Read Online Carolina Girl by Patricia Rice - Free Book Online

him
with complete unself-consciousness, giving him time to appreciate the impact of
purple pansy eyes, long lashes, and a wide mouth parted slightly in
astonishment. He liked her with her defenses down. What would he have to do to
keep her like that?
    “How would we work together?” she demanded,
sensibly enough. “You’re the one who will provide the state with
the list of Binghams and sell us out.”
    “If I don’t give them the list, you won’t
have your park.”
    “You don’t even believe there should be a
park,” she countered.
    “ I’m not the problem. You’re the
one who has a problem if you want to force the state to do things your way. I
can just throw out the program, tear up the list of Binghams, walk away, and
protect turtle nests by stopping the park.” Until the state hired someone
else.
    He knew better than to believe he had a snowball’s chance
of halting the park, but there was some tiny chance they might limit
development in the swamp behind it—if he and the MBA princess could work
together.
    At his mention of stopping the park, a look of panic reached
her eyes, and he wondered what that was all about. What in hell did she have
riding on a state park? Not that he cared about her hidden agendas, of course.
    “The county zoning commission,” she murmured,
drawing back from her dazed state and looking confident again. “They need
a recommended-land-use plan.”
    “I’m not a lawyer, but zoning sounds like a good
start.” If he was smart, he’d be wary when she started looking
confident. “What about the EPA? Aren’t the turtles
protected?”
    She grabbed her purse and pulled out her keys, still not
looking at him. “They’re loggerheads, threatened but not protected.
But we can bring in environmental groups and try for some temporary injunctions
until zoning can be decided. Development can’t be halted. We need the
money out here.”
    “Along the highway only,” he persisted, wanting
parameters established. Condos in the wooded swamp next door to Cleo and Jared
would destroy their safe haven.
    He told himself it was for Cleo and Jared that he did this.
He couldn’t think of any other reason to be involved.
    As if she heard his thoughts, she shouldered her purse and
pinned him with her glare. “And what do you get out of this?”
    Time with you didn’t seem to be the appropriate
answer. He probably didn’t have an appropriate answer.
    Clay snapped his helmet on. She didn’t budge an inch
but stood practically nose-to-nose with him, waiting for a reply.
    “I’m paying penance for my former life, okay?
Just tell me if you want my help or not, and I’ll get out of here.”
    Oddly, his heart beat a tattoo while she considered his
offer. He really didn’t want to get involved, he told himself. He was
waiting for her to boot him out so he could go back to his cloistered world and
work. He didn’t know why he’d volunteered in the first place.
    “All right.” She whirled around and started for
a sweet little Beamer beside the house. “I’ve got your phone
number. I’ll call you when I have a list of the zoning restrictions and
commission meeting dates. Initial that budget I gave you and get it back to
me.”
    Clay did his best not to grin as she slammed into her car
and roared off in a cloud of sand. That attitude of hers worked fine when she
was wearing the armor of her business suits, but failed completely in royal
purple with paint on her nose.
    With a pang of guilt, he realized he’d been judging
Aurora Jenkins by her business suits, just as people judged him by his
appearance or his job title or his financial statements. He’d learned to
deliberately use his looks and bad attitude to steer people away.
    So what was she hiding behind her suits of armor?
    And why the hell did he itch to find out?
    Rubbing his fingers beneath his helmet while surrounded by
reflecting balls and laughing dwarves, he wondered if he’d finally let
his last screw loose. Jared would laugh