Read Online Tempestuous/Restless Heart by Tami Hoag - Free Book Online Page B

away. She stiffened immediately, her dark eyes going wide with an instinctive fear reaction she couldn’t mask. Her involuntary response tugged at his curiosity and his heart. “I want to know all about you, Alex,” he said gently, his fingers rubbing soothingly against the fragile skin of her wrist, feeling the pulse that raced there.
    Alex stared at him, her heart pounding. She felt like a rabbit caught in a snare. Christian was watching her with his steady blue gaze. He was far too close. She could feel the magnetic power of him, luring her, tempting her to close the distance between them. Her mouth tingled at the memory of his kiss. Unconsciously she ran her tongue across her full lower lip. Finally his words penetrated. I want to know all about you.
    “No,” she whispered, pulling away from him. “No, you don’t.”
    Confused and upset, she rose unsteadily to her feet and went to catch the gray gelding. The horse came to her willingly, trustingly, obediently, and she spared a singularly nasty thought for the bag of dog chow that had left her stranded. Faithlessness was just another of Terminator’s long list of unattractive traits.
    Christian managed to mount with some difficulty. After he’d settled himself in the saddle, he sat for a long minute with his eyes squeezed shut, fighting off the screaming pain in his ankle. When it subsided, he managed a tepid version of his rogue’s smile for Alex and patted the limited space in front of him on the jumping saddle.
    “You can ride with me,” he invited, knowing she would refuse him.
    Just the idea of being that close to him gave Alex a hot flash. She could too vividly imagine the feel of his strong arms around her, of her breast flattening against the solid wall of his chest, and her hip pressing intimately against his groin as she sat sideways in front of him. Angry with herself and her traitorous hormones, she merely shot him a scowl and set off on foot down the path toward her farm.
    Christian watched her stride off with his boot in her arms, and he couldn’t help but think she was running away. But from what? He meant to find out. Sooner or later, one way or another, he would find out.
    “Lord, Alex, you had me scared out of my wits!” Pearl Washington exclaimed as Alex trudged into the yard.
    Pearl’s dark round face was lined with worry over the natural creases of sixty-eight years of living. Balancing Isabella on one plump hip, she pressed her free hand to her ample bosom and heaved a sigh of relief. “That devil came galloping back here all by himself. I could only think the worst. This poor child left motherless. Lord have mercy.” She shook her head for emphasis.
    “You’ve got cause to worry when she goes out on that one, Pearl,” Christian said, sliding carefully off his horse. Alex scowled at him and hit him in the stomach with his boot as she handed it to him. His breath left him with an “oof.”
    “It was just a minor crash. Christian twisted his ankle, but I’m fine,” Alex said. Terminator stood some distance away, near the barn. She glared at him, then turned with a smile to take her daughter.
    “Mama,” Isabella said, grinning, attaching herself to her mother’s side like a limpet. Her attention was immediately snared by the swinging strap of Alex’s helmet. She wrapped a chubby hand around it and stuck the end in her mouth. Alex fondly tousled her daughter’s black curls and kissed her cheek.
    When she had moved to Virginia, she had feared she would have to put Isabella in day care. Both the idea of the cost and the thought of separation had upset her. But it seemed fate had been smiling down on her for a change. She had found Pearl Washington. Or more accurately, they had found each other.
    Pearl, a recent widow, had been looking for a renter and some new meaning in her life. She had retired from her job as an elementary-school secretary, planning to spend her time with her husband. Then Rube had died suddenly, leaving her