Read Online Maverick Wild (Harlequin Historical Series) by Stacey Kayne - Free Book Online

others.
    She looked up in surprise. “I feel fine,” she whispered back.
    “Then why aren’t you eating?”
    Her eyes widened. Red splotched her cheeks. “I am.”
    Chance glanced again at the spot of green and sliver of ham. “Cora Mae, you don’t have to starve yourself to be polite. A body can’t survive on a few bites of food.”
    “Mine can,” she said, her voice barely audible.
    The sad bow of her mouth sent a lash of anger through him. Every dip and curve of her sweetly shaped body was enough to drive him to distraction. He heaped a spoonful of potatoes onto her plate. “Bullshit,” he said, knowing her mother had likely planted such thoughts in her mind. “A few more pounds won’t make you any less attractive.”
    A sudden silence fell over the dining room and Chance realized he hadn’t kept his voice as low as he should have.
    “What?” He shoved the bowl into Mitch’s hands, annoyed by the shock on everyone’s faces and the wave of heat rising up from his collar. “Am I out of line for stating the truth?”
    “You’d have to be blind not to notice,” Garret piped in.
    “I’ve been meaning to ask,” said Mitch. “Are you spoken for?”
    Chance stopped short of taking a bite of greens. Cora Mae visibly stiffened.
    “You’re bound to have suitors,” said Tucker. “Single women don’t last long around these parts. If you’ve a mind to marry—”
    “Certainly not,” Cora Mae answered with a speed and sternness that put instant frowns on the men, and nearly had Chance smiling.
    “I have no interest in marriage,” she said, “so there’s no provocation for suitors. Or courtship. Of any sort,” she added, hammering a final nail into the courtship coffin.
    That settled that.
    “Do you have reason to leave soon?” asked Skylar.
    “Well…no. But I don’t intend to wear out my welcome.”
    “So,” said Duce, “if you was to take a shine—”
    “I won’t marry.”
    Chance admired the firmness in her tone, and had to refrain from kicking his temporary foreman.
    “I don’t intend any insult,” she said, clearly noting the glum expressions around the table, “I just…”
    “She’s not interested,” Chance interjected. “And we won’t tolerate any pestering.” His gaze pinned every man at the table. “Duce, did you finish bringing in the mustangs on the north side?”
    “Not by half. We spent our morning tearing down the last of the Lazy J dam.”
    The rest of the conversation was a hum in Cora’s ears as Chance’s protective words played over in her mind. He’d been her strength for so long. Even as children, he’d taken the sting out of her mother’s endless insults.
    Your mama’s stupid. I like your orange hair .
    She stole another glance at him. Perhaps he hadn’t changed so much. The blond hair reaching his collar and flipping up around his ears was darker than she remembered, his strong masculine features far more handsome than she could have imagined. Could the Chance she’d known as a child be buried somewhere beneath that rugged exterior?
    His gaze caught hers. Flutters erupted low in her belly.
    His brow furrowed as he looked away. Anger darkened his eyes. “Salina said what? ”
    Cora glanced at the shocked expressions around the table and realized there’d been a drastic shift in the conversation.
    “That you’re courting her,” said Skylar. “Her words. And she was rude to Cora while making her announcement.”
    Chance’s questioning gaze whipped toward her.
    “It was nothing,” Cora quickly put in. “She was obviously staking her claim on you, which is none of my business or my concern.”
    “Bu-shit!” Joshua slapped the tray of his high chair, capturing everyone’s attention. He shoved a soggy crust of bread back into his mouth and continued to babble incoherently.
    Skylar glared across the table at Chance.
    “Thanks a lot, partner,” he said to his nephew. “Mumble everything but the swear word.”
    “Much like his uncle,”