Read Online Winds of Heaven by Karen Toller Whittenburg - Free Book Online Page B

concerted effort she forced the pen across the paper but knew she was too far behind to catch up. There was nothing to do now except to admit defeat gracefully and retreat to her room for the night. Nick would be understanding. In fact, she fully expected him to tell her that she looked as if she needed the rest and he would have stopped dictating a long time before if he’d known she was tired,
    Kylie tightened her lips to a narrow line, knowing she was being unreasonably annoyed by Nick’s charm, but unable to conquer the feeling. At the moment, she would far prefer a down-to-earth argument over this walking-on-eggs type of treatment.
    What was he trying to do to her, anyway? Wear down her resistance with soft looks and smiles? Alex wasn’t the only one who could turn on the charisma, she thought. And, as in everything else, Nick seemed to do it so much better.
    Kylie began drawing flowers on her note pad and let Nick’s voice provide the accompaniment to her thoughts. She wondered idly if Nick was like his cousin in any other ways. As far as she knew, Nick could have a live-in blonde waiting back in San Francisco. Somehow she didn’t think so, but she supposed it was possible. He might be simply looking for a diversion to pass the time while he was in New Mexico.
    She wrote the name Nick on the pad, then scratched through it and printed Alex. At the thought of Alex, her gaze shifted to the bouquet of yellow roses on the coffee table before her. Two dozen roses made an exquisite centerpiece, she decided. Noticing that one rose looked slightly droopy, she reached for it.
    “I’m ready to quit any time you are,” Nick said, cutting into her thoughts with droll humor.
    A thorn stabbed her finger, and she jerked back to frown intently at him.
    His smile was easy and amused. “You should always be very careful with floral offerings from secret admirers. When a man sends an excess of roses, you can be pretty sure he’s up to no good.”
    Kylie widened her eyes in pretended innocence. “Is that right? Tell me, Nick, when you send roses, are you up to no good?”
    “Every single time.”
    Fighting a smile, she tilted her head to one side. “Well, I believe I can handle your cousin without too much trouble.”
    “Alex?” Nick asked, a sharp edge fraying his smooth voice. “Alex sent these? Why would he send you flowers?”
    Her brows arched upward in a haughty angle. “For the usual reasons, of course. He’s obviously up to no good.”
    Nick paused, wondering how he could get his foot out of his mouth this time. The thought of Alex and Kylie together made him uncomfortable, but he knew he was simply imagining things. Alex had probably sent the roses because ... Nick couldn’t think of a single platonic reason for such extravagance and finally gave himself a mental shake. He was imagining things. Kylie would never be fooled by Alex’s effusive tactics.
    Nick tried a disarming grin. “You’re not planning to change your hair color, are you?”
    “What makes you think I’d have to do that, Nick? Alex might think he prefers blondes, but it wouldn’t take much effort to change his mind if I wanted to.”
    “But you don’t want to,” Nick stated confidently.
    Kylie carefully pulled the droopy rose from the vase and held it in her hand. “I didn’t say that. It might be quite a challenge. Would you like to make a small wager that by the end of this seminar Alex won’t be wondering what he ever saw in his succession of mindless blondes?”
    Nick looked suddenly as if he wanted to jerk the rose from her fingers, but when he spoke, his tone was casual. “I can’t accept your wager, Kylie. That would be taking unfair advantage of you. Believe me, you won’t change his mind, and it wouldn’t be worth the trouble to try, just to win a bet.”
    Nick was right about that, Kylie thought as she studied the velvety petals of the rose. Alex wouldn’t be worth the trouble. “Well, we’ll just have to see what