Read Online Sutherland’s Pride by Kathryn Brocato - Free Book Online Page A

chest, and his hand at her back pressed her against his body.
    “You move like an angel,” he said in her ear.
    Pride repressed a tingle of reaction to those words and said only, “Thank you.”
    Flynn’s soft laughter stirred her hair. “Aren’t you going to tell me I dance like Fred Astaire?”
    She had once responded to his compliments with compliments of her own. “I’ll pass judgment on you after a few more dances.”
    “Good. We’ll stay as long as you want to dance,” Flynn said.
    She wanted to dance with him forever. That realization struck her with shattering effect.
    As if he knew her thoughts, Flynn brought her even closer to his body, letting her feel his hard strength and the power of his embrace. Pride gasped and wondered if she could last through another few dances with Flynn Sutherland. Her body already longed to undergo a form of core meltdown.
    The band, for once, cooperated with Pride’s head, if not her traitorous body. It shifted from the waltz into a snappy rock number.
    “Let’s sit down,” Flynn said. “I want to make a few requests.”
    He settled her at their table once more, ordered her a glass of wine, and crossed the floor to confer with the band leader. Moments later, she saw him drop money into the kitty.
    “What did you request?” she asked, when he returned.
    Flynn smiled. “A few things you like.”
    Pride gulped. Was Flynn trying to resurrect her feelings for him by recreating the things she had once responded to? Perhaps he liked her performance in bed so much, he wanted a repeat.
    If so, he certainly knew how to go about it.
    The band slid into a slow version of a Beatles tune Pride loved. Flynn reached for her hand at once and led her onto the dance floor.
    She could not allow this to happen, she realized belatedly.
    “Flynn? Do you still plan on adopting children someday?”
    The question startled him. She detected the sudden tension in his arms.
    “Perhaps,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
    “I was just wondering. You aren’t really sterile, you know. If you fall in love with the right woman, and conditions are truly compatible, you might just surprise yourself.”
    His soft laughter tickled her hair, and seconds later, she felt his lips on her temple.
    “I hope so,” he said. “With adoption the way it is these days, I’ll be fifty before I make it to the top of the lists.”
    Pride fastened on that. “Of course, you could go on a do-it-yourself kick and take out one of those ads in the personal columns. ‘Rich attorney and full-time Mom with lovely home, fenced yard, and lots of love seek to adopt your newborn baby.’”
    “I haven’t even hooked up with that truly compatible woman yet.” Flynn cuddled her closer, despite her attempts to look into his face. “What do you suggest I look for?”
    Her writer’s creative instincts swung into high gear. “The first thing you should do, as soon as you have a likely prospect, is have a compatibility check done.”
    “Is that so? What the heck is a compatibility check?”
    Pride grinned against his chest. “That’s where the doctors check out your sperm and her eggs to make sure they won’t hate each other upon sight. It seems that there are all kinds of little parts on a woman that can develop fierce, allergic reactions to the complimentary parts on a man.” She waited an instant, before adding helpfully, “I believe it’s a common cause of infertility.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Yes, indeed. They forgot to get their little parts checked out for compatibility. Instead, they fell in love.”
    “Terrible,” Flynn murmured. “Really terrible.”
    “If children are the desired result, that’s a fact,” Pride told him, tongue-in-cheek.
    “There ought to be a law.”
    “You’re an attorney. Draft one.” She searched her memory for the research she’d once done for an article. “In the meantime, however, there are several techniques available for males with your particular