Read Online Rodeo Nights by Patricia McLinn - Free Book Online Page B

stilled his face, as if without movement his emotions couldn’t be read. But those emotions concentrated into eyes that burned and crackled with intensity.
    A bell announced the opening of the front door.
    Walker eased his hold on her until they stood separate. But his look didn’t change, even when he finally turned and strode out of the dressing room.
    She’d first seen that look before she’d understood the strange, insistent urgings of her own body.
    But now she understood. Now she understood what it could do to her.

Chapter Four
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    “WALKER? KALLI?”
    Jasper Lodge’s voice grated across Walker’s nerves. God, he hadn’t wanted to let her go. What he’d wanted to do was take her right then and there. To drive into her softness until they melted into each other. To claim her and possess her and never again let Kalli Evans out of his sight or his hold.
    Which was exactly why he’d had to let her go.
    Thank God and a lifetime of discipline, he’d still had the crumb of sense that told him he couldn’t afford—physically or emotionally—to let that situation go any further. Any moment Kalli would have realized the extent of his emotions and would have run due east, not stopping until she hit the Atlantic Ocean. Just like she did last time.
    “Walker, you in here?”
    “Yeah, Jasper, we’re here.”
    Walker was aware of Kalli smoothing her clothes, pushing her hair back, but he didn’t risk looking at her.
    He took another breath before walking out into the main part of the store, sparing a moment to thank Providence that Esther made the most of floor space by building displays good and high. They came in as handy as a tablecloth. He took his time joining Jasper at the register.
    No sense advertising to Jasper—and thus to all of Park and a good percentage of Wyoming—that Walker Riley still desired the woman who’d once been his wife with every atom of his body. Especially certain atoms.
    He wasn’t sure if it was any consolation that her body hadn’t been exactly neutral, either.
    Physical desire for each other had most definitely survived the past decade. He wasn’t particularly surprised.
    But what did it mean if the body survived and the heart didn’t?
    “There you are, Walker. Where you been? Where’s Kalli? Esther said you two were here when she stopped by the barbershop. But when I came in and nobody stirred, I thought I mighta caught the woman being wrong for the first time in thirty-six years of marriage.”
    ‘‘Thought you’d be back long before this, Jasper.”
    “Uh, well. Uh, lots of discussing going on at the barbershop. Couldn’t, er, didn’t want to walk out in the middle.”
    Walker had diverted attention to Jasper’s whereabouts because he’d felt no inclination to explain where he and Kalli had been or what they’d been doing. But Jasper’s obvious discomfort raised his eyebrows, and his instincts.
    “What’s everybody discussing down at the barbershop?”
    “Oh, all sorts of things. You know, that saying about ships and sealing wax and something else and kings.”
    “Cabbages. Cabbages and kings.” Walker reviewed a mental picture of vehicles parked near the barbershop as he and Kalli had driven past. Around here, vehicles were as recognizable as their owners. “Must have been mighty interesting cabbages to draw most of the rodeo committee. Far as I can tell, only one missing was Dawson Fletcher.”
    Jasper shot him a hunted look. “We got to look to the future. It’s our duty. It’s what folks expect of us. You’ve been ’round. You know how it is, Walker.”
    “How what is?” Kalli’s voice, forcibly bright, broke the moment.
    Jasper came around the counter to take the stack of clothes from her and talked nonstop about her selections, her good taste and Esther’s approval. He didn’t answer her question.
    But Walker hadn’t expected him to, any more than he’d expected Jasper to tell him what they’d been talking about at the barbershop. He