Brandi by Donna McDonald Read Free Book Online Page A

internal soul searching had been more wisely spent on finding a rationalization about Gareth’s presence on her couch. After hours of study, she suspected she had spared his life simply because he was good in bed. The thought made her want to sigh again, but she fought the urge until it went away.
     
    Was she shallow? Maybe she was. She definitely liked looking at him. Gareth wasn’t what you would call pretty. Life—too much life—showed on his face and in his hands. But she found him immensely attractive and her interest in him kept growing the longer she was with him.
     
    Maybe it was the silver wingtips at his temples or the lines across his forehead. She also liked the way his steady, green gaze turned to sparkling emerald chips when he was moving inside her with steady precision.
     
    Why in hell did he have to be a retired agent?
     
    Her fondness for Gareth had been easier to accept when she believed he was nothing more than a simple cattle farmer. Him being a stuffy, but compassionate, werewolf Beta had barely blipped on her warning radar. It had gone totally silent after they started sleeping together. That was her real problem.
     
    She was devastated by Gareth’s betrayal, partly because she hadn’t seen any deception happening. He had held her gaze while inside her and she’d only been charmed by the directness of it. Yet the whole time she’d had no idea who or what he really was.
     
    Her jaded life had been filled with deceitful people and acts, but Gareth was the first person she could ever recall so thoroughly fooling her. She could never again view him as anything but a dangerous equal. It was why she was still so pissed. He had ruined her dream.
     
    It had been nice to think of Gareth as someone she might actually want to go back to Wasilla for one day. He had destroyed her lovely illusion of having a lover she would actually miss. She hated him for that alone, but hate was not what she was feeling after her dreams last night. This morning she was back to wanting to rip his clothes off. She hated him for that too.
     
    His steady gaze brought her out of her thoughts and back to having to deal with the reality of what to do about him today. He was going to turn her in and there was no stopping it from happening. The narrowed eyed, suspicious man on her couch wasn’t nearly as appealing as the one she had almost let herself fall for in Alaska. This one she now knew better than to trust. Her dream about a possible life with Gareth had ended as badly as all the others she’d ever allowed herself.
     
    “If you’re planning my death, tell your Alpha I said to keep my truck. Lafayette can have my cattle. Matt can divide up the rest of my stuff as he sees fit.”
     
    Brandi huffed at Gareth’s dry humor about dying. “You’re in a generous mood today.”
     
    “Not really. I should have called Lafayette when I first laid eyes on you. Instead, I kept you for myself. Thirty-five head of cattle isn’t a fair trade for the satisfaction I found between your legs.”
     
    “Keep talking about me like I’m a commodity and the knot on your forehead is going to seem like a love tap. Outwardly I may appear calm this morning, but inside I’m still very pissed at you, Agent Longfeather . Consider yourself warned.”
     
    Gareth snorted and finished off the coffee. “Pissed about what? All I’m really guilty of is making you like me more than you wanted to. Sorry if I made you feel something, Agent Jenkins . I know how much you hate that.”
     
    Brandi stood and walked over to take the cup from his hands. He could have used her close proximity to attack her, but to what end? Gareth wasn’t the kind of person who thrived on getting even or he would have tried to already.
     
    No—what Gareth wanted was her cooperation. And that was what she would give him—until she figured out what she was up against. She was tired of being a science puppet. She had no plans to be one again.
     
    “Yes, you did