Wedding His Takeover Target / Inheriting His Secret Christmas Baby: Wedding His Takeover Target. Emilie Rose

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СКАЧАТЬ for him there. His heart pumped faster.

      Hoping to derail the train of heat steaming south, he averted his gaze to the vanity which, like her bedroom, lacked the clutter of makeup, perfumes, toiletries and junk the women he’d known in the past deemed necessary for life.

      She pointed to the window. “I’m not sure what broke the glass. A bird, maybe. I didn’t find one outside.”

      A diagonal line, patched with wide clear tape, split the pane. But her rushed speech interested him more than the cracked glass. Why was she so uneasy around him if not for the sexual chemistry? She might deny it, but she felt it.

      “Should be a simple repair. I’ll talk you through it.”

      She backed a quick step. “No. Go ahead. I’ll leave you to it.”

      He caught her hand and she gasped. “I thought you wanted to learn how?”

      Her gaze flicked to his, then away. A line formed between her brows. She tugged at her hand and he let her smooth fingers slide through his. The rose of her cheeks darkened. “I—I need to start lunch.”

      “This will only take a few minutes. We can remove the sash and work inside rather than tackle the job from outside. It will take a couple of extra steps, but you can handle them.”

      “I’ll learn another time, and I’ll close the door to keep the cold air from sweeping into more than this room.” She left hurriedly, the door snapping close behind her.

      More curious now than ever, Gavin let her go. There was no doubt his touch affected her as strongly as hers did him, but she was resisting. The question was why?

      He quickly finished the simple job, then gathered the broken glass and tools and returned to her bedroom, determined to see whose face she looked at when she laid in bed.

      The photo frame was gone. Sabrina must have moved it.

      What did she have to hide? It was imperative that he uncover her secrets and get on with his plan.

      Sabrina tried to be as quiet as possible while washing the lunch dishes, but no matter how hard she strained, the men’s voices didn’t carry clearly enough from the living room for her to make out their words.

      Eavesdropping! How low was she going to have to go to get rid of Gavin Jarrod?

      She shouldn’t leave Pops alone with him, but until she made sense of her jumbled thoughts, she had no choice, and washing up was her first break away from Gavin’s intense scrutiny since he’d returned from fixing her window.

      Having him in her bedroom had felt like an invasion—but in an agitating way, not a repulsive one. Her skin had flushed and her pulse and respiratory rates had increased.

      Only because you haven’t had any man other than Pops in your bedroom since Russell.

      Right. She’d been uncomfortable, not anything else. She definitely had not been turned on.

      When Gavin’s gaze had looked toward the flag, then moved on to Russell’s picture, shock quickly followed by panic had seized and chilled her. She used to end each day looking at the flag and remembering her husband had been willing to die for a cause he’d passionately believed in. Every night before she’d closed her eyes she’d told the image of Russell’s beloved face good-night.

      When had she stopped? She couldn’t remember.

      Guilt poured over her. Shaken and weak, she’d hidden the photograph because she couldn’t bear Gavin asking about Russell. And he would, the nosy bastard. She hated that she’d been so rattled she hadn’t even been able to stay and learn basic window repair. How could she take care of the inn if she didn’t tough it out?

      And then Gavin had watched her throughout lunch with that wolf-like predator’s awareness of his. Her nerves had stretched to almost the breaking point as she’d waited for him to voice the questions in his eyes and rip the scabs off barely healed wounds. But he hadn’t. Instead he and Pops had discussed the dam Gavin had built in Namibia. If she’d been less tense she would have been fascinated by the stories Gavin told of his adventures. He’d worked in places she’d only dreamed of seeing and done things she couldn’t even begin to fathom. It must be amazing to look up at a massive dam or bridge and know you’d had a part in its creation.

      Pops shuffled into the kitchen, followed by Gavin. The men headed for the coatrack.

      She quickly dried her hands. “Where are you going?”

      “Henry wants me to take him to the mine,” Gavin answered.

      No. “But it’s snowing.”

      “It stopped an hour ago and we checked weather radar. The next band of snow won’t move through for a couple of hours.” Gavin helped Pops with his coat.

      She scrambled for excuses. “The ground will be slick.”

      “I’ll drive him as close to the mine entrance as possible,” Gavin replied in a deep, patient tone that made her want to scream. “With the forecast we have we won’t be able to make the trip later in the week.”

      If she couldn’t make the lug head see reason, she’d work on Pops. She turned to her grandfather. “What about your aches?”

      “They’ve eased a might since my nap. The exercise will do me good. Might even loosen me up.”

      She couldn’t let them go alone. Gavin had already gotten a promise to sell land and a blank check. No telling what else he would wheedle out of Pops. “I’ll go with you.”

      “We’re taking the pickup,” Gavin warned.

      She smothered a grimace. That would put her in the sandwiched-between-two-men position she’d fought so hard to avoid this morning. “Fine.”

      Gavin held out her coat, leaving her no choice but to turn her back and let him assist her. She shoved her arms into the sleeves and before she could step away he scooped his hands under her hair to pull it free of her collar. His fingertips grazed her nape. A shiver of awareness trickled down her spine.

      Startled, she jumped out of reach. She was not attracted to him. Absolutely not. She wouldn’t let herself be. She had too many good reasons to dislike and distrust him.

      “Pops, wouldn’t you prefer your beaver hat?”

      “B’lieve I would.” He shuffled toward his bedroom.

      Sabrina waited until he was out of earshot, then scowled at Gavin. “The climb will be too much for him.”

      “He can handle it if I take it slow and stop to show him points of interest along the trail.” He kept his voice at the same low volume as hers.

      “Gavin—”

      “He needs to do this and you need to let him.” His firm I’m-the-boss tone warned her not to argue. But that wasn’t going to stop her from trying to protect Pops.

      “He doesn’t have to do it today. He can wait until it’s warmer.”

      “Today is the anniversary СКАЧАТЬ