The Lucky Brothers Trilogy by Carolyn Brown

Author:Carolyn Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

It was five hundred and fifty miles from Baton Rouge to Beau and Milli’s ranch southwest of Ardmore. Slade had every intention of unloading Jane that night. He could make it in nine hours, even allowing time to stop for food and potty breaks. But he hadn’t counted on hangovers and headaches. He kept hoping she’d set up a whining moan, wanting to stop so she could sleep off the hangover. He couldn’t complain—not after the whining accusation he’d made the night before. She didn’t and he made it to Shreveport before he took an exit advertising Economy Inn. To the devil with waiting for her to want to stop; he was driving. She was simply sitting there.

“Thank God,” she muttered. She would have curled up in a ball beside a farm pond and used a dried-up cow patty for a pillow just to get out of the truck. The wheels turning on the highway sounded like a brass band marching through her head. Every time Slade sighed she wanted to slap him for making so much noise. She figured he was stopping for a cup of coffee or a potty break. A few minutes inside the bathroom at a McDonalds would be heaven. She might sit on the toilet for an hour, lean her head against the cold steel of the stall, and sleep.

“Did you say something?” he asked.

She shook her head and even that hurt.

“Two rooms or one?” he asked when he stopped under the hotel awning.

“Two,” she answered.

She could have kissed him but she’d already proven where that could and would lead. And she damn sure didn’t want a drink to celebrate having her own bedroom.

Early birds that they were, he was able to get them ground-floor rooms with outside entrances. Side by side with a connecting door, which he had no intention of opening. He tossed a couple of room keys toward her when he opened the truck door.

“We got two right around the corner toward the back,” he said.

She didn’t care where they were as long as the ice machine wasn’t close enough that she could hear it dumping every few minutes. A bed with clean sheets and dark drapes were the only things she required.

He grabbed his suitcase and she reached for her duffel bag at the same time. Their fingertips touched and sparks flew but neither of them even looked up. There would be time enough to think about the future once the present pain was gone.

There was plenty of hot water and she stood under it for a long time. She wrapped a white towel around her body, brushed her teeth, and turned back the bed. The sheets were crisp and cool, the air conditioner turned down as far as it would go, and she wallowed for about thirty seconds before she looked at the digital clock beside the bed. It was three minutes past three p.m. when she shut her eyes.

She felt a presence, slowly opened one eye, and checked the clock.

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.