Read Online Hell on Wheels by Julie Ann Walker - Free Book Online
Authors: Julie Ann Walker
Tags: Black Knights Inc.#1
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face the way dawn transforms the night.
It was a good thing he didn’t whip that puppy out very often. The thing was a lethal weapon. Far more dangerous to a girl’s fragile heart than the rifle he’d used as his tool of trade while sniping for the Marine Corps.
“I like the way you talk,” he said simply, with a little shrug.
Uh, Billy Bob Thorton in Slingblade anyone? She stifled a chuckle. Mmm, hmm. I reckon.
Then the import of what he said sunk in and she gaped at him. “You do?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, a shiny lock of black hair curling over his forehead. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to stroke it between her fingers. See if it was as cool and silky as she remembered. Which was odd in the extreme since she didn’t like him. Preferred to stay as far from him as possible.
Well…save for that time on the beach…
Grief. Grief. That’d been guided by grief…hadn’t it?
Yes, it most certainly had. Anything else was just too bizarre to consider.
She shook her head. “But…but whenever I start to chatter, you always eyeball me like I’m some sort of bizarre bug that’s just crawled over your shoe.”
Ethan/Ozzie turned a chuckle into a cough and she was reminded they had an audience. Glancing over, she saw the guy try to appear industrious as he waved that black wand-thing over her empty suitcase.
Well whatever. This conversation was far too compelling to worry about something as insignificant as another set of ears listening in.
When she swung her gaze back to Nate, his black eyes were shrewd. “There, you see?” she pointed at his face. “You’re doing it again.”
He sighed heavily and began a thorough examination of his boots. “I don’t mean to. I don’t think you’re a bug at all. I think you’re…” he shook his head and slanted a look at Ethan/Ozzie, who was no longer even trying to pretend he wasn’t listening. The guy was gawking in slack-jawed fascination.
Nate grimaced before he shrugged, seeming to search for the right words. “When you talk, you always sound so happy, so sunny.”
Ali was rooted to the spot, her heart beating a mile a minute while her brains scrambled like breakfast eggs.
Things were definitely getting weird. As if the whole day, nay, the whole past three months, weren’t already redlining her personal bizarre-o-meter, now Nathan “Ghost” Weller was actually being…nice. “I think…I think that might be the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” she admitted slowly.
He shrugged again and she thought maybe there was a slight flush staining his cheeks.
Nate blushing? Forming whole sentences? Actually smiling? Had she missed the warning signs somewhere and been sucked into a parallel dimension? A parallel dimension where Nathan Weller acted like a human being?
“Grigg once told me you rarely spoke, but when you did it was usually something erudite,” she confessed while warily watching to see just what strangeness he might attempt next. “I didn’t believe him then. Now maybe I do.”
His face instantly darkened.
Startled by the swift change, she lifted her brows. “You don’t like to talk about him?”
“Can’t.”
She huffed out a peeved breath. He’d forced the word through a hard set of sawing teeth. “So we’re back to monosyllabic answers?”
He only grunted and she realized they’d gone one step further, back to mere guttural responses.
“Perfect. That’s just perfect,” she hissed through her own set of grinding teeth. She’d thought they were making some sort of progress…
Yeah, what a joke .
She spun around, stomping toward the bathroom to remove her underwear. She wasn’t even going to think about the upcoming humiliation of handing over her dirty panties.
Crapola.
Chapter Four
“Why don’t you start by telling us what brought you here, Ali,” Frank said as the three Knights in residence settled themselves around the conference table. The group was mighty thin, what with Steady in
It was a good thing he didn’t whip that puppy out very often. The thing was a lethal weapon. Far more dangerous to a girl’s fragile heart than the rifle he’d used as his tool of trade while sniping for the Marine Corps.
“I like the way you talk,” he said simply, with a little shrug.
Uh, Billy Bob Thorton in Slingblade anyone? She stifled a chuckle. Mmm, hmm. I reckon.
Then the import of what he said sunk in and she gaped at him. “You do?”
“Yeah.” He nodded, a shiny lock of black hair curling over his forehead. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to stroke it between her fingers. See if it was as cool and silky as she remembered. Which was odd in the extreme since she didn’t like him. Preferred to stay as far from him as possible.
Well…save for that time on the beach…
Grief. Grief. That’d been guided by grief…hadn’t it?
Yes, it most certainly had. Anything else was just too bizarre to consider.
She shook her head. “But…but whenever I start to chatter, you always eyeball me like I’m some sort of bizarre bug that’s just crawled over your shoe.”
Ethan/Ozzie turned a chuckle into a cough and she was reminded they had an audience. Glancing over, she saw the guy try to appear industrious as he waved that black wand-thing over her empty suitcase.
Well whatever. This conversation was far too compelling to worry about something as insignificant as another set of ears listening in.
When she swung her gaze back to Nate, his black eyes were shrewd. “There, you see?” she pointed at his face. “You’re doing it again.”
He sighed heavily and began a thorough examination of his boots. “I don’t mean to. I don’t think you’re a bug at all. I think you’re…” he shook his head and slanted a look at Ethan/Ozzie, who was no longer even trying to pretend he wasn’t listening. The guy was gawking in slack-jawed fascination.
Nate grimaced before he shrugged, seeming to search for the right words. “When you talk, you always sound so happy, so sunny.”
Ali was rooted to the spot, her heart beating a mile a minute while her brains scrambled like breakfast eggs.
Things were definitely getting weird. As if the whole day, nay, the whole past three months, weren’t already redlining her personal bizarre-o-meter, now Nathan “Ghost” Weller was actually being…nice. “I think…I think that might be the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” she admitted slowly.
He shrugged again and she thought maybe there was a slight flush staining his cheeks.
Nate blushing? Forming whole sentences? Actually smiling? Had she missed the warning signs somewhere and been sucked into a parallel dimension? A parallel dimension where Nathan Weller acted like a human being?
“Grigg once told me you rarely spoke, but when you did it was usually something erudite,” she confessed while warily watching to see just what strangeness he might attempt next. “I didn’t believe him then. Now maybe I do.”
His face instantly darkened.
Startled by the swift change, she lifted her brows. “You don’t like to talk about him?”
“Can’t.”
She huffed out a peeved breath. He’d forced the word through a hard set of sawing teeth. “So we’re back to monosyllabic answers?”
He only grunted and she realized they’d gone one step further, back to mere guttural responses.
“Perfect. That’s just perfect,” she hissed through her own set of grinding teeth. She’d thought they were making some sort of progress…
Yeah, what a joke .
She spun around, stomping toward the bathroom to remove her underwear. She wasn’t even going to think about the upcoming humiliation of handing over her dirty panties.
Crapola.
Chapter Four
“Why don’t you start by telling us what brought you here, Ali,” Frank said as the three Knights in residence settled themselves around the conference table. The group was mighty thin, what with Steady in
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