Lone Star Cinderella by Debra Clopton Read Free Book Online

grinned—couldn’t help it. “You know what I mean. Here I thought you were a mouse of a woman, and you’re really a tiger when you find something you want.”
    Her smile faded instantly and her vibrant violet eyes dulled—instantly he knew he’d said something wrong.
    â€œHold on, I’m sorry,” he said. “That didn’t come out right.”
    She took a deep breath and picked up a pair of dark-purple reading glasses. “No need to apologize,” she said, settling the glasses firmly in place like a barrier between them. “We all have more than one side to us.”
    There was a chill in her words as she blinked accusingly at him from behind her glasses. He was a jerk, she said without words—but he heard her loud and clear.
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    The man called her a mouse!
    The comment stung so badly that Melody couldn’t look at him and looked instead to the journal. So she was shy. So she didn’t stand up for herself very well…something she’d actually done yesterday with him and on the phone with Ty just now, too, after a fashion. Still, that didn’t matter—the cowboy needed better manners. A man didn’t go around calling awoman a mouse…even if he was complimenting her in a strange sort of way. Nobody had to tell her she was a mouse! She knew it better than anyone.
    The clock in the room ticked the seconds by as she pretended to study the journal in front of her. She had found herself enjoying the banter. It was so totally not her that it had been refreshing. And it had been such a welcome distraction from her troubles with Ty.
    So much so that she’d almost forgotten that no way in the world was Seth Turner flirting with her…and she hadn’t been flirting with him either. Had she? How embarrassing.
    She blinked and stared at the page harder. Why didn’t he just go home and let her work? She’d had a bad morning, her equilibrium was off, obviously—that explained her uncharacteristic behavior where Seth was concerned. But now would be a perfect time for him to leave.
    Only now , she seemed to have reverted back to mousehood and didn’t feel comfortable asking him to go.
    But she was going to. She was going to make herself or else. “You—”
    â€œYou know,” he said at the same time. “Sorry, you go ahead.”
    â€œNo. That’s okay. You go.”
    â€œI’m expecting a load of cattle to be delivered, so I’m going to go and get out of your hair. I didn’t mean to insult you. I’ve enjoyed this talk.”
    He stood and she did, too. “You didn’t hurt my feelings. Really. It has been a bit of a stressful day for me. Sorry if I acted badly.” It was true, and there was no pretending that he didn’t know something was going on with the phone.
    â€œYou don’t have any reason to apologize. Look,” he said, but halted as if he’d lost his train of thought as he stared at her.
    And why not, because she was crazy. His simple denial that she didn’t have anything to apologize for had her blinking hard against tears and there was no way he couldn’t tell it! He probably thought something was mentally wrong with her.
    â€œAre you okay?” he asked.
    She nodded but couldn’t look at him. He touched her arm, and she couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath from his unexpected touch. Her gaze flew as sharply to meet his. “You are welcome to stop by anytime,” she blurted and stepped away.
    â€œThanks,” he said, turned on his boot and was gone.
    Melody followed him to the door and watched as he jogged through the rain that was turning from a light downpour into a torrential mess…Melody actually welcomed the storm.
    She closed the front door and went to the kitchen and started cooking brownies. There were many things in life she couldn’t understand or control but brownies she knew.

Chapter Five
    S eth hadn’t