The Montana Rancher by Paula Altenburg

Author:Paula Altenburg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
ISBN: 9781957748030
Publisher: Tule Publishing Group, LLC
Published: 2022-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth

Elizabeth woke up alone, which didn’t surprise her. Heathcliff had issues with intimacy completely separate from sex.

My dad wasn’t one of the good guys.

In Chicago-speak, she knew what that likely meant. His mother fleeing the state with him, and his lack of a past, were two more good clues. Thanks to her studies and advocacy work, she’d heard quite a few true stories with similar themes of targeted hits, but she didn’t know of any Chicago O’Connells who might fit Ryan’s story.

Everything, combined with the money he’d inherited from an unknown benefactor, left her thinking she should leave well enough alone and not dig too deep. At the end of the day, his past remained none of her business and she planned to keep it that way. They’d had one night of sex when emotions ran high.

While she wouldn’t call it a mistake, despite the unfortunate condom mishap—she’d take care of that first thing tomorrow—she’d been smart to get his agreement beforehand that this was a one-off event and he couldn’t use it against her. He seized on weakness the way a lion went after the lame. He liked to play with his kill too.

Her phone, buried somewhere beneath carelessly discarded clothing, pinged an alert that she’d gotten a text.

She stretched, stark naked—not her usual state when she woke up in the morning—and rolled from the bunk. Cold floorboards kissed the soles of her feet. She snatched up her robe and slippers from the shower next to the kitchen before rushing to draw the blinds she hadn’t wanted to close during the previous night’s teambuilding exercises.

The text was from Ryan, letting her know he’d be there in an hour to begin moving her belongings. She frowned at it.

Now that daylight had arrived, the incident with Jonas became far less sinister. That, and the sunlight doing its best to warm up the floor, had her rethinking her hasty agreement to move. Yes, Jonas had been too aggressive by far, but when she considered the nuances of his behavior, she saw what had bothered her—there’d been nothing sexual about it.

A mental review of his profile, where he’d initially exhibited violence over not making a male-dominated sports team, and a check of her research notes on him, suggested possible confusion over his sexual orientation might be the real culprit. He claimed to have acted on a dare from Angel, who was an extraordinarily good-looking, dominant, and promiscuous boy—exactly the type Jonas would want to impress. Her fleeing in fear to the main house wasn’t going to send him the right message at all.

Unfortunately, she’d agreed to the move, so the damage was done. If she tried to change her mind now, Heathcliff would lose his. She’d give it a few days and then ask him if they could review other options.

An hour later, when he arrived, she had her bags packed and ready to go. She waited to see how he’d behave after promising he’d forget all about the night before. If she’d thought he’d be possessive, or in any way romantic, she had no reason to worry.

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.