Read Online Bravo Unwrapped by Christine Rimmer - Free Book Online Page A

left that time, he was never coming back.”
    B.J., having polished off her salad, longed to pick up her plate and lick the last of the dressing from it. Somehow, she restrained herself.
    And besides, there was still the bread basket. She grabbed it and peeled back the warming towel to reveal four nice, big dinner rolls. Snatching one up, she slathered on the butter and then tore off a hunk and stuck it in her mouth.
    God. Bread. Delicious—and Buck was watching her again, grinning that grin of his. She made a move-it-along circular gesture with her free hand.
    He took his cue. “Recently—since a few years ago, when it all came out in the papers and I found out who he really was—I’ve been learning about dear old Dad. Blake kept a home base in Norman, Oklahoma, with a woman named Tammy Rae Sandovich. He had one child with Tammy Rae. A boy, Marsh.”
    She swallowed. “Your half-brother…”
    â€œOne among many. I met Marsh last year. Great guy. Blake used to beat him—and his mother, too. A lot. So in hindsight, with the information I have now, I can’t say I regret that dear old Dad didn’t show up much, or that he stopped coming around when I was so young.”
    B.J. felt a faint twinge of something that might have been sympathy—for Buck, for all the left-behind children of the evil Blake. With that twinge came the urge to reach across the table, to cover Buck’s hand with her own, to reassure him, the way a friend would. It was an urge she took care to suppress.
    Nadine set Buck’s second drink in front of him. “Everything okay?”
    B.J. swallowed again. “Great,” she said, and popped the last of the roll into her mouth.
    Nadine beamed at B.J.—and scolded Buck. “Eat your salad. Steaks are on the way.”
    â€œI’m getting to it, Nadine.”
    The waitress clucked her tongue and left them—and Buck reached over and turned off the recorder. Before B.J. could swallow that last chunk of bread and object, he leaned closer and spoke low. “I talked to Ma—about what’s up with Bowie and Glory.”
    Okay, she was curious. She washed the bread down with water. “So, and?”
    â€œGlory’s pregnant.”
    â€œPregnant.” She set down her glass. She probably should have guessed—and was this too close to home, or what?
    â€œBowie wants to marry her.”
    â€œSo he said—more than once. And she said no. Repeatedly. At the top of her lungs, as I recall.”
    Buck finally picked up his fork. “It doesn’t matter what she said. He’ll marry her, one way or the other.”
    â€œNot if she keeps saying no.”
    â€œYou just don’t get it.”
    â€œThat’s right, I don’t.”
    â€œBowie’s a Bravo.”
    â€œAnd that explains…what?”
    â€œEverything.”
    â€œOh. Well. To you, maybe.”
    He wore an excessively patient expression. “My brothers and I were raised minus a father. That’s not going to happen to our kids.”
    â€œAh.” And given her own circumstances, B.J. wasn’t sure she liked the sound of this. “Okay. Just to recap here. Bowie’s a Bravo. So he has to marry Glory—because she’s going to have his baby?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAs in, one and one equals two?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œBuck. Hello. Twenty-first century, U.S. of A.”
    He waved his fork for silence. “Look. A Bravo may make mistakes in life. Big ones. But you can bet your favorite pair of sexy shoes that when there’s an innocent kid involved, a Bravo will always find a way to do the right thing.”
    A stream of perfectly valid arguments scrolled through B.J.’s brain: that sometimes marriage just isn’t the right solution, that a child can have a productive, happy life without her parents being married. That some people—herself among them—just