Against Her Rules by Victoria Barbour Read Free Book Online

you let me clarify.”
      “Oh,
I have all the clarity I need, thank you very much.”
      They
were standing outside now, where the mist from earlier had turned to cold, hard
rain.
      “Elsie,
please come back inside. Let’s talk.”
      “You
go back inside. Don’t dare follow me into the house and cause a scene or I
swear I’ll never forgive you. Enjoy your stay here. Draw lots of birds. Do the
talk if you want. But unless you have a problem with your accommodations, or
need something none of the staff can help you with, leave me the hell alone.”

Chapter
Six
      I t
took every ounce of strength Cam possessed not to chase Elsie up that damn hill
and carry her back to the cabin. The woman was like a powder keg. All tame and
sultry one moment, and then dangerous and hot. He knew it was a cliché to say
that an angry woman was a passionate woman, but he couldn’t lie to himself. He
wanted her more right now than any other time in the past couple of days.
      Of
course, first he had to find a way to get her to talk to him again. And then he
had to convince her that he wasn’t always such an insensitive idiot. He didn’t
know why he’d said what he did, other than he was relieved to find out that she
didn’t find him repellant. Dismissing her concerns wasn’t his intention.
      It
wasn’t until he was sitting by the fire mulling over everything she had said
that a very unsettling thought occurred to him: there was another man. Or at
least there had been. He wasn’t the first man to stay here that had turned her
head. And some other jackass had gotten to her first and clearly left a foul
taste in her mouth.
      What
was it she’d said? Something about loving her and leaving her. That had to be
the real reason for her reluctance. She was afraid of getting hurt. Of being
used and left behind.
      And
that was a real problem. If you were to poll the women of his past, a good
ninety per cent of them would claim he was the love ‘em and leave ‘em type. Was
that really the case? Had the one-nighters he’d had been mutual? He had thought
they were on the same page. To the best of his memory he didn’t think he had
ever led someone on. He needed perspective.
      Sadly
there was no cell service. And there was no phone in the cottage. He didn’t
dare go up to the house just yet, and this didn’t seem like the place where
you’d find a pay phone. He wasn’t desperate enough to talk to his sister that
he’d roam around in the rain looking for service, was he? Maybe not on foot,
but by car he sure was.
      A
short while later he got a signal on a particularly high part of the highway.
The quality of the call was lousy but it was better than nothing. He pulled
over, narrowly avoiding a grey Audi going well over the eighty kilometres an
hour speed limit. He had to pay better attention.
      His
sister answered on the fourth ring.
      “Daph,
am I a womanizer?
      “Cam?
Are you drunk?”
      “Of
course not. It’s two o’clock in the afternoon. I just need to know. Do you
think I take advantage of women?”
      “Sweet
honourable. Aren’t you in the wilds of Canada? Have you been taking stock of
your life?”
      “Look,
this call is costing me—no, make that your publishing house—a lot of money.
Just tell me.”
      “Campbell
Scott, what’s gotten into you? Since when have you wanted my opinion of the
women you’ve been associated with?”
      “That
wasn’t the question. But it’s an interesting train of thought. What about the
women I’ve been with?”
      “Well,
they’re all easy. None of them have wanted a relationship. It’s all about sex,
right? That’s your thing. Never settle down, thereby never get tangled up with
a decent woman who might want more than a romp and roll.”
      He
was stunned. “Is that what you think?”
      “No,
that’s what you think.”
      “It’s
not. I’ve never said I didn’t want a relationship. What about Maureen?”
      “Exactly.
That’s the last