Read Online Dorothy Garlock - [Tucker Family] by Come a Little Closer - Free Book Online Page B

walking, determined not to let herself be made sport of again.
    Tyler pressed the gas pedal and was instantly beside her.
    “Wait, wait, wait!” he pleaded. “You aren’t really planning on walking the whole way back to your apartment, are you?”
    “It’s not that far,” Christina said, never breaking stride.
    “On most nights I’d agree with you, but a chilly one like this, a frail gal like yourself could catch her death of cold.”
    “I’m not frail,” she snapped.
    “Sure doesn’t look that way,” Tyler admitted while still matching her pace. “So how about if I admit that my coming after you is more than just concern for your well-being? What if I said your leaving so abruptly hurt my feelings?”
    “Then I’d call you a liar,” she answered, her chin held high.
    “I’ve been a lot of things to every person I’ve ever met, but I can’t imagine a one of them thinking I was being untruthful.” He chuckled easily.
    “I suppose that makes me the first, then.”
    “Maybe so, but the least you could have done was stop and say good-bye.”
    “After the way you left the dinner table, the last thing I would have expected you to want was company.”
    “Depends on whose company it was,” Tyler said slyly.
    “Well, I’m not the sort of woman who associates with strange men.”
    “Who’s a stranger? I sat across from you at dinner! Besides, you’d never met my uncle before he picked you up at the train depot, and you got into his car.”
    “That’s because he didn’t act like a total jackass,” Christina snapped.
    “Just give him time, darlin’.” Tyler laughed loudly. “Now listen, I just got the old girl fixed,” he explained, slapping his palm down on the dashboard, “so why not hop in and share the first ride with me.”
    “What was it that fixed it? Your tools or your swearing?”
    “A little bit of both, to be honest.”
    “I’m sure the whole neighborhood heard you. I wasn’t raised to associate with uncouth men who cussed with every breath.”
    “Why do you have to be so darn difficult? I’m just offering you a ride home; it isn’t like I’m asking you to go to bed with me.”
    The blatant suggestion stopped Christina cold, dropped her mouth open in shock, and flushed her cheeks a deep red with embarrassment. Never in her life had she been spoken to in such a way! Deep down, she wanted to scream at him, but she was so insulted that she couldn’t even face him. Nothing Holden had said to her had struck so deeply. Without a word, she hurried away.
    “What got under your skirt?” Tyler asked, revving the engine in order to keep up.
    Christina tried her best to ignore him. The thought pained her, but she had to wonder if she could continue to work for Dr. Barlow; if she had to see the Sutter brothers regularly, her time in Longstock would become unbearable.
    The sudden honk of the car’s horn made her jump. “Didn’t you hear what I said?” Tyler asked.
    “Yes, I most certainly did!” She turned and shouted at him, no longer able to contain her mounting anger, her hands balled into tight fists, “And I cannot believe that you would speak to me in such a way! I didn’t think it was possible for you to be any more disgusting than you were at dinner, but I gravely underestimated you, a mistake I will not make again!”
    Instead of being shamed, Tyler widened his grin. “I suppose working yourself up into a lather is one way to stay warm. Keep it up and you’ll need to start unbuttoning your blouse.”
    “Compared to you,” Christina yelled through eyes growing wet with fury, “Holden is the nicest man I have ever met!”
    Much faster than she would have thought possible, Tyler yanked back on the car’s brake, threw open the door, and bounded across the headlight’s beams to stand before her on the sidewalk.
    “You talked to him?” he implored. “You talked to Holden?”
    “I…I took him his meal,” she answered, taken aback by the force of Tyler’s