Galahad in Jeans (Louisiana Knights Book 2) by Jennifer Blake Read Free Book Online Page B

neck, ran over her in quick, impersonal examination. A sharp pain pierced her fog as he touched her right wrist. She flinched, but could make only a gasping moan.
    “Talk to me, Carla. Yell at me, cuss me out. Say something, anything.”
    One moment she could feel rain on her face, and the next it was gone. A strong arm circled her shoulders, lifting her against a warm, hard-muscled chest. He knelt beside her, hovering above her head and shoulders, protecting her from the rain. She realized this in some dim recess of her mind, but distress beat out appreciation.
    “Can’t…can’t breathe,” she managed.
    He shifted her in his grasp and began a firm, circular massage between her shoulder blades. “It’s okay, don’t force it. Short breaths, one after the other.”
    She could do that. She gasped a little, and again. Then air, blessed air, lifted her chest. She opened her eyes, seeing nothing but a blur of green as she drew it deep into her lungs, and was grateful when Beau helped her sit up so she could take in even more.
    “All right now?” The words were quiet, yet shaded with worry.
    She nodded. “So—so stupid.”
    “I know. I shouldn’t have taken off so fast.”
    “Not you, me. I wasn’t holding on.”
    She could feel the stiffening of surprise in his grasp. Did he expect her to blame him? She preferred to take responsibility for her mistakes.
    “I should have made sure you were,” he said with a quick shake of his head.
    “Why? I knew what it—was like. Riding back there—I mean.”
    A quick laugh shook his chest where her shoulder rested against him. “We can argue about it later. Right now, you’re soaked. Let’s get you back to the house before you catch pneumonia.”
    The cool spring rain was splattering all around them, dimpling the ruts of the track where the ATV sat. She was suddenly chilled by the wind striking through the wetness of her thin top. It had been little enough protection before, so she’d been glad to shelter behind Beau’s wide shoulders as they rode; now it was like wearing nothing at all. And that was literally true, for the rain had turned the fabric almost transparent, showing the curves of her breasts rising above the thin lace of the camisole she wore under it.
    Even as that thought formed, Beau slid an arm under her knees and rose to his feet with her cradled against him. Her gaze widened at the ease of it for him, and she searched his face in a species of wonder. He was so close she could see the wet, brown spikes of his lashes where they grew along his eyelids. Also the blue glitter of his eyes, the indentation in the plane of his face that would become a dimple when he grinned, the tracks of rainwater trailing through his short beard bristles, the slight bump at the bridge of his nose and smooth curves of his mouth.
    A shiver ran over her that was not entirely from the cold, though she tried to still it. Her voice was more than a little husky when she spoke. “You don’t have to do this. I can walk.”
    “We’re not going far.”
    That was true enough. He merely strode the half a dozen steps to where the ATV sat rumbling in the rain. Climbing aboard, he settled her in his lap and took off down the track.
    She held on this time, clutching him around the neck though her wrist throbbed, the pain shooting to her elbow with every beat of her heart. And if she pressed closer to him than was absolutely necessary, it was for the intense heat that rose off him. That was all.
    “Okay?” he asked, glancing down at her as they sped toward the house.
    He didn’t allow his gaze to lower even an inch, much less stare at her chest. She gave him points for that. “Fine,” she said, but then ruined it by wincing. Her smile also turned a little sickly as they hit a bump.
    “Liar. I think you may have fractured a bone in your wrist.”
    The words were without heat, which was a good thing. She didn’t lie. Not ever. “Maybe not. Could be a sprain.”
    “We’ll soon find