Read Online My Dearest Cal by Sherryl Woods - Free Book Online Page A

nearly supper time. It was one of the hardest struggles of his life. Oh, he had plenty to do to keep occupied, but all of his thoughts seemed centered on Marilou Stockton. He couldn’t imagine a more troubling turn of events. He’d made it a practice not to let any woman get too close. He hadn’t lived with a woman for the past ten years, not since he’d realized and accepted that he was the kind of man who simply couldn’t settle down and make the kind of commitment any decent woman deserved.
    Now he had gone and broken his own rule. He’d invited a woman who was dead set on reforming him to stick around and give it her best shot. Even if he hadn’t been convinced of his own lunacy, Chaneywould have been more than happy to point it out. His scowling disapproval spoke volumes. As a result of that silent condemnation, Cal flatly refused to be caught looking to see if Marilou had returned, although Chaney was giving him regular reports.
    Squinting toward the horizon at midafternoon, Chaney announced obliquely, “Not yet.” Obviously he figured that Cal would know perfectly well what he meant.
    “Not yet,” he said again an hour later and again the hour after that, until Cal felt like strangling him. All of the men were giving him a wide berth as his temper grew shorter with each passing minute.
    What if she didn’t come back? The prospect nagged at him worse than her presence had. God knew, he couldn’t blame her for running scared. There was a contradictory blend of recklessness and caution in her that fascinated him. Maybe the caution had won out. After all, he’d warned her about his lifestyle in one breath, then with the next he’d taunted her to share it. Even though the invitation to stay had been couched as a job offer, only a totally naive woman would believe that the two of them could keep it that way for long. The air had crackled with sexual tension from the minute they’d laid eyes on each other. He realized with a sudden guilty pang that Marilou might just be too innocent, too hell-bent on proving something to herself to recognize all the snapping and sparring for what it was, a prelude to passion of a different sort entirely. Well, heaven help the two of them if she’d misunderstood!
    Cal prided himself on being an analytical man. Some even described him as coolly calculating. He never ever let his emotions get in the way of a business decision. That made this impulsive move all the more disconcerting. There was an emotional tug here that was not only totally out of character, but went against every commonsense instinct he possessed.
    Maybe it was her long red hair pulled back in that braid that his fingers itched to undo.
    Maybe it was her green eyes, which met his with such a total lack of guile.
    More likely—and most dangerous—it was the depth of caring that radiated from her. That compassion had made her travel several hundred miles to find a long-lost grandson for a woman she didn’t even know. The part of him that was accustomed to burying family ties wanted to know what sort of woman was driven to do something like that. He wanted that warmth and generosity of spirit directed at him, even as he distrusted it.
    It was nearly dusk when he finally spotted the dust flying up on the long driveway to the house. He caught himself grinning as he watched. She drove at a damn-the-consequences speed with which she apparently did everything else regarding him. Relief, so profound it astonished him, flooded through him. Perversely it kept him hiding out down in the stables until long after Chaney had gone to his quarters to clean up for supper.
    If Cal had hoped that the defiant gesture would prove his indifference, he was very much mistaken.He had only to walk into the kitchen and see her there to feel the unfamiliar swell of emotion that had plagued him throughout the day.
    Marilou was dressed in a flowered sundress that showed off shoulders lightly dusted with freckles and emphasized a tiny