Read Online Tallchief: The Hunter by Cait London - Free Book Online

bid in an election, was she? She sipped the wine and thought how well the cup served her needs as a single woman, tossing away the past—but she couldn’t, could she? Not with Adam prowling through her mind, her dreams.
    She cupped the stoneware in one palm and circled the rim with her fingertip, enjoying the cool, smooth surface. Life should be the same, without any unexpected chips.
    Adam Tallchief was a big chip in the smooth life she wanted. He brought the past and anger with him, and storming out of her were emotions she didn’t want to unravel. She had to push him away, to forget him, to make him seem as inconsequential as—She turned at a noise, and found Adam sitting at her desk, sock-covered feet propped upon it, his hands locked behind his head.
    The cup she’d been admiring tumbled from her shaking fingers and crashed upon the floor. “You!”
    He rose slowly and came to kneel in front of her, picking up the pieces of the cup and dabbing away the drops of wine with a cloth. He stood, placed the pieces and the cloth in the sink and, while Jillian was considering her next move, asked softly, “What did O’Malley do to you?”
    What hadn’t he done? she thought wildly, intimidated by the size of Adam standing too close. He lifted his hand slowly, carefully, and as she watched, her throat dry, he stroked her hair with the lightest touch. A touch that hurledher back twenty-two years to when she was a girl adoring him, her heart skipping with romantic expectations—
    “You may not believe this, Jillian, but I am sorry about Tom’s death. I know how much you loved him. I’m sorry about your parents, too.”
    Horrible scenes of her drunken parents arguing swirled around Jillian. “They lost everything. They were humiliated.”
    “And you were the golden offering to O’Malley.”
    “They wanted me to be taken care of.” Even as she defended her parents, a cold chill swept over Jillian, the reality of truth. “We’d lost everything by then, thanks to you. There were legal expenses and money paid to reimburse those who had been robbed—not that Tom did it, but my parents paid the bills just the same. I wanted to drop out of college because of the expenses. I wanted to work and help them, but they wouldn’t have it. All I have left is my grandmother’s pearls.”
    You owe us. The harsh echo from the past dried her throat even now. Her parents had wanted to sell the pearls, too. Her grandmother was the only person who had really loved her, and Jillian had lied then, saying she’d lost them. Her parents wouldn’t let her drop out of college, because she needed that degree to catch an up-and-coming husband. “So now you know everything, the damage you’ve done. Are you happy?”
    “Not quite. Do you ever wonder what would have happened between us if that fracas with Tom hadn’t erupted?” he asked softly and eased a strand of her hair behind her ear.
    “No,” she lied, and turned away to look at the flickering candles.
    That prowling fingertip circled her ear. His breath brushed her skin as he whispered, “Do you ever wonder how it would have been to—”
    “No,” she lied again, and realized she’d spoken too urgently, too harshly. “Why are you here?”
    He pulled a square folded paper from his jeans’ pocket and tossed it to the countertop. “Your check. I didn’t spend your money on those toys. I gave them to the children because I enjoy watching them play.”
    She turned to him then, his face lit by the candles. She saw more than she wanted in his eyes, almost silver now, narrowed upon her. That fear danced in her again and she swallowed, leaning away from him. “If you had a family, you’d have to stay in one place and take a regular job with benefits. The cost would have been too great. And that’s why you never married. Right, Adam?”
    “I made my choices. I saw you at the family gathering. You like cuddling babies and playing with the children too much to not have children of