Read Online The Cowboy and the Princess by Lori Wilde - Free Book Online

taught me secrets are the things that hurt people the most.”
    “What secrets hurt you?” Annie murmured.
    “We’re not talking about me. I gotta know one thing,” he said. “This thing you’re running from, is it a husband or a possessive boyfriend?”
    In a way, it was, but she knew that was not how he meant it. “No.”
    “That’s good to know.”
    “What are you running from?” she asked.
    “Who says I’m running from anything?”
    “You are pulling your home behind you.”
    “Roots,” he said. “I’m running from roots.”
    “Roots?”
    “You know. Like tree roots.”
    “And why are you afraid of tree roots?”
    “I don’t like being tied down.”
    “You have been married before?”
    “No. That’s the point.”
    “Have you ever come close to getting married?”
    “No, but hey, how come I always end up answering the questions and you keep sidestepping them?”
    “Because people like to talk about themselves more than they enjoy listening to others talk about themselves.”
    “You saying I’m self-centered?”
    She shrugged. “I am saying you are normal. You like to talk about yourself. You run away from commitment . . .”
    “You’re hardly in a position to judge.”
    “I did not say that I was.”
    “Darn straight.”
    She canted her head. He was handsome enough to be an outlaw. Especially when he flashed that grin. She did not have much experience with men, outlaws or otherwise. “May I ask you a personal question?”
    “How personal?”
    “You do not have to answer.”
    “What do you want to know?”
    “What do you want most in life, Mr. Talmadge?”
    “Brady,” he said. “You can call me Brady. After all I did save you from that guy back there.”
    “You did. I said thank you. Now answer the question.”
    “You have a way of ordering people around. It’s polite and all, but it’s still ordering. Bossy. You’re bossy.”
    “So you do not know what you want most in life?”
    “I want for nothing. I’m living the dream.”
    “How does one get to be that happy?” she mused.
    “By keeping things simple. Not getting involved. Light. That’s the way to get through life. Light and easy.”
    “You got involved with me tonight.”
    “You caught me at a weak moment. Atypical.”
    Wind buffeted the truck. A fresh round of upset rain pounded the windshield. Brady slowed.
    “Does it always rain like this in Texas?” Annie asked.
    “This time of year? Hardly ever. But an unseasonably early hurricane hit Brownsville this morning at dawn, and we’re reaping the fallout. You don’t like rain?”
    “It is very sunny where I am from.”
    “And where is that?”
    “Shh.” Annie brought an index finger to her lips. “That’s another secret.”
    “You know that’s driving me nuts. I think it’s why you keep hinting at secrets. You enjoy seeing me squirm.”
    “Curiosity killed the cat.”
    “You know,” he said. “I never understood that saying. Just how did curiosity kill the cat? I want specifics.”
    “I think it means he stuck his nose in where it did not belong and someone cut if off.”
    “His nose or his curiosity?”
    “Maybe it was something else altogether.”
    “Are you threatening me, Annie Coste?” he teased.
    “Now why on earth would you think that?”
    “You’re a sharp one. How did you learn to be so slick? Lots of younger brothers and sisters keep you on your toes?”
    “Why younger?”
    “You’re too highhanded to be anything but the oldest child.”
    “I am an only child.” Sort of. It was the way she saw herself. There was Henry of course, but he was so much younger, he was more like a nephew than a brother.
    “So where did you learn the saucy give-and-take?”
    “My nur—” She almost said “nursemaid,” but stopped just in time. Regular people didn’t have nursemaids growing up. Rosalind was only sixteen years older than she. They’d had a sisterly relationship when other people were not around to discourage it. “My