Читать книгу Texas Brides: The Rancher and the Runaway Bride & The Bluest Eyes in Texas: The Rancher & The Runaway Bride - Joan Johnston - Страница 11

IT HAD TAKEN EVERY OUNCE of willpower Adam possessed to keep from stalking out onto the front porch and putting his fist in Buck Magnesson’s nose. It wasn’t just the thought of his sister Melanie that kept him from doing it. There were things he couldn’t offer Tate that Buck could.

But he wasn’t a saint or a eunuch. If Tate persisted in tempting him, he wasn’t noble enough to refuse her. He was determined to keep his hunger leashed at least until he was certain Tate knew what she wouldn’t be getting if she got involved with him. She was too young to give up her dreams. And there was no way he could fulfill them.

Before Adam had time to examine his feelings further, the front door opened. Tate stepped inside to find him sitting in one of the large Mediterranean chairs before the blackened fireplace, nursing a half-empty glass of whiskey.

“Hello,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you again tonight.”

“I was waiting up for you.”

Tate immediately bristled. “Look, I don’t need a caretaker.” She wanted a lover. But not just that. A man who loved her, as she was beginning to fear she loved him.

“Old habits die hard.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I used to wait up for my sister Melanie.”

“You have a sister? Why haven’t I met her?”

“She died ten years ago.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Adam had drunk just enough whiskey to want to tell her the rest of it. “Melanie ran away from home when she was seventeen. She was picked up by a stranger while hitchhiking. He raped her, and then he stabbed her to death.”

“That must have been awful for you!” Tate wanted to put her arms around Adam to comfort him, but his body language posted obvious No Trespassing signs.

She used sitting on the couch as an excuse to cross closer to him, slipped off her boots and pulled her feet up under her. She folded her arms under her breasts to give herself the comfort he wouldn’t accept.