The Pretender by Kathleen Creighton

Author:Kathleen Creighton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

Abby didn’t think she’d ever had a shower that felt so completely wonderful. She stood naked under the deluge of steaming hot water and felt…exhilarated. Joyful. Happy. That’s what this is: happiness. I…am…happy.

For the life of her, she couldn’t think why that should be so. What was so joyful, so good about this moment…this day?

After chores, she’d come back to the hacienda with Sage just in time for dinner, with no time even to grab a quick shower first. They’d brushed themselves off, left their shoes on the front doorstep, washed their hands and faces in the kitchen sink and joined Rachel and J.J. on the patio, and nobody had seemed to mind that they were both sweaty and dusted with hay. Dinner was Mexican, with beans, rice and enchiladas—cheese for Abby, chicken or beef for everyone else. Except for Abby’s brief description of her walk in the meadow—leaving out the part about dancing, or her deal with Sage—the conversation had mostly revolved around Rachel and J.J.’s trip to the doctor with Sean. He’d gotten his first shots, and was fussy now, running a slight fever.

After dinner, she was finally able to retire to her room and strip off her dirty, itchy clothes. She didn’t think she’d ever been so dirty in her life. Or so tired. And yet, it had been one of the best days of her life.

If I’m not careful, I could get to love it here.

A small voice in her head said, Too late. You already do.

Pain lurked in that thought, and for some reason her mind called up images of Sage, inevitably returning there like a threatened creature to its den. Under the cascading water she smiled, remembering how happy she’d felt just working beside him, carrying chunks of scratchy hay—he’d told her they were called flakes—filling mossy murky water troughs, pouring buckets of grain into pans for eager cattle, or fresh warm milk into pans for a swarm of meowing cats. She remembered his face as he’d told her to be back at six o’clock in the morning. Six o’clock? An unthinkable hour, and yet all she’d felt—still felt—was a fluttery sense of anticipation.

I could easily get to love him, too.

And again the voice in her head whispered, Too late.

The pain she’d been trying so hard to avoid twisted in her belly like a knife.

She’d dated a lot of men—even had a couple of relationships that lasted as long as…oh, maybe a few weeks. But nobody…no one had ever made her feel the way Sage did.

A cliché popped into her head: Where have you been all my life?

Oh, God, why? Why did I have to meet him here? And now?

Just like that, happiness turned to despair. Blindly, she turned off the water and toweled herself dry, then crawled into bed and pulled the sheets up to her chin, shivering with misery rather than cold. Pia came and stood on her chest, chirping her usual

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.