Read Online Cupid, Texas [1] Love at First Sight by Lori Wilde - Free Book Online Page B

armed forces. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. What kind of person would I be if I turned away a former military man who’d suffered the consequences of defending my freedom?”
    “A cautious one?”
    “I’m not incautious.”
    “Is that right?”
    “It is.”
    “Then why does a single woman take in boarders?”
    She looked perturbed. “Who says I’m single?”
    “You don’t wear a ring.”
    She tucked her left hand behind her back. “Not wearing a ring doesn’t mean anything. I could be married. I’m plenty old enough to be married and have a passel of kids.”
    “But you’re not married. You’re all alone.”
    “Just because I’m single doesn’t mean I’m alone by any stretch. I have three—well, two now that Red’s vanished—long-term boarders and a constant turnover of tourists. I have a sister, a maid, a gardener, and a cook. My entire family lives around me—cousins, aunts, uncles. I’m the least alone person you’ll ever meet.”
    “Well, imagine that,” he said lightly, feeling that inexplicable tugging in the center of his chest once more.
    They were back to square one, not speaking, caught in each other’s eyes.
    “So if someone wanted to harm you, they’d have to go through a cadre of friends and relatives.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him. “Who on earth would want to harm me?”
    “There’s darkness in this world that you have no idea about.”
    “You underestimate me. I have a permit to carry a handgun and I know how to use it.”
    Surprised, he arched an eyebrow.
    “Rattlesnakes,” she said. “Lots of rattlesnakes in the desert.”
    He couldn’t get over this wild attraction beating through him. She was a pretty woman, but what concerned him was the overwhelming pull of attraction that gripped him whenever he looked at her. He hated feeling so out of control. His gaze fixed on the seaweed in her hair again. It was just an excuse to get closer to her, but he couldn’t resist. Dade stepped forward.
    She backed up, the pulse at her throat thumping wildly. “What are you doing?”
    “You’ve got something . . .” He reached a hand up to touch her hair.
    In that second of that touch, his past disappeared. All the things he’d done wrong, all the wrong paths he’d taken suddenly seemed the exact right paths leading him here—to this woman, this place, this moment in time.
    Kiss her! his body screamed at him. Kiss her! Kiss her!
    Her breath was so shallow that she was scarcely breathing. Their eyes latched together, inseparable, the current between them stronger than electricity. His fingers found the pond weeds and he plucked them from her hair.
    “Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed. “There really was something in my hair.”
    “You thought I was lying?”
    Her cheeks blushed hotly. She looked so damn cute, he wanted to wrap her into his arms and imprint her lips with his. Brand her. Make her his, forever and ever.
    It was an unsettling sensation for a man who’d sworn never to settle down, never to stay in one place for long. Shocked by his thoughts and feelings, he turned and flung the weeds into the pond.
    When he turned around again, she was assessing him coolly, but he could see her trembling. Had he done that to her?
    He should cut his losses here, jump on his Harley, and find somewhere else to stay before he got mired in the quicksand of her eyes.
    She nodded.
    “I’ll show you the room,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to rent it to you.”
    “Thank you.”
    “I need to change my clothes first. You can follow me inside the house and wait in the kitchen.”
    “All right,” he agreed, feeling so utterly grateful that he was ashamed of himself.
    She bent down to pick up her shoes and a plastic leg brace and limped toward the house.
    “You’re limping,” he said.
    “It’s permanent,” she called curtly over her shoulder without looking back.
    He felt a stab directly in the center of his heart, and it was all