Riding for Love (A Western Romance) by Tina Susedik Read Free Book Online Page B

dank, dirty porch was not a good idea and the barn was too far away. She had one foot off the porch when Josie opened the front door and held out the phone.
    “Dammit, Josie, no,” she mouthed, refusing to take the phone.
    Josie covered the mouthpiece. “Dammit back at you, Eve. Rose told me he’s been calling you over and over. For Pete’s sake, would it hurt you to go to dinner with him? What are you? Chicken?” She pantomimed chicken wings flapping.
    “I hate you, Josie Franks.” Eve sat in her chair and covered her head with her hands.
    Josie pushed the phone at her once again. “No, you don’t. Now take the damn phone.”
    She took a deep breath and let Josie put the phone in her hands. “Do, too,” she snapped, turning her back on her friend.
    “What do you want, Dent?” Eve asked, her heart beating like the hummingbirds flitting from feeder to feeder on the porch outside her office window. “I thought I asked you not to call me anymore.” During the past week he’d phoned at least twice a day asking her to meet him. Each time, her resolve weakened a little more, especially when she realized those blue eyes in her dreams were his.
    “Eve, please.”
    The pleading tone in his voice nearly got to her. Then righteous anger took over. He deserved to be hurting. As much as she hated to admit it, he was wearing her down and she felt less and less like keeping him away.
    “Eve? Are you there?”
    “Yes, Denton, I’m here.” Eve sighed, sticking her tongue out at Josie. “What do you want?”
    “I only want to meet with you and hear me out.”
    “What difference would it make?” She pictured him running his hand through his hair in frustration.
    Ready to turn him down once more, she remembered Max and Tom telling her to listen to his side of the story. Except for her heart, what could it hurt? Maybe talking with him would exorcise the feelings she’d been harboring all these years. Maybe she would find out he had turned into a real toad or a beast that beat women and tortured children for kicks. Then he would truly be out of her life once and for all.
    Eve wiped her damp hands on her jeans and let out a calming breath. “Oh, all right, Dent,” she answered with resignation, ignoring her friend’s fist punch in the air. “When and where?”
    “Really?” He paused as if waiting for her to change her mind. He named a familiar supper club in a nearby city. “Tomorrow night? I’ll pick you up at seven.”
    ”Fine. But I’ll drive myself and meet you,” she said.
    “Great! Seven it is,” he said, his relief ringing clearly across the phone line.
    Eve clicked off the phone and turned to her friend. “Satisfied?”
    Josie smirked. “Oh, boy, you betcha, girl.” She grabbed the wine glasses and put a bottle of wine under her arm. “Okay. Now what are you going to wear?”
    “Jeans?”
    “No way in hell, sister. You need to knock him on his can. Make him sorry he ever left you.” She moved to the door. “Grab those snacks.”
    “Where we going?”
    “Your room. It’s been way too long since we’ve closet shopped, and I want to make sure you look perfect.”
    Denton arrived at the restaurant early, nerves tingling, palms sweating, resisting the urge for a strong brandy to bolster his confidence. He needed a clear mind tonight. He toyed with his glass of beer as he sat at the bar. How had life come to this? The last person on earth, besides his mother, he’d ever wanted to hurt was Eve. From the fateful day of his senior year to today, Eve was never far from his thoughts. He chuckled.
    She’d crashed into his life like she had on Main Street. They’d been in band together, so he knew of her, but she was a year younger and they didn’t run in the same circles. Her family was poor and his father’s business, while not making them rich, certainly put them at opposite ends of the financial spectrum. His parents, owners of a manufacturing plant, loved and were devoted to each other and