose

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СКАЧАТЬ she joked.

      He gave her a long considering look. His blue eyes were so direct with an intense focus that hadn’t changed. “My life isn’t what it seems from the outside.”

      “The outside?” She was genuinely curious.

      “What you see and hear. The premieres, the publicity for the movies. It looks as if it isn’t staged, but all of it is.”

      “Even those photos of you on the beach?” She wouldn’t mention the drop-dead gorgeous models and actresses he was always photographed with.

      “Exactly.”

      Pausing only a second, she prodded, “Does Silas know about your real life, or do you only tell him about the outside?”

      “Dad hears what he wants to hear.”

      “But do you talk about your actual work with him?”

      “You probably know how much we talk. It’s mostly about the weather, his horse buyers, if I’ll be nominated for another Oscar.”

      “If you made a point of telling him …”

      Zack scowled and even that expression was sexy as the corners of his mouth turned down. “You’re not going to be on my back about talking to Dad the whole time I’m here, are you? Because if you are, I’m going to spend most of my time working.”

      If he’d intended to frame that bomb of information into his response, she didn’t know. But she surely realized the implication. “The time you’re here? How long will that be?”

      “We’ll figure it out after he’s back up here giving orders again.”

      “We’re talking about more than a few days?”

      “It depends on his condition. I’ll let you know after I speak with his doctor.”

      For just a moment, Jenny felt her heart fall. She really didn’t have a right to be here, or to any information. No matter she spent every day with Silas, saw his symptoms develop, and cared deeply that they had. She wasn’t a relative. Zack was his son. She was not Silas’s daughter.

      That thought brought to mind the inevitable one of wondering where her own father was right now. Maybe she cared so much about Silas because her own dad didn’t seem to want her to care about him. And she shouldn’t, because he always left … he never stayed. But she did care.

      “What are you thinking?” Zack asked, as he crossed to the sofa where she sat. He moved the magazine she had tried to concentrate on, lowered himself beside her, yet not too close.

      Did he feel any remnant of the attraction that had rippled between them as teenagers? The attraction she felt now? “I’m not thinking. I’m just worried.”

      “Bull. Something was ticking through that pretty head of yours besides worry.”

      His attitude both shook and angered her. “You don’t know me anymore, so don’t try to read me like a mentalist at a carnival.”

      “So you think I don’t know you?” His voice was lower as he said, “When you’re thinking, little frown lines appear right here.”

      He touched the space between her brows and her heart rapped against her ribs.

      “But when you’re worrying—” he slid his finger across the side of her mouth “—this dimple disappears and sometimes your lower lip quivers.”

      She was mesmerized by the pad of his finger on her skin … trembling from skimming her gaze over the breadth of his shoulders, his beard stubble, the past memories in his eyes.

      Grabbing her composure for all she was worth, she straightened her shoulders and leaned back. “You’re making that up.”

      “Nope. You haven’t changed all that much. You grew up fast and were always direct, curious and sassy. Give me one way you’re different now than when you came to live at the Rocky D when you were seventeen.”

      Instead of an off-the-cuff flip reply, she considered his request. “Now I think before I speak. I hope I’ve learned to have as much patience with people as I’ve always had with horses.”

      He smiled and she wished he hadn’t. Zack smiling was almost impossible to resist.

      “You think before you speak and have patience with everyone but me.”

      She was about to protest, to tell him he was all wrong, but she considered what he’d said. “I guess with you, my good intentions get short-circuited.”

      His smile faded. “So tell me what you were thinking.”

      Zack had always been determined. Maybe this time she shouldn’t fight his desire to know. “I was thinking I have no official right to be here … to know Silas’s condition. But I’d like to be included.”

      The cold detachment she’d sensed in Zack when he’d arrived, dissipated altogether. “Of course you’ll be included. Has anyone told you differently?”

      “Oh, no. The staff and doctors have been understanding.”

      Zack was studying her as if he knew old insecurities still haunted her. She couldn’t let him see that sometimes they did. Most of all, she couldn’t let him see that she was still attracted to him.

      Rising to her feet, she said, “I’m going to get coffee. I’ll bring you a cup.”

      “Black,” he told her as he rose, too, and returned to the laptop.

      He’d always taken his coffee black, but she wouldn’t let him see she remembered that … along with everything else.

       Chapter Two

      When Jenny returned to the waiting room with two cups of coffee, Zack wasn’t there. She didn’t know what to think. Had there been news about Silas? She set down the coffee, noticed Zack’s laptop wasn’t on the table and was about to ask for information at the nurses’ desk when he strode into the waiting room, cell phone in his hand.

      “Is Silas finished?” she asked.

      “Not that I know of. I locked my laptop in the car and went to make a call.” When she glanced at his cell phone, he clipped it onto his belt.

      “Business?” she asked, not sure why she was asking. Maybe she just wanted to probe a little.

      “Actually, no, it wasn’t.”

      “Someone who wondered where you disappeared to?” She knew she shouldn’t be inquiring about this. His life was none of her business, not anymore. Still, she was curious.

      Amused, he asked, “You want details?”

      “Only if you want to get them off your chest.”

      He cast her a wry smile. “No, I don’t think I do.”

      She felt the disappointment СКАЧАТЬ