Brave the Wild Wind by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online

down.”
    Jessie stopped all resistance instantly and relaxed against him. Chase held her like that, waiting for her to calm down a bit. As he waited, he became acutely aware of her body. Confusion set in. How old had Rachel said her daughter was? Eighteen! She was full grown, even if she didn’t act it and her clothes hid the fact. Soft, full breasts were pressed against his chest. No wonder he was beginning to respond to the closeness.
    Chase swore softly and set Jessie away from him, holding her wrists in front of her. He looked her over, seeing the alluring curves he had missed before, the way her pants fit like a second skin, the way her shirt strained against her breasts.
    “Are you ready to behave now?”
    Jessie’s head was lowered, and she seemed subdued. “You’re hurting me,” she said.
    He relaxed his hold. The second he did she jerked loose and started running for the house. When he caught up with her, she had reached the porch steps. This time he was fed up. Jessie screamed when he sat down on the steps and pulled her across his lap. She squirmed with all her might, trying to face him, yet he kept pushing her down. She kept screaming.
    Rachel heard the yelling, and when she rushed to the porch and saw, she was shocked. “Stop it, Chase!”
    With his hands full of a hissing, spitting wildcat, Chase couldn’t turn to look at her. He said angrily, “She deserves it, Rachel!”
    “That’s not the way to handle Jessica, Chase.” She came around to face him. “Now let her up.”
    Chase stared hard at her, and slowly some rationality returned. “You’re right. It’s not my place to discipline your kid, no matter how much she needs it.”
    He let Jessie go, and the moment her feet were planted firmly in front of him, she hauled off and socked him on the nose. He was so surprised that she was able to run past him and into the house before he could react. He growled and got up to go after her.
    Rachel caught his arm. “Let her go, Chase.”
    “Did you see what that little bitch did to me?” he shouted furiously.
    “Yes, and it was no more than you deserved,” Rachel told him sharply. Then she said in acalmer tone, “She’s a young woman, Chase. You can’t manhandle her like you did.”
    “Young woman, hell! She’s a spoiled brat.” He felt his nose, and his hand came away smeared with blood. “Is it broken?”
    “Let me see.” Rachel felt around the edges and along the ridge and shook her head. “I don’t think so, but you’re bleeding pretty badly. Come inside, and I’ll take care of it.”
    Chase stepped through the door, but he did so warily, as if he expected Jessie to be waiting to clobber him again. Rachel saw him looking around and said, “The door to her room is open, so she has probably taken off out the back.”
    “If you mean Jessie,” Billy Ewing volunteered, coming up the hall, “she just left on Blackstar.”
    “She’s probably going off to sulk,” Chase said.
    “Jessie?” Billy scoffed. “Nah, she’s got work to do. She said so, when I asked where she was going. What happened to you?”
    “Never mind!”
    “Boy!” Billy cried as he turned around and went back down the hall the way he had come. “You never get a straight answer out of grownups.”
    Rachel smiled after her son. He was so different from her first child. Having the love of two parents made such a difference. Billy was so good-natured, not at all like Jessica. It was all such a shame.
    “You can’t get straight answers out of willful little chits, either,” Chase grumbled.
    “What?”
    “Did your daughter happen to tell you where she went? When did she get back?”
    “Five days ago,” Rachel replied. “And no, she wouldn’t tell me where she’d been. I tried to talk to her, but she accused me of only pretending to be worried, of putting on an act. She said it was none of my business and I’d had no right sending you after her. I really think she was most angry about that, that you went