Read Online Fortune's Proposal by Allison Leigh - Free Book Online Page A

J.R.”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œAnd your other brothers?”
    â€œYeah.” He wondered where she was heading.
    But all she did was make a soft little sound that had a ripple working down his spine. “I always thought it would be nice to have a large family.”
    â€œGrowing up, it had its moments,” he allowed. And even though they’d all kind of gone along their own paths when they’d become adults, Drew supposed he was still pretty close to his brothers. They might not see each other all that often—not with J.R. and Nick and Darr all living in Red Rock, while he and Jeremy were still in California—but they managed to keep up with each other’s lives all the same.
    â€œThere are a boatload of cousins, too,” he added. “My dad’s brother Patrick and his wife and all of them willprobably be around. You won’t get a chance to meet my aunt Cindy, though.” He hadn’t asked for details about the wedding, but William had offered up that information. “She’s only a few years younger than dad, but she’s probably still out there sowing wild oats somewhere. Total character.” It was easy enough to appreciate when she was his aunt. As a mother to her four kids, though, Drew knew she’d seriously left something to be desired. Nurturing, she wasn’t.
    Which made him think about Deanna’s mother. “What are you going to tell your mother?”
    She rolled onto her back again and pulled the comforter up to her chin. “Nothing until I have to.” She evidently didn’t feel like she was in danger of overheating just because they were in the same bed. “And then nothing more than I have to.”
    He very nearly asked her then about her father, but she yawned widely and rolled again, until her back was toward him and he swallowed his curiosity. As far as he could recall, he’d never heard Deanna mention the man.
    He didn’t know if her father was alive or dead or even if he’d ever been a part of her life at all.
    When it came down to it, his assistant knew a lot more about his life than he did about hers.
    It wasn’t a point that had ever bothered him much before, but now, it niggled at him.
    But he said no more about it. He and Deanna might not be involved “that” way, but he was smart enough to know that when a woman—any woman—turned her back like that, it was definitely the end of the conversation as far as she was concerned.
    So he just stared into the shadows until he heardthe cadence of her breathing finally change. Slow. Lengthen.
    Only then did he finally manage to close his eyes and get some peace from his troubled thoughts. But a short while later, when he felt the soft shape of his sleeping companion brush against him, he was wide-awake again.
    And his troublesome body seemed doomed to keep him there.
    Â 
    She was roasting.
    Deanna kicked at her blankets, only realizing when her bare feet encountered the silky smooth texture of expensive cotton sheets that she wasn’t in her own bed in her own apartment.
    She went stock still, staring at the window across from her.
    Shutters were closed across it, but sunlight was sneaking around the dark, wood slats.
    It wasn’t the sunlight that had her attention, though.
    It was the warm, hair-roughened, sinewy arm that was lying heavily over her waist. And it was the long-fingered hand that belonged to that arm that was cupping her breast.
    She sank her teeth into her bottom lip. She would have held her breath, if she could. But her heart was suddenly pounding so fast that she didn’t seem able to even accomplish that.
    But when she realized that her nipples were tightening and Drew’s thumb was lazily brushing across it, she gingerly wrapped her hand around his wrist and started to push his hand away from her.
    He mumbled something and simply tightened his arm around her waist and she found herself sliding againstthe