Read Online A Kiss to Seal the Deal by Nikki Logan - Free Book Online Page A

to be alone with his thoughts when Grant was a boy, sitting out high on a bluff somewhere. Leaving his son to find his own amusement.
    â€˜I know he filled his spare time with committees and doing odd jobs for friends,’ she said. ‘But I think you can be busy and still lonely.’
    â€˜Speaking from experience, Kate?’ Her eyes rounded and darkened with pain, then flicked away carefully. Grant gave himself the fastest of inner lectures.
    She rushed on. ‘Just as some people can be bored but think they’re content.’
    Was that a dig at him? No, she couldn’t know… ‘Bored is not a phrase I associate with Dad, either.’
    â€˜No.’ Did that gentle smile mean she forgave him his snappy response? ‘No shortage of tasks when you’re running a farm single-handed.’
    Grant winced. Everywhere he turned there were reminders of the future that his father had wanted for him. He should have been here with his dad, running the farm. Maybe then he could have headed Kate’s research off before it had even started. Maybe then there would have been no question of the surety of their property. Maybe then his dad would still be alive.
    And maybe he’d be arguing loudly with an impossible man right now instead of talking quietly with a woman who was intriguing the hell out of him.
    They added two more loads of gear to the pile at the roller-door. Grant knew the moment was coming when he’d need to press the remote and open it. There was nothing in there now but dust and storage boxes. But still his pulse began to hammer.
    Kate turned to him. ‘Could I ask…?’
    His heart squeezed painfully. No, don’t ask. Don’t make me say no.
    She nodded towards the garage. ‘Just some of the bigger pieces?’
    An icy sweat broke out along his spine. He called on every boardroom tactic in his arsenal to keep it from showing on his face, and then he really scraped the barrel and called on desperate humour.
    Not his strong suit.
    â€˜What happened to your fiery independence Ms Dickson? Does it only last until there’s heavy lifting to be done?’
    He saw the impact of his words in the dimming of her eyes, in the stiffness of her shoulders. He kicked himself, while at the same time acknowledging that his sarcasm was still better than what he wanted to do: turn and sprint for the hills.
    It was stupid not to have anticipated this moment. He should have left her to her unpacking and made himself scarce instead of hanging around like a blowfly waiting for her to smile again. Now he either had to forever position himself as a jerk in her mind or walk into the room he’d found his father in.
    â€˜Sorry,’ she said, clipped, frosty and calm. ‘You must have things to do. I’ll be fine.’
    He knew that. If he hadn’t been here, she would have managed. All she had to do was take a few things out of the heaviest boxes. She didn’t actually need the help. Whether she knew it or not, she’d been making overtures of friendship since she’d walked in his front door with her paltry belongings two nights ago.
    And he’d just thrown it back in her face.
    Suck it up, kid. The voice in his imagination was a hybrid of his father’s and his own.
    â€˜Kate, wait.’ He stopped her as she would have turned completely away. ‘That was a bad joke. I’m sorry.’
    â€˜No.’ She shook his hand free, her eyes low. ‘You’ve been more than generous with your offer of lab space and a room. I don’t want to take advantage any more than—’
    Grant silenced her by bending and intentionally taking thebiggest of the equipment boxes. ‘Can you get the door?’ While he had an armful of box, he couldn’t operate the remote; something told him that was a button-press he simply could not make.
    Even if Kate was with him.
    That thought brought his head up sharply. Since when had Grant