Read Online Romance on Mountain View Road by Sheila Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

didn’t appear to have much in common. Juliet loved to read. About the only thing Neil read was the sports page. When it came to movies, she liked chick flicks and Neil preferred action movies. He was big on eating, she was bad at cooking. Family was everything to her. His family was dysfunctional and he’d moved as far away from them as possible. And he never seemed that excited to see hers.
    Although maybe Jonathan was imagining that, because he always felt a little uncomfortable around Neil, rather like a mule standing next to a Thoroughbred racehorse.
    Mom had taken the can of dice out of her purse and Jonathan pulled his mind away from thoughts of mules and horses. But later that evening, when he got back home, he found himself revisiting the subject. Some men just seemed to be born babe magnets. Others...
    Well, Chica loved him.
    She rushed out her dog door to greet him the minute he pulled up back at the house. “Did you miss me, girl?” he asked.
    Chica woofed and wagged her tail. Yes.
    â€œI bet you’re ready for some fetch, huh?” He grabbed her tennis ball from the porch and threw it for her and she raced after it. Dogs were so easy to please. If only it was as easy to please a woman.
    After a rousing game of fetch they went inside the house, and that was when Jonathan discovered his loss. Chica had developed a taste for romance and had devoured two of his library book sale paperbacks.
    â€œAw, Chica,” he said in disgust as he surveyed the mess of mangled books and shredded paper on the couch and the living room floor. He picked up what was left of one cover and saw that the Viscount Vampire now bore canine teeth marks all over his face and neck. He’d survived better than the cowboy. All Jonathan could find of him was his Stetson.
    He shook the fragment at Chica. “What is this?”
    Her tail curled between her legs and her head hung. She turned, slinking off toward the kitchen.
    â€œYeah, you should be ashamed. Bad dog!” She had a dog door and a huge yard to play in. She didn’t need to swipe his books and eat them. “Why did you do that?” he demanded. She didn’t make a habit of eating his books. But then, he didn’t make a habit of leaving them lying around on the couch. And, he had to admit, these had smelled a little musty. Maybe Chica had mistaken them for something dead.
    Well, they were as good as dead now, he thought.
    He picked up part of a page and read.

    â€œArmande, I have never met a man like you,” breathed the contessa.
    â€œAnd you never will. I will satisfy your every desire. Forever,” he whispered as he gently lifted her hair, exposing her lovely white neck.

    Desire and a lovely white neck—that was all he was going to see of the contessa and Armande. Jonathan retrieved the waste can from under the kitchen sink and got to work.
    Chica watched as he cleaned up the mess.
    â€œYeah, you did this. Those were research, you know,” he informed her.
    She whined.
    He relented. “Okay, you’re forgiven. Come here.”
    She came, her tail wagging hopefully.
    He knelt and pulled her against him and rubbed her head. “I guess those books just looked too good to resist, huh?”
    She licked his face.
    â€œYeah, yeah. I know, you’re sorry. I’ll find ’em online and download them on to my e-reader. But no more eating my books, okay?”
    Chica barked. Okay.
    Once the mess was cleaned up, he’d spend some time on the island of Crete, with a suave tycoon and a beautiful businesswoman. He’d snitched The Undercover Tycoon from Juliet. He’d spotted it lying on top of a pile of books on the stairs and, unable to stop himself, had pinched it and smuggled it out in the pocket of his windbreaker. She’d happily have lent it to him if he asked, but no way was he asking to borrow one of Juliet’s romance novels. He’d never have heard the end of it, especially from