Beauty and the Brit by Lizbeth Selvig Read Free Book Online Page A

already annoyed. Why did the man turn her brain to mush?
    “Any word on Paul? Or Hector?”
    “He’s sent more text messages,” Bonnie answered for her. “But we don’t think it’s really him.”
    That was true. Something had never felt right about the messages. Paul, in his gang persona as Inigo, often blustered, but he didn’t threaten pure violence. Paul in his role as a brother, especially to Bonnie, could even be tender.
    Anger, deep in the pit of her stomach, rose to a familiar boil. The longer she’d thought about it, the more Rio believed Paul could not have sent the messages. Deep down, she knew it was Hector who’d shattered their life.
    And yet, they were the ones in hiding.
    Awesome.
    “Let’s hope the police will find the answer,” David said. “Meanwhile, let’s get you into the house. I’ve cleared the afternoon so I’m at your disposal.”
    “At your disposal” ? Who said that? Rio buried her anger again. David was back to being as genteel as a duke and as polite as the diplomat she’d seen in him days earlier. She half-expected Jeeves the butler to come waddling out of the mansion and call her “miss.”
    “You didn’t have to change your schedule for us.”
    “It hardly would have been chivalrous to make you wander around an unfamiliar place by yourselves. There are lots of nooks and crannies here where newcomers can get disoriented. We should also do a bit of grocery shopping. Stock the pantry with some of your favorites?”
    He was only being wonderful. Welcoming and open. But his offers suffocated her like more smoke from the fire. It would take forever to repay him for this, but she had to take the help for Bonnie’s safety. Her stomach ached. She’d always been able to scrape her way out of tight spots, but this time she’d been squeezed to the point of helplessness for one of the very rare times in her life.
    “I . . . appreciate this.” She stumbled over the words, knowing she needed to sound at least a little grateful. “Bonnie’s pretty excited.”
    Bonnie normally railed against Rio speaking for her, but the girl was too immersed in a theme-park state of mind to care. “This is so cool!” she said for the hundredth time.
    “Okay, I’ve got to get home, so you guys enjoy the tour of the house and barns.” Jill got an enthusiastic hug from Bonnie, and accepted a perfunctory one from Rio without questioning the lack of enthusiasm. “I’ll be back to teach in a few hours,” Jill continued. “I’m guessing Chase wants to come and say hi, too. He was so worried about you.”
    It dawned on Rio that she knew nothing about Chase’s life outside of Crossroads. She knew Jill had her own horses and taught here with David. But what was the old farmhouse they were fixing up really like?
    “Everything okay?” Jill asked.
    Rio pulled a smile from somewhere deep. “Sorry. Tell Chase thanks for helping set all this up. Thank you, too.”
    Jill waved a dismissive hand. “This is no trouble. See you later, David.”
    An awkward silence filled the void Jill left behind. David stood alone before them in this new reality, truly the only port in this storm. Unlike when she’d first met him, however, he seemed much less harmless than at the community center or even at the fire scene. Here she was in his domain where, breeches and all, he definitely ruled. His dark good looks only enhanced the picture. With hair mussed from the breeze and a small vee of skin at the base of his throat messing with her equilibrium, she noticed his maleness far more than when she’d been in her own space. The danger wasn’t that David Pitts-Matherson would ever hurt them physically. Emotionally . . . that was where she felt a deep, nameless peril.
    “Let’s take your things inside,” he said. “Please forgive the state of the house. It’s very much a work in progress.”
    There wasn’t anything to forgive. Dark pine wainscoting and a welcoming shade of sage green greeted them in the