Read Online Twice A Target (Task Force Eagle) by Susan Vaughan - Free Book Online Page A

rigid, he
kept his back to her.
    She wouldn’t argue the point. “I don’t know, but he
got over me. Wasn’t he happy with Sara?”
    He pivoted to face her, his jaw set. “Have you seen
any pictures of Sara?”
    What? She couldn’t divine what he was getting at. She
nodded slowly. “The wedding portrait. What does that have to do with anything?”
    His long legs ate up the short distance to the living
room and back. He slapped the framed photograph on the table before her. “Take
a good look.”
    Sara Patterson Donovan was several years younger than
Rob. The photographer had posed them standing facing each other, her cheek to
his chin. Straight blond hair draped her slim shoulders and fanned down her
back.
    What she saw slapped her hard. She pushed away from
the table and stood. “No!”
    “Oh, yeah, baby.” Holt grabbed her shoulders and
forced her to face the picture. “Sara looks— looked a lot like you. As
soon as the Pattersons moved to Rangewood, Rob went after her.”
    “No, no...” She couldn’t bear it. There must be some
other explanation. “You can’t be right. Rob just liked blondes.” She tried to
pull away, but the photograph, more than Holt’s firm grasp, held her in place.
    With her back flush against his hard torso, his rumble
of skepticism vibrated along her spine. His puff of breath warmed the top of
her head. “She was a city girl like you. Used to a soft life. Used to luxury.”
    Through her thin shirt, his body heat seeped into her
flesh. Her shallow breaths absorbed his scent, a mingling of soap and
sun-warmed skin and leather. His hardness pressed against her spine, coaxing
warmth in her belly. Taken aback, she fought the sensual charge. She closed her
eyes against him and the smiling newlyweds in the portrait.
    He tightened his grip on her shoulders, and his mouth
brushed her hair. Holt sucked in a breath, and with a growl turned away.
    “Rob gave Sara everything she wanted.” He said it with
such bitterness, he might be describing Maddy. “Went into debt. Even talked me
into cosigning. I thought it was for repairs to the barn. I didn’t find out
what he’d done until I came home. He added eight feet to the house to create
that humongous bedroom and bathroom you’re in, but ran out of money before they
could put in a hot tub. All those luxuries for her, and he neglected the ranch
for fear she’d leave. Like you.”
    Her throat tightened. When would he ever let up on
her? “Like me? Or like your mother?”
    He flinched as if a dozen flashbulbs had exploded in
his face.
    She instantly regretted her cruel words, but she
couldn’t back down now. “I refuse to take the blame because Rob wanted to make
his wife comfortable.”
    A muscle leaped in his jaw. He bit out his next words
through lips white with rage. “He nearly buried the ranch in debt for fear
she’d leave for greener pastures—like you did.”
    A heavy knot clamped Maddy’s chest so she could barely
breathe. No, he couldn’t heap all the blame on her head alone. She wouldn’t let
him. “We both know why I had to leave when I did. We need to talk about it so
we can move on. So you can move on. You’re fooling yourself if you think
I was running away from Rob .”
    “Maybe. What I know is you did run away.” With
that, he marched into his room. The quiet click of the door latch tolled a
louder knell than a slam.
    Left unsaid was what he was thinking— and you would
run away again.
    Was he right? Would she? But no answer came into
focus.

 
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
    Two days later, Holt grabbed a morning mug of coffee
and one of Espie’s sweet rolls on his way to the door. He made it outside
before Maddy appeared in the kitchen. Work helped him avoid her most of every
day, but dammit he still needed to clear his brain after every encounter.
    And before. Today he’d have to leave Bronc watching
over the sickly calves and mending the corral fence. He and Maddy were heading
out to visit some local ranchers.