Read Online The Drifter by Vicki Lewis Thompson - Free Book Online Page A

looked up, her tail thumping the floor.
    Amanda gazed doubtfully at her. “I’ve never had a dog.”
    â€œNeither have I. But that doesn’t matter. Chloe doesn’t think she’s a dog.”
    â€œShe really knows when something’s wrong?”
    â€œWhy do you think she came dashing down here? She heard you scream.”
    â€œReally?” Amanda reached down with her free hand and touched the dog’s head. “Did you come to help me, Chloe?”
    Chloe whined and thumped her tail faster.
    â€œThat’s amazing. She doesn’t even know me.”
    â€œI think it has something to do with the way Dexter reacted when you handed him Bartholomew. Chloe was watching all that, and I think she decided that he would be her responsibility, too.”
    Amanda fondled Chloe’s head and scratched behind the dog’s ears without looking at Chase.
    When Chase heard a sniff, he guessed Amanda was crying. “Amanda?”
    â€œDon’t mind me,” she said, her voice choked. She sniffed again. “I hear new mothers are sometimes emotional.”
    Chase had never met a crying woman he hadn’t tried to comfort. He drew Amanda, baby and all, into his arms, careful to accommodate Bartholomew as he guided Amanda’s head to his shoulder. She began to sob softly, her tears seeping through his shirt. Chase laid his cheek against her wondrous red hair and massaged the small of her back.
    He wasn’t being smart, he thought, but needy people always got to him. And Amanda had seemed that way from the beginning. Beneath the career-woman image, he’d sensed a hunger very much like his own. She might have thought all they shared in the cab of his truck that night was sex, but he’d always suspected it went much deeper than that.
    Before they’d made love, she’d announced that she considered it a one-night stand, and he’d gone along with the idea. He hadn’t been about to turn away from a woman as tempting as Amanda, and he’d been curious, too, wondering what it would be like making love to a woman who dressed in cashmere and drove a Mercedes. Soon, however, he’d forgotten everything about her except the light in her eyes and warmth of her body.
    In the morning as they’d driven into the city, he’d made the mistake of asking when he could see her again. That’s when he’d discovered that she really did consider him a one-night stand. Oh, she was grateful he’d saved her from the snowbank, and she’d had a terrific time—her exact words—but she didn’t think they were at all suited to each other. His pride had made him agree with her. Yet he’d always thought she would reconsider, once the effects of that night had sunk in. She might have, he thought, if she hadn’t been pregnant. Had he sensed all along that’s what had happened? Probably.
    She stopped crying and leaned weakly against his shoulder. Bartholomew had remained quiet the whole time, as if subdued by his mother’s tears.
    â€œI’m sorry, Chase,” she murmured thickly.
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œEverything.” She sighed. “Just everything. I’ve tried to do what was best, but I didn’t know that would be so hard on everyone.”
    â€œI wish you’d have let me help.”
    â€œI don’t believe in saddling people with unwanted obligations.”
    â€œAmanda, I—”
    â€œPeople hate obligations!”
    His hand stilled in the act of rubbing her back. “Maybe I wouldn’t think of it like that.”
    She lifted her head and met his gaze. “I’m not taking the chance that you would,” she said with a vehemence that surprised him. “When I was sixteen, I worked part-time in my dad’s law office and I overheard him telling his secretary he couldn’t get a divorce because of his obligation to his wife and children. I was the reason he couldn’t be