Man to Call My Own by Johanna Lindsey

Author:Johanna Lindsey [Lindsey, Johanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance, Adult, Cowboy
ISBN: 9780743456357
Amazon: 0743456351
Barnesnoble: 0743456351
Goodreads: 301825
Publisher: Pocket Star
Published: 2002-12-31T11:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

CHAD SHOWED UP FOR dinner anyway. They were about halfway done when he walked in, sat down, and asked what was for dessert. Kathleen teased him a bit about his horses objecting to the amount of food he was putting away. They bantered back and forth, both laughing, moods light, until he introduced a new topic.

"Is Amanda ill?"

"No, she'd just rather not join the rest of us," Kathleen replied.

"Don't tell me she still needs resting up from the trip?" he asked.

"Possibly. She hasn't taken to the heat very well. You're used to it, so you barely notice it, but—"

"I notice it. It just hasn't been that hot lately, at least not enough to wilt the lady. So she's still pouting over being here?"

Kathleen coughed. Marian stared. To hear him call it on the mark, well, it didn't quite make sense to her, since he'd never spoken derisively about Amanda before. But then she was forgetting that he was probably still angry with her sister because he thought she'd played one of her tricks on him that morning.

She was amazing herself by how calm she'd remained ever since he walked in. Bantering with Kathleen, laughing, he'd behaved as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened that morning—until he mentioned Amanda. Then his tone had changed abruptly.

Her own anger was still simmering beneath the surface. Not that she still didn't want to shoot him.

Of course, she knew she was being unfair. She'd known from the start that he'd wanted Amanda.

"I'm glad y'all didn't wait on me," Amanda said in the doorway, using a thick, if poor imitation of a Texas drawl. "And no, I haven't been pouting, darlin," she added, staring at Chad as she fanned herself vigorously. "Goodness, you aren't still annoyed that our little tryst in the stable got interrupted this morning, are you?"

Marian sucked in her breath. How on earth had Amanda found out about that? And why was she deliberately reinforcing Chad's conclusion that it had been her that he'd made love to?

Chad was blushing profusely, with Kathleen now staring at him wide-eyed. This was just the sort of scene Amanda loved to create, but for once it probably wasn't completely deliberate, or planned.

She'd obviously overheard his less-than-flattering remarks about her and was now getting even with him. She wouldn't have come right in, because it would have taken her a few minutes to get her rage under control.

Marian was doing some blushing of her own. God, this meant Amanda had overheard a lot more than the table conversation just now. She had to have been in the stable this morning. There was no other way she could know about what had happened there.

But she had no reason to be in the stable. She didn't like horses, and she didn't know how to drive a carriage even if it had occurred to her to escape with the one still on the premises. There was simply nothing to draw her there—except Chad. She'd either seen him return to the ranch and decided to amuse herself with him for a while, to relieve her boredom.

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