Lady Love by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page B

crickets and the wind. She felt the warm breeze over her face and sighed with pure delight.
    The sudden tug on the line caught her unawares, and she felt the fishing pole being dragged out of her fingers. “Oh, no, you don’t, you sneaky fish!”
    She made a grab for the pole, but it was dragged off the pier, obviously being tugged away by something with scales and a smug look on its fishy face.
    Impulsively, she jumped into the lake after it, swimming smoothly toward the pole with the graceful style she’d been taught in her youth. She grabbed the pole and dog-paddled toward shore with it firmly under one arm.
    “You got it, Merlyn!” Amanda squealed, jumping up and down. “You got it!”
    Lila was grinning, too, clapping her hands in amusement.
    “Stupid fish,” Merlyn muttered as she got to the bank and collapsed on it. The water had been cold, but she hadn’t even noticed. The pole was still being tugged, so she dragged herself to her feet and put all her remaining strength into fighting whatever was on the end of the line.
    “Try to get away from me, will you?” she muttered. She was no novice at pulling in fighting fish. She frequently went deep-sea fishing with her father in the Gulf of Mexico. Huffing and puffing, she matched pull with tug, until with one quick, sharp jerk, she flipped the fish out of the water…and right into Cameron Thorpe’s face as he walked toward her down the slight hill.

Chapter Four
    S he heard a harsh curse as she turned around.
    “Oops,” she said, glancing toward Lila and Amanda, who were in tears, they were laughing so hard.
    “Why the hell did you do that?” Cameron growled, dabbing with his handkerchief at the expensive tan vested suit he was wearing. “My God, this suit cost a small fortune, and now it smells like a bad seafood restaurant.”
    Merlyn moved closer and picked up her wriggling fish, which lay in the dirt next to Cameron’s expensive shoes. She held it up with a sigh. It was a carp, not even a terribly big one. And it was making pitiful little noises. With a wistful glance, she heaved it back into the lake.
    “You got it all dirty,” she said, glowering at Cameron. “And it will probably lose every friend it’s got when they get a good whiff of it.”
    He stared at her with wide, uncomprehending eyes.
    “Why do you wear that horrible stuff, anyway?” she asked. “British Sterling is so much more impressive, and it doesn’t smell like a dead animal.”
    One corner of his mouth lifted, as if he were tempted to smile. His dark eyes wandered down to her wet tube top and lingered on the outline of her high breasts. Something stirred in his face, and she knew that he was remembering how she looked without her clothes. She might as well be topless; the top was so thin that everything showed. Involuntarily, her arms crossed over it and she took a step backward.
    “Are you cold?” he asked quietly. His eyes moved back up to hers, and it was like getting an electric shock. “Or do I excite you, Miss Forrest?”
    She knew exactly what he meant, and her face flushed. “Now, now, Mr. Rochester,” she murmured, “let’s not get personal.”
    One corner of that hard mouth curled up. “Are you sure you don’t want to? You might be enough to tempt me, after all.”
    She glared at him. “I need to change.”
    “Not on my account,” he murmured for her ears alone as the others came toward them. “You have exquisite breasts.”
    She clenched her fingers and caught her breath, feeling murderous urges. Her glittering green eyes met his at point-blank range, and he gave a soft, predatory laugh.
    Hard, she’d called him. Cold and stiff and as romantic as a crab. And now here he was throwing her off balance, when it should have been the reverse. She turned away.
    “How very odd—that Merlyn goes fishing and you get the catch,” Lila murmured to her son, looking amused.
    “It all depends on what you’re fishing for, I suppose,” he replied.
    “All