Read Online Male Order Bride by Carolyn Thornton - Free Book Online Page A

mentioned
her. He had to admit that the woman in the picture had intrigued him
enough to read the article.
    Lacey Adams had possibilities, definite possibilities. By
the picture in the newspaper, which had caught her off guard in the
middle of a business transaction—or perhaps the photographer
had staged the scene—he could tell that she was worth a
second look. Then, when George had mentioned her to him, he had decided
this one should be investigated.
    Rafe sat down next to an abandoned Atlanta
Constitution
and picked it up to glance over the headlines. But his mind strayed
back to Lacey. He still wondered why he had sat down on the Sunday
after George had called him and had written her all the notes and made
the tape for her. It wasn't the way he usually approached a woman.
    Generally he was more direct. Just phoned them up out of
the blue and announced his name and practically in the same breath
asked them for a date. Maybe that was why he hadn't had much success
lately, too. Then again, maybe he hadn't wanted to have much success
"dating," especially now that Margaret had taken Angela back. Just
until the end of summer, she had told him. Just until she got married;
then he could have Angela back.
    He'd hated sending Angela to Margaret. Angela was too
young to understand the tug-of-war Margaret was playing. But he knew
Margaret well enough to let Angela go this last time instead of
continually pulling her from home to home like a wishbone. It would
take a while for Angela to adjust again this fall when she returned
home, but hopefully that would be the last time.
    Damn, but he missed Angela. She was his number-one
priority. Maybe he had also used her as part of his defense. After
Margaret had left him, he hadn't been sure he wanted to have anything
to do with women again. He had thrown himself into his work, which was
what Margaret had always complained about. But he had spent as much
time as always with Angela, trying to make his daughter aware of how
much he loved her.
    He hadn't been ready to get seriously involved with a
woman for some time now. Maybe he still wasn't ready. That was probably
why none of the isolated affairs he had attempted in the past two years
had developed into anything lasting.
    Being single again was pretty nice, he had
decided—at least when Angela was living with him. Without her
the house sounded hollow and deadly empty. He guessed that was why he
had taken such a frivolous approach to Lacey Adams. He'd been bored
that Sunday afternoon. And he'd been drinking bourbon. The combination
had given him a "what-the-hell" spark of creativity.
    He smiled to himself, thinking of her last
reply— take it or leave it. It had been damned cheeky of him
to reprimand her for not following his precise instructions. Sometimes
he just had to remind himself he wasn't in the military anymore.
    It was a wonder she would still consider going out with
him. It would have been his own fault if she had told him to go soak in
a water trough. His last letter of correction had probably been his ace
in the hole—one last attempt to irritate her enough for her
to pull out. That way he could tell himself that he had made the effort
to get a date with her, and it wasn't his fault she had said no.
    But she had said yes. Or he was running on that assumption
with his last letter of invitation, about the car and driver picking
her up Saturday night. How was she going to feel, he wondered, when she
discovered he was hosting a reunion of his cavalry officers?
    He smiled again. The poor girl just didn't know what she
was getting herself into if she got messed up with him. That was
probably why he was being so avant-garde in his approach. It was like
field exercises and obstacle courses; if she passed the test, he might
think about keeping her around—for a while.
    When it came right down to it, he did miss the affection
of a woman, although he didn't miss any one woman in particular. He
also didn't want to be roped and hog-tied