A Wife for a Westmoreland by Brenda Jackson Read Free Book Online Page A

head began spinning at the same time her heart slammed hard against her rib cage. “My dad warned you away from me?”
    He smiled. “Yes, and I took him seriously. It was the summer you were about to leave for college. You were eighteen and I was twenty-two and returning home from university. You attended the Westmoreland Charity Ball with your parents before you left. He saw me checking you out, probably thought my interest wasn’t honorable, and pulled me aside and told me to keep my eyes to myself or else…”
    Lucia swallowed. She knew her dad. His bark was worse than his bite, but most people didn’t know that. “Or else what?”
    “Or else my eyes, along with another body part I’d rather not mention, would get pulled from their sockets. The last thing he would put up with was a Westmoreland dating his daughter.”
    Lucia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She could see her father making a threat like that because he was overprotective of her. But she doubted Derringer knew how much his words thrilled her. He had been checking her out when she was eighteen?
    She nervously moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and couldn’t help noticing the movement of his gaze to her mouth. Her skin began burning at thethought that he had been attracted to her even when she hadn’t had a clue. But still…
    “Aw, come on, Derringer, that was more than ten years ago,” she said in a teasing tone.
    “Yes, but you probably don’t recall a few years ago I dropped by the paint store to make a purchase and you were working behind the counter and waited on me.”
    Oh, she definitely remembered that day, and three years later hadn’t been able to forget it. But of course she couldn’t tell him that . “That was a long time ago, but I think I remember that day. You needed a can of paint thinner.” She could probably tell him what brand it was and exactly how much he’d paid for it.
    “Yes, well, I had planned to ask you out then, but Mr. Conyers gave me a look that reminded me of the conversation we’d had years before and that his opinion of me pursuing you hadn’t changed.”
    She couldn’t help but laugh and it felt good. He had actually wanted to talk to her then, too. “I can’t believe you were afraid of Dad.”
    “Believe it, sweetheart. He can give you a look that lets you know he means business. And it didn’t help that he and Bane had had a run-in a few years before when Bane swiped a can of paint on display in front of the store and used it to paint some not-so-nice graffiti all over the front of Mr. Milner’s feed store and signed off by saying it was a present from your father.”
    Lucia wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. “I was away at college, but I heard about that. Mom wrote and told me all the details. You’re right, Dad was upset and so was Mr. Milner. Your cousin Bane had a reputationfor getting into all kinds of trouble. How are things going with him and the Navy?”
    “He’s doing fine at the Naval Academy. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone for almost two years already, but he has.”
    “And he hasn’t been back since he left?”
    Derringer shook his head sadly. “No, not even once. He refuses to come back knowing Crystal isn’t here, and he’s still angry that he doesn’t know where she is. The Newsomes made sure of that before they moved away. We are hoping he’ll eventually forget her and move on, but so far he hasn’t.”
    In a way, she knew how Bane felt. She hadn’t looked forward to returning to Denver either, knowing she was still harboring feelings for Derringer. It was hard running into him while he was dating other girls and wishing they were her. And now to find out they could have been her. Her father had no idea what he’d done and the sad thing was that she couldn’t get mad at him. Bane hadn’t been the only Westmoreland with a reputation that had made it hard on the other family members. Derringer’s younger brothers—the twins, Adrian and