Read Online City Girl by Judy Griffith Gill - Free Book Online Page A

when Kirk and I are married, there’ll be no need for a housekeeper, so don’t get too comfortable.”
            Liss gritted her teeth and forced herself to keep her hands and her tongue out of mischief. Nothing would be gained by deliberately antagonizing this  . . .woman, regardless of how antagonistic she was toward her. But, Liss reflected, that didn’t mean she had to take any abuse, either.
    “I hope you’ll both excuse me,” she said calmly. “I don’t like to leave the children outside alone too long. Good-bye, Gina. Nice meeting you.”
    “My name,” Gina said pointedly, “is Miss Holland. “
    The silence, as Liss walked briskly out of the kitchen and into the back room, was almost palpable. When she returned from outside more than an hour later, after she and the boys had built a marvelous snowman, she was not surprised to see that the table had not been cleared and the soup pot still stood on the stove. From the living room she heard the hum of a low-voiced conversation. Mrs. Healey and Gina Holland, it seemed, had struck up an unlikely friendship. Or was it, Liss wondered, hanging up her coat and the boys’ outdoor gear, so unlikely? After all, both would be happier if Liss didn’t exist. Maybe they thought that, together, they could force her to leave.
    She tucked the boys into bed for a nap, then baked a chocolate cake to make up for being so stubborn over the candy bar issue. The cake was cooling, dinner was in the oven, and Liss was in the back entry hall, reaching up to a high shelf where she’d seen icing sugar stored, when Kirk came home.
    “Oh!” Startled, she dropped down from her tiptoes and whirled around as he and Marsh came through the back door. Marsh’s claws clicked on the tile as he walked over to her. He nudged her with his cold, wet nose, then continued on to the kitchen and his water dish, where he lapped noisily.
    Kirk halted just inside the door and gazed at her, a defensive expression on his face, a stubborn thrust to his chin.
    Her heart rate increased and her insides seemed to melt. She stiffened and said, “Hello. I thought you weren’t coming home until late.”
    He set a grocery bag on the freezer, then banged the snow off his boots onto the mat by the door. His stare challenged her. “ I changed my mind. This is my home, too, and I won’t be forced out of it.”
    Liss’s eyes narrowed. “I wasn’t aware of having forced you out.”
    “You didn’t,” he said. Abruptly, he reached out and caught her around the waist, his cold hands startling on her bare skin, for her shirt had hitched up as she’d stretched for the sugar. “This did.”
    “What—” she started to say, but something in his expression silenced her. His eyes glittered under the brim of his hat. His chest rose and fell within the open front of his jacket. His powerful thighs brushed against hers, and his long fingers flexed on her waist, stroking the skin of her back. He bent low, held her tight against him, and then he kissed her.
     

Chapter Three
     
    What the hell are you doing? Kirk asked himself as Liss’s warm, soft lips parted instinctively under his.
    Oh, hell, he was doing what he’d been wanting to do, been thinking what he’d been thinking about incessantly since he drove away at noon. No, dammit, he’d been thinking about it since this morning, since Friday night, since . . . since the first time he ever saw Liss Tremayne. He was out of his mind.       He shouldn’t have touched her. He’d told himself he wouldn’t, just as he’d told himself to get out of the house and stay out until he had his libido back under control. But there he was, back home touching her, kissing her, lifting his head and rubbing away the crick in his neck, then bending to kiss her again.
    “Ah, Liss . . .” he said softly when he eased away for the second time. “You taste so good.” She stared at him, her eyes bemused, and he knew he wasn’t through with kissing her, no matter