Read Online Mind Over Matter by Nora Roberts - Free Book Online

hadn’t found the hard-edged, self-confident woman he’d expected, but a nervous, vulnerable one. For some reason, she didn’t entirely fit who she was, or what she’d chosen to be. It might be interesting to find out why.
    “Hungry?”
    Half dreaming, A.J. opened her eyes and looked at him. How was it he hadn’t seen it before? David asked himself. The eyes, the eyes were so like Clarissa’s, the shape, the color, the…depth, he decided for lack of a better word. It ran through his head that maybe she was like Clarissa in other ways. Then he dismissed it.
    “I’m sorry,” she murmured, “I wasn’t paying attention.” But she could have described his face in minute detail, from the hard cheekbones to the slight indentation in his chin. Letting out a long breath, she drew herself in. A wise woman controlled her thoughts as meticulously as her emotions.
    “I asked if you were hungry.”
    “Yes.” She stretched her shoulders. “How far have we gone?”
    Not far enough. The thought ran unbidden through his mind. Not nearly far enough. “About twenty miles. Your choice.” He eased over to the shoulder of the road and indicated a restaurant on one side and a hamburger stand on the other.
    “I’ll take the burger. If we can sit on the beach.”
    “Nothing I like better than a cheap date.” A.J. let herself out. “This isn’t a date.”
    “I forgot. You can pay for your own.” He’d never heard her laugh like that before. Easy, feminine, fresh. “Just for that I’ll spring.” But he didn’t touch her as they walked up to the stand. “What’ll it be?”
    “The jumbo burger, large fries and the super shake. Chocolate.”
    “Big talk.”
    As they waited, they watched a few early-evening swimmers splash in the shallows. Gulls swooped around, chattering and loitering near the stand, waiting for handouts. David left them disappointed as he gathered up the paper bags. “Where to?”
    “Down there. I like to watch.” A.J. walked out on the beach and, ignoring her linen skirt, dropped down on the sand. “I don’t get to the beach often enough.” Kicking off her shoes, she slid stockinged feet in the sand so that her skirt hiked up to her thighs. David took a good long look before he settled beside her.
    “Neither do I,” he decided, wondering just how those legs—and the rest of her—might look in a bikini.
    “I guess I made quite a scene.”
    “I guess you did.” He pulled out her hamburger and handed it to her.
    “I hate to,” she said, and took a fierce bite. “I don’t have a reputation as an abrasive or argumentative agent, just a tough one. I only lose objectivity with Clarissa.”
    He screwed the paper cups into the sand. “Objectivity is shot to hell when we love somebody.”
    “She’s so good. I don’t just mean at what she does, but inside.” A.J. took the fries he offered and nibbled one. “Good people can get hurt so much easier than others, you know. And she’s so willing to give of herself. If she gave everything she wanted, she’d have nothing left.”
    “So you’re there to protect her.”
    “That’s right.” She turned, challenging.
    “I’m not arguing with you.” He held up a hand. “For some reason I’d like to understand.”
    With a little laugh she looked back out to sea. “You had to be there.”
    “Why don’t you tell me what it was like? Growing up.”
    She never discussed it with anyone. Then again, she never sat on a beach eating hamburgers with associates. Maybe it was a day for firsts. “She was a wonderful mother. Is. Clarissa’s so loving, so generous.”
    “Your father?”
    “He died when I was eight. He was a salesman, so he was away a lot. He was a good salesman,” she added with the ghost of a smile. “We were lucky there. There were savings and a little bit of stock. Problem was the bills didn’t get paid. Not that the money wasn’t there. Clarissa just forgot. You’d pick up the phone and it would be dead because she’d