Chapters (43)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Epilogue
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- Readers Guide
- QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Bill leaned forward again, picking up his reading glasses and folding them, then tapping one end on the desk. “LJ,” he said. “Do you think you’re the first man who’s stepped onto this ranch and fallen boots over Stetson for my daughter?”
LJ’s muscles clamped hot over his bones. “No, Mr. Lawler. I do not.” He doubted he was even the fortieth man to look at Andra and decide he never wanted to look away. But he came here tonight because she’d looked back. With dilated green eyes and her chest heaving for air beneath that old pink sweater as she asked him if he was flirting, her gaze unable to tear itself away from his mouth even as she said it.
“In college, Andra was . . .” Bill started, his body going tense. He glanced toward the bookshelves and cleared his throat.
“I know, sir.”
“You do?”
“She told me.” LJ shook his head. If he was going to have any chance at winning this man’s respect, he needed to stick to the truth. “Some, anyway.”
Bill’s chin ticked up. “I expect you read the old articles about it.”
“I didn’t.”
They stared at each other. Hazel-green eyes to brown, and LJ would have ripped out his own lungs before he’d have blinked.
Bill finally nodded. “Okay. Either way, you know my daughter needs to be able to relax when she’s home at the ranch. What she doesn’t need is a bunch of cowboys sniffing after her, hoping to coax her into bed.”
“With all due respect, what your daughter needs is not for everybody to treat men like something so terrible she stiffens up every time she sees one. All you’re showing her is that she should be afraid.”
Bill’s nostrils flared, and he dropped his reading glasses. “And I suppose you’re suddenly the expert on what she needs.”
“It’s not like that.” LJ shot up rifle-straight in his seat. “Sir, all I want is to do my job.” One more breath to keep his voice precise and even. “And a chance to prove that your daughter is always safe with me.”
Bill’s fists clenched so fast the paper of his desk blotter crumpled and tore partially free. “Safe? The first time I caught you alone with her, she wasn’t even breathing, she was so scared. She hadn’t had one of those attacks in months until you came around. You have no clue what you’re sticking your nose into.”
Bill glowered across the desk.