Read Online Skin Deep by Pamela Clare - Free Book Online Page A

fun?”
    Emily nodded, a big smile on her face.
    “Your turn, Megan.” Nate scratched Buckwheat’s withers. “Just hold tight to the saddle or Buckwheat’s mane, lift your right leg over, and lower yourself to the ground.”
    Megan nibbled her lower lip, looking down at the ground. “If I fall…”
    “If you fall, I’ll be right here to catch you.” Nate watched as Megan grasped the pommel, lifted her right leg over the gelding’s rump, and lowered herself toward the ground.
    She’d almost made it when she lost her balance and began to fall backward, her left foot stuck in the stirrup.
    He dropped the reins, caught her around the waist with his arm, and drew her back against his chest. He tried not to notice how his pulse ratcheted up the moment he touched her or how good she smelled or how sweet she felt in his arms, her body soft and feminine with curves in all the right places. “I’ve got you.”
    She turned in his arms and looked up at him through startled eyes. “Thank you.”
    And he knew she felt it too—that jolt of awareness, attraction.
    For a moment, neither of them spoke or moved.
    From somewhere nearby, Nate’s dad cleared his throat. “Why don’t you three head back to the house while I settle Buckwheat in his stall?”
    Megan pulled away, reached for Emily’s hand. “Thanks so much for this. I suppose we should be going before it gets too late or the roads get bad.”
    Nate walked to one of the side doors, opened it, and looked outside. Snow was falling thick and fast, the wind blowing hard, a good six inches already accumulated on the ground. He couldn’t even see the house. “It’s too late for that. It looks like you and Emily are our guests for the night.”
    Megan let out a sigh. “Marc is going to be ticked.”

C HAPTER 6
     
    M arc was ticked. “I knew you were going to get stuck up there. You barely know this guy. Are you involved with him?”
    “No!” Megan felt her cheeks grow warm.
    She wasn’t involved with Nate, but she was attracted to him. Or at least she thought she was. When he’d come up behind her, closed his hand over hers, and guided her fingers over the horse’s soft coat, she hadn’t felt sickened by his touch. Instead she’d felt an unfamiliar heat shimmer through her that had made it hard to breathe. And when she’d lost her balance getting off the horse, the shock of finding herself in his arms, his body warm and muscular against hers, had made her mind go blank.
    “You sure about that?”
    “I just came here so Emily could see the horses. Being surrounded by cops … I needed to get away. I had no idea we were going to get hit with a blizzard.”
    And it was definitely a blizzard, the wind so strong that Megan had had to carry Emily, Nate guiding her from the stables to the house through near whiteout conditions, his arm around her shoulders.
    “Do you trust him and his father around Emily?”
    Megan glanced toward the kitchen, where Emily sat like a princess with a mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows, two big men seeing to her every whim.
    “Yes. My pervert radar is pretty finely tuned, you know. I’m not catching any hinky vibes.” Megan took a deep breath and said what she needed to say, something she’d needed to say for a while now. “I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I’m not the same person I was ten years ago or even four years ago. You need to trust me, Marc.”
    For a moment Marc said nothing.
    “You’re right.” The anger was gone from his voice. “I care about what happens to you. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”
    “I know. You’ve always been there for me.”
    “No, not always.” A heavy silence. “Well, I suppose you’re safer up there than you would be down here. We’re going through with the money drop tonight despite the storm. I have no idea if the bastards will show up. I guess we’ll see.”
    Megan felt a hitch of fear in her stomach to think Marc and others would be out in the storm and in