It Happened One Fight by Maureen Lenker

Author:Maureen Lenker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks

CHAPTER 17

Joan was the one who’d pushed another woman into the lake. So why then did she feel as if she’d been doused with cold water? When she’d come to her senses, realized what she was saying, and noticed that Monty had borne witness to it all, the air had whooshed out of her lungs.

It hadn’t been enough to be photographed kissing another man in the papers. No, now she was causing a scene on that man’s behalf. A man who was, through no fault of her own, technically her husband.

Monty gestured to her, and she followed him onto the shore, sand seeping in through her peep-toe wedges. But she ignored the tiny rocks grinding into her heels. Far more concerning was the grim look on Monty’s face. As if he’d swallowed a rotten egg. Only she was the rotten egg.

“Monty, I can explain,” she began, trudging behind him up the beach.

He held up a hand. “Not here, Joan.” She swallowed hard and nodded. The least she could do was as he asked. What had she been thinking? She hadn’t been. She’d simply allowed herself to get carried away by the late afternoon sun and Dash’s striking figure on the end of the dock. He’d rolled up his shirtsleeves, exposing his forearms, and goodness, did men not realize the effect that had on women?

It drove her wild. Every time he tugged on his fishing rod, the muscles in his forearms flexed and rippled, leaving her breathless and a little parched. And then that terrible Dolores woman wouldn’t let Dash be. It was as if she knew exactly what to say that would hurt Dash most. Joan couldn’t stand for it, not when he’d stood up for her on set. She’d discovered what it meant to have someone in her corner. And she was finding she not only liked having someone there, but also liked being that person for someone else. Joan had always been a lone wolf, but she was starting to hunger for a pack.

They came upon the car Monty was borrowing while in town, a cream-colored Lincoln with the top down. It was long and slick and lush, not as fine as the Rolls-Royce Monty was well known for driving about town. But still far from inconspicuous, with its long, thin nose and undulating sides, accentuated by whitewall tires.

Ever the gentleman, Monty opened Joan’s door first, gesturing for her to climb inside. She swallowed, her throat giving the impression it was more choked with sand and dust than she had on her feet. But she climbed in, hoping that Monty would end this silence. Yell, castigate her, anything was better than this quiet.

Monty wordlessly walked around the car and climbed behind the wheel, peeling out of their lakeside picnic area. Joan resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to catch the expression on Dash’s face, instead clamping her wide white hat to her head as Monty put the car in drive and it picked up speed. The wind whipped through her hair, and she soon abandoned her hat, pulling it into her lap.

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.