Her Second-Chance Man by Cara Colter

Author:Cara Colter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

For a moment, back there at her cottage, when Brian had touched her eyelids and her lips with the newly formed calluses on his fingertips and looked at her so deeply, Jessica had felt helpless against his power. She had felt the leashed strength in his touch and had nearly melted under that combination of power and tenderness.

Momentarily, insanely, she had been swept up in a deep desire to believe in the possibility of happily-ever-after in real life.

He was setting her straight now, though, by going from prince to frog in the blink of an eye. Why was she disappointed? He had even warned her. She should have felt nothing but relief!

She had thought that the man who teased the back of her mind for fourteen years had been confirmed by that brief touch, in that lingering look. But it was, after all, just a fantasy. A fantasy she had fueled by watching him run around in her yard half-naked for the past few weeks. If she wanted to fantasize about half-naked men, to create fictions that matched their eyes and their chests, then she would really be much wiser to buy one of those calendars.

Here was the reality: He apparently thought being in a shoot-out—where lives, including his own, were at risk—was fun. He thought arresting a pathetic old woman for shoplifting was entertaining. He thought tales of his speed and agility would impress her, as if he was still captain of the high school football team.

Under all that bluff and bravado, she thought she saw something else. But hadn’t that always been her problem when it came to him? She thought she could see strength, integrity, spirit. But if those qualities existed in him, he seemed determined not to show them now.

She wasn’t sixteen anymore. Back then it had seemed rather romantic to read characteristics into Brian that his actions did not confirm. Now at the ripe age of thirty-one it would be naive to insist on seeing things that were not there. The ancient shoplifter had probably thought he had nice eyes, too! She might have seen the kindness lurking in their depths, or the loneliness. That poor old soul might have felt a moment’s liking for Officer Brian Kemp, right before he snapped on the cuffs and said, “Ma’am, you are under arrest.”

No wonder the old gal had hit him with a frozen fish. Undoubtedly he had deserved it. She looked at him narrowly. If she had a frozen fish, she might hit him with it, too! Chateaubriand didn’t seem like it would make quite the same statement, so she took a dainty bite and tried not to roll her eyes as he told her about some child on a bicycle with a stolen stereo under his arm.

How could he tell these horrible stories without being embarrassed? A kid on a bike was not public enemy number one! In fact, her sympathies seemed to be leaning toward the criminals.

“And then the kid rode the bike over a cliff!” Brian exclaimed.

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