Read Online Heart So Sweet: Book 3 in the Great Plains Romance Series by Corrissa James - Free Book Online
Book: Heart So Sweet: Book 3 in the Great Plains Romance Series by Corrissa James
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Authors: Corrissa James
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help make everything look better in the morning, yet sleep eluded her. Every time she closed her eyes, she remembered Tate kissing her, teasing her body, and the heartache grew until it threatened to consume her.
Chapter Twelve
Tate endured more sleepless nights than he cared to admit. He threw himself into his work, doing so much overtime that he was leaving his deputies with nothing to do. Of course, none of them would tell him that. They barely spoke to him as they were too busy avoiding his seemingly never-ending foul mood. His mood lightened up a bit when Andrew Clark was sentenced to thirty days in county lockup, followed by a year of probation. However, when Tate touched base with Dalton James and learned that Lucas was thriving while working on the ranch, his bad mood returned. His plan had been to make the entire Clark family suffer, especially Annie and Lucas, for making him look the fool. But Lucas was feeling none of the repercussions, which made Tate angrier than he cared to admit, even to himself.
He wasn’t sure how Annie had managed to turn such a bad situation into something good for everyone—everyone but him—but he was sure she was behind it all. With both Bruce Garrison and now Andrew Clark behind bars, the late night calls about rowdy troublemakers basically disappeared. A few would still come in on weekends, but the overnight dispatch operator was becoming just as bored as the deputies. Tate seemed to be the only one working himself into a state of exhaustion every day, but he knew it was because the nights terrified him.
He couldn’t get Annie out of his head. Despite being convinced that she had used him to ensure the safety of her brothers, he still found himself making excuses to go places where she might be. He told himself that catching a glimpse of her would remind him of how truly devious she was. Except, of course, his body didn’t care if she was devious or not. It just wanted to feel her body next to his. Soon Tate stopped looking for her and instead started avoiding any place she might be. That approach didn’t work either.
After the first week of avoiding her, the doubts emerged. Had he misunderstood the situation? He remembered how panicked she’d been when Andrew started knocking on the door. No matter how much he told himself that it had all been an act, he could not dismiss her fear. She’d been truly worried that Andrew would know that she’d been with Tate that night. But that scenario didn’t fit with his ideas of deception. In fact, it would have been better if Andrew had caught them in bed together. Tate would not have been able to be involved in the case against Andrew.
He was spending another sleepless night in bed when he remembered that he didn’t even consider the Clark brothers as suspects until Annie mentioned the Jameses to Andrew that morning, when Tate was supposed to be hiding in the shower. She would never have brought that up if they were all working together to conceal the truth and deceive him. Tate swore as he threw off the thin sheet and pulled on a pair of pants. He’d been so focused on a single comment from Annie that he’d failed to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. Now he was determined to face Annie and get to the bottom of the whole conversation.
He glanced at the clock. It wasn’t quite 4 a.m. He made a pot of coffee and drank two-thirds of it, watching the clock the entire time. At 4:47 he decided that if Annie wasn’t already waking up for the day’s chores, he’d help her along. He smiled to himself as he grabbed his keys. Well, he’d wake her up, but getting out of bed was a different story. And if she were already up and about, maybe he’d just bring her back to his cabin for a languid weekend.
He threw open the cabin’s front door, then jumped back, startled. An older woman stood on his front step, her hand raised as if about to knock on the door.
“Good morning, nephew.”
Tate handed his aunt a cup
Chapter Twelve
Tate endured more sleepless nights than he cared to admit. He threw himself into his work, doing so much overtime that he was leaving his deputies with nothing to do. Of course, none of them would tell him that. They barely spoke to him as they were too busy avoiding his seemingly never-ending foul mood. His mood lightened up a bit when Andrew Clark was sentenced to thirty days in county lockup, followed by a year of probation. However, when Tate touched base with Dalton James and learned that Lucas was thriving while working on the ranch, his bad mood returned. His plan had been to make the entire Clark family suffer, especially Annie and Lucas, for making him look the fool. But Lucas was feeling none of the repercussions, which made Tate angrier than he cared to admit, even to himself.
He wasn’t sure how Annie had managed to turn such a bad situation into something good for everyone—everyone but him—but he was sure she was behind it all. With both Bruce Garrison and now Andrew Clark behind bars, the late night calls about rowdy troublemakers basically disappeared. A few would still come in on weekends, but the overnight dispatch operator was becoming just as bored as the deputies. Tate seemed to be the only one working himself into a state of exhaustion every day, but he knew it was because the nights terrified him.
He couldn’t get Annie out of his head. Despite being convinced that she had used him to ensure the safety of her brothers, he still found himself making excuses to go places where she might be. He told himself that catching a glimpse of her would remind him of how truly devious she was. Except, of course, his body didn’t care if she was devious or not. It just wanted to feel her body next to his. Soon Tate stopped looking for her and instead started avoiding any place she might be. That approach didn’t work either.
After the first week of avoiding her, the doubts emerged. Had he misunderstood the situation? He remembered how panicked she’d been when Andrew started knocking on the door. No matter how much he told himself that it had all been an act, he could not dismiss her fear. She’d been truly worried that Andrew would know that she’d been with Tate that night. But that scenario didn’t fit with his ideas of deception. In fact, it would have been better if Andrew had caught them in bed together. Tate would not have been able to be involved in the case against Andrew.
He was spending another sleepless night in bed when he remembered that he didn’t even consider the Clark brothers as suspects until Annie mentioned the Jameses to Andrew that morning, when Tate was supposed to be hiding in the shower. She would never have brought that up if they were all working together to conceal the truth and deceive him. Tate swore as he threw off the thin sheet and pulled on a pair of pants. He’d been so focused on a single comment from Annie that he’d failed to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. Now he was determined to face Annie and get to the bottom of the whole conversation.
He glanced at the clock. It wasn’t quite 4 a.m. He made a pot of coffee and drank two-thirds of it, watching the clock the entire time. At 4:47 he decided that if Annie wasn’t already waking up for the day’s chores, he’d help her along. He smiled to himself as he grabbed his keys. Well, he’d wake her up, but getting out of bed was a different story. And if she were already up and about, maybe he’d just bring her back to his cabin for a languid weekend.
He threw open the cabin’s front door, then jumped back, startled. An older woman stood on his front step, her hand raised as if about to knock on the door.
“Good morning, nephew.”
Tate handed his aunt a cup
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