The Gazebo by Kimberly Cates

Author:Kimberly Cates
Format: epub
Published: 2016-11-01T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

STONE REACHED OUT, took Deirdre’s hand, shaking her out of the past, bringing her back into the living room at March Winds again. Into the path of Jacob Stone’s laser-sharp eyes. That mouth, so drop-dead sexy, ridiculously sensitive at the moment, as if he were the one hurting.

What in heaven’s name was she doing, baring her life to him? A warning shrilled in Deirdre’s head. She’d been so close to spilling the rest…. Shame seared her cheeks, her stomach roiling. She pressed her fingers to her lips.

Don’t fall apart, she told herself. You can’t fall apart. You have to hold yourself together or how on God’s earth are you going to help Emma?

“There’s more to this whole thing than you’re telling me, isn’t there?” Stone prodded, his gaze so disarming part of her wanted to tell him he was right.

She levered herself out of the chair, paced to the window to escape the irresistible pull of Jake Stone. Moonlight filtered through the trees, tangled black webs as twisted as the secrets she’d kept for so long.

Don’t touch me, she’d told Stone. I don’t want you to touch me.

She’d lied. She wanted his hands on her, wanted his mouth eager and hot on her skin. Wondered if he’d possess some kind of magic that could make her forget…

She could feel his gaze like a touch, blunt, callused fingertips peeling any covering away, leaving her heart naked, the way some crazy, fatalistic part of her wanted him to make her body.

“You know who Emma’s father is, Deirdre,” Stone pressed her. “Otherwise the things she said wouldn’t have shaken you up so badly.”

Deirdre tried to draw her tattered defenses around her, closing her eyes, shaking her chin-length hair back from her face. “Don’t be so greedy,” she said. “I told you all the best parts.”

“What about the worst?”

“My story isn’t bad enough for you?” Deirdre wheeled on him, eyes blazing. “You need all the gritty details? The Captain went crazy. Cade came back home to keep us from killing each other. He’d been in Whitewater when Mom died. Some kind of leave you can get when your family’s dying. But he’d headed back to the Air Force before I came up pregnant. One of my greatest achievements is that I single-handedly ruined my big brother’s life.”

“His life looks pretty damned good to me.” Stone looked a little surprised as he said so.

“Sure it does. His life’s terrific now that he has Finn and his babies. If you’d known him before that you’d realize how bad things got. God, Jake, you should have seen him the night I broke into his house and surprised him. I’d been gone five years. Left him to handle the Captain alone. I just cut out of town, stranded Cade in a place he hated.”

“Your brother seems to me the kind of man who makes his own decisions.”

“He sure decided he didn’t want his sister’s kid to raise. He told me that in no uncertain terms. Cade promised he’d help me, give Emma and me a home until I worked things out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.