Read Online Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jill Shalvis
Ads: Link
direction. Grateful, she smiled at him, but he was already concentrating on the road again.
She did the same. The rose stripe in the sky widened as day broke over them, and she took in the landscape. This area was the largest expanse of continuous pristine wilderness in the lower forty-eight states. Much of its beauty came in the form of heavily glaciated, rugged, not easily approached peaks. The glaciers had formed steep canyons that opened onto a wilderness valley floor, all of it roamed by small and big game.
Simple beauty. Another world away from New York. Pristine. Pure. She had no idea what it said about her being out here, in the open ATV with Adam, with the wind beating at her and her nose nearly frozen off, with her father missing, with Adam not exactly thrilled to have her along, that she was still enjoying herself more than she had for far too long.
It didn’t say anything good, she decided. Especially since Adam didn’t appear to be moved one way or the other.
He’d let you come…
The old Holly would have been satisfied with that, with whatever he offered. But the new Holly wanted acknowledgment from him, wanted his undivided attention, things that she wasn’t sure he could give any woman.
As if he could read her thoughts, he turned his head toward her. In the morning light, he’d slid on dark, reflective shades so she couldn’t see his eyes, but then he fried a few of her brain cells when he pulled off the sunglasses to meet her gaze, his own heated and swirling with emotion.
Huh
, she thought weakly. So he was somewhat moved. She faced forward again because it turned out that looking right into his eyes was like looking into the eye of the tiger. If you weren’t equally strong, you were going down. She’d already been down.
She was now up.
Up, up, up.
She tried to occupy herself with their incredibly beautiful surroundings, but damned if her gaze didn’t keep strayingback to the man next to her handling the ATV like he’d been born to it. This, of course, was extremely counterproductive to her resolve to stay immune to his charms.
Milo was happy. Behind them, he had his head in the wind, tongue lolling out. Doggy heaven.
Old Crestmont Road was a fifty-year-old, rarely used fire road, narrow, windy, and rutted. And truth be told, “road” was a bit of an exaggeration. The going got rough, but Adam continued to navigate with the single-minded ease of one who’d taken much rougher routes than this.
Which she knew to be true.
He’d had it rough as a kid, too, real rough. She knew that he and Dell had lived with their mom on an Indian reservation for a while but that it hadn’t worked out. With their biological father dead, they’d had been bounced around before finally landing in a good, solid foster home. But by then, the wild, restless, badass Adam Connelly hadn’t been easy to wrangle in, and he certainly didn’t like to play nicely with things like rules and expectations.
To a teenage girl who’d never openly rebelled against anything, this had drawn her in like a moth to the flame.
A few years older than she, Adam had been dark and mysterious in every possible way. He and Grif had been good friends and had hung out together. Holly had been forbidden from doing the same, but once she’d been told that, her fate had been sealed. She’d wanted him.
Needed him.
Loved him.
She’d really believed they were the real deal, that she could tame him, that they’d get married and have babies and a ranch of their own.
Looking back, it was embarrassing to think about how naïve she’d been.
Halfway up Old Crestmont Road, Adam stopped. He gestured to Milo, and the dog leapt out and immediately lifted a leg, anointing the closest tree.
It was late morning now, and with the low lighting, the view was spectacular. So far this winter, the Bitterroot snowpack was trailing badly behind the average depth, but what there was of it was incredibly dangerous. Holly got out and took in the
She did the same. The rose stripe in the sky widened as day broke over them, and she took in the landscape. This area was the largest expanse of continuous pristine wilderness in the lower forty-eight states. Much of its beauty came in the form of heavily glaciated, rugged, not easily approached peaks. The glaciers had formed steep canyons that opened onto a wilderness valley floor, all of it roamed by small and big game.
Simple beauty. Another world away from New York. Pristine. Pure. She had no idea what it said about her being out here, in the open ATV with Adam, with the wind beating at her and her nose nearly frozen off, with her father missing, with Adam not exactly thrilled to have her along, that she was still enjoying herself more than she had for far too long.
It didn’t say anything good, she decided. Especially since Adam didn’t appear to be moved one way or the other.
He’d let you come…
The old Holly would have been satisfied with that, with whatever he offered. But the new Holly wanted acknowledgment from him, wanted his undivided attention, things that she wasn’t sure he could give any woman.
As if he could read her thoughts, he turned his head toward her. In the morning light, he’d slid on dark, reflective shades so she couldn’t see his eyes, but then he fried a few of her brain cells when he pulled off the sunglasses to meet her gaze, his own heated and swirling with emotion.
Huh
, she thought weakly. So he was somewhat moved. She faced forward again because it turned out that looking right into his eyes was like looking into the eye of the tiger. If you weren’t equally strong, you were going down. She’d already been down.
She was now up.
Up, up, up.
She tried to occupy herself with their incredibly beautiful surroundings, but damned if her gaze didn’t keep strayingback to the man next to her handling the ATV like he’d been born to it. This, of course, was extremely counterproductive to her resolve to stay immune to his charms.
Milo was happy. Behind them, he had his head in the wind, tongue lolling out. Doggy heaven.
Old Crestmont Road was a fifty-year-old, rarely used fire road, narrow, windy, and rutted. And truth be told, “road” was a bit of an exaggeration. The going got rough, but Adam continued to navigate with the single-minded ease of one who’d taken much rougher routes than this.
Which she knew to be true.
He’d had it rough as a kid, too, real rough. She knew that he and Dell had lived with their mom on an Indian reservation for a while but that it hadn’t worked out. With their biological father dead, they’d had been bounced around before finally landing in a good, solid foster home. But by then, the wild, restless, badass Adam Connelly hadn’t been easy to wrangle in, and he certainly didn’t like to play nicely with things like rules and expectations.
To a teenage girl who’d never openly rebelled against anything, this had drawn her in like a moth to the flame.
A few years older than she, Adam had been dark and mysterious in every possible way. He and Grif had been good friends and had hung out together. Holly had been forbidden from doing the same, but once she’d been told that, her fate had been sealed. She’d wanted him.
Needed him.
Loved him.
She’d really believed they were the real deal, that she could tame him, that they’d get married and have babies and a ranch of their own.
Looking back, it was embarrassing to think about how naïve she’d been.
Halfway up Old Crestmont Road, Adam stopped. He gestured to Milo, and the dog leapt out and immediately lifted a leg, anointing the closest tree.
It was late morning now, and with the low lighting, the view was spectacular. So far this winter, the Bitterroot snowpack was trailing badly behind the average depth, but what there was of it was incredibly dangerous. Holly got out and took in the
Similar Books
