Read Online The Reluctant Cinderella by Christine Rimmer - Free Book Online Page B

more than big enough for two, complete with spa jets.
    Oh, my, yes. Too dangerous for words. With a smile and a nod she slipped past him, back out into the empty bedroom. She admired the walk-in closet and the roomy dressing area. And then, at last, he ushered her out of there.
    The front hall was spacious and welcoming. Afternoon light, spilling in through the sidelights that flanked the front door, made the wood floor gleam.
    She followed him upstairs, her hand trailing on the smooth cherry banister. There were two more bedrooms up there, each with a big walk-in closet. The bedrooms shared a central bath.
    â€œThat’s it,” he told her, as they stood in the upper hall, ready to go down.
    â€œIt’s lovely. Honestly.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œIf you don’t mind my asking…”
    â€œAnything. Go for it.”
    â€œWell, why, exactly, did you buy it?”
    â€œI told you. I like Rosewood. I keep thinking that someday I might move back to town.”
    â€œAt least you’ve got all your window treatments,” she said. “I like them. They’re simple. Elegant. The plantation shutters—and the Roman shades and wood blinds. However…”
    â€œI’m listening.”
    â€œBefore you move in, better buy some furniture. And dishes. Pots and pans. Towels. Sheets. Paper goods. Food. Those laundry supplies we talked about a few minutes ago. All that.”
    He grinned. “You think so, huh?”
    â€œEven two Bosch dishwashers aren’t a lot of good if you don’t have dishes to put in them.”
    â€œYeah. I know. I need to get started on all that. But the truth is I just never had the heart for it.”
    â€œFor buying furniture and stuff, you mean?”
    â€œFor being in Rosewood where so much went wrong for me.” Once again, he was standing close. She should move back. But she didn’t. He added, “I have to tell you, though…”
    â€œYeah?” She was sounding much too breathless again.
    â€œThere’s nowhere else on earth I’d rather be at this moment, than here. In Rosewood. With you…” He moved then, a step closer still.
    Too close…
    Too wonderfully, deliciously close. His warm breath touched her cheek and he lifted a hand to brush a stray lock of hair back out of her eyes—oh, that was heaven. Just the touch of his fingers at her temple, on her cheek, guiding those strands of hair back behind her ear. She didn’t mean to raise her mouth to him—well, not exactly. And she didn’t mean to sigh in yearning. But she did.
    And when she did, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Chapter Five
    M egan sighed some more and swayed closer to him. He gathered her into his arms.
    Now, this. This was heaven. Pure heaven, right here in Rosewood, New York. Standing in the upper hallway of Greg’s empty house, wrapped in his arms, with his mouth—softer even than she’d dared to imagine—on hers.
    He deepened the kiss, touching the tip of his tongue to the seam where her lips met. She instantly opened for him, sighing some more as his tongue brushed hers. He smiled against her mouth and that made her smile, too.
    She slid her hands up over the fine fabric of his jacket, intimately aware of the heat and hardness ofthe chest beneath. She touched his crisp white collar, ran her fingers up the side of his throat and brushed his temples, where his hair was cut business-short.
    Oh, he felt so very good. To hold, to touch, to kiss….
    And about that…about the way the man could kiss.
    How did he do it? Okay, she didn’t have a whole lot of experience with kissing, but still. A kiss, after all, was only a kiss….
    Wasn’t it?
    That would be no. Not with Greg.
    With Greg, it was…different. With Greg it was so much more.
    The miracle, the wonder, the beauty of his kiss was in the way he held her, so tightly and tenderly, as if he cherished her above everything and