Rocky Mountain Cowboy by S.A. Monk Read Free Book Online Page B

and Cindy Caldwell walked into the room.
    Jenny wiped her eyes and rushed to acknowledge her business partner. “Hey, Peter. I was wondering if you were coming back tonight.”
    He shot her a cynical look. “Were you? You look.... a bit occupied... again.”
    Jenny glanced at the blonde beside him. The woman looked decidedly displeased. “How was your day? Did you have a pleasant visit?”
    “How was yours? I see you finally got out of bed. Must have had a long night of it, huh?”
    Jenny raised a quizzical eyebrow, a touch dismayed by his rude, challenging tone. She had the feeling he was baiting her about something. “I didn’t sleep well ...”
    She never got to finish the explanation. Peter cut her off with a snide laugh. “I guess not. Seems you had a little company.”
    “Peter, what on earth?”
    “Company in your bed,” he supplied. “When I came back from the bunkhouse, your bedroom door was ajar. I saw him in bed with you, Jenny,” he elaborated with a terse nod in Hawk’s direction.
    “You slept with her?!” Cindy repeated in an elevated voice full of dismay.
    “Mason, that’s enough!“ Hawk cut in, his blue eyes flashing with fire. “I told you this morning what that was about. Now drop it.”
    Dressed in tight expensive designer jeans and a red cashmere, low-cut sweater, Cindy Caldwell turned to Hawk angrily. “I need to talk to you,” she commanded. “Alone.”
    Hawk obliged her with a nod and a wave of his hand. “After you,” he indicated, pointing the blonde toward the room Tom had always used as his office. After Cindy disappeared through the double doors, he turned back to Peter.
    “Remember your manners, Mason. Jenny’s got enough to deal with.”
    As a warning, it was not well received by Peter. “Worry about your girlfriend, Chief.”
    Hawk took a step toward him, anger openly etched on every feature.
    Appalled by Peter’s bigoted comment, Jenny rushed over to step between the men, then raised her hand to stop Hawk’s advancement. “Let me handle this. Go talk to Miss Caldwell. I’m okay.”
    He studied her for a moment to assure himself she’d be okay, then went into the study, closing the doors behind him. Once they were alone, Jenny turned to Peter. “That was incredibly rude of you. You’re a guest in this house. You had no right to make a scene like that in front of ...”
    “His girlfriend,” Peter provided emphatically. “Like in long term girlfriend.”
    “Well.... Whatever she is, you over-stepped the bounds of good manners.” The fact that her suspicions about Cindy Caldwell’s relationship with John Red Hawk Larson were confirmed filled Jenny with sharp, inexplicable disappointment.
    “So, what in the hell is going on between you and the half-breed?”
    “Peter, why are you using these racial slurs? I never figured you for a racist.”
    “That’s what he is, according to Brad Caldwell, half-white, half-Indian,” he defended stubbornly.
    “Just because Caldwell calls him that doesn’t make it right, Peter. I thought I knew you to be fairer than that.”
    “He’s an interloper, Jenny.”
    “He was my father’s legal business partner.”
    “Legal maybe, but not ethical.”
    Jenny sighed tiredly, and moved back to the fireplace and its warmth. “I’m not having this conversation with you tonight, Peter.”
    “Then at least tell me what he was doing in your bed,” he demanded.
    “Nothing— nothing at all.”
    “Bullshit!”
    “It wasn’t sexual, Peter,” she tried to explain. “I had a nightmare about Daddy…”
    “And Stud Galahad just happened to wake you from your dreams and fall into bed with you?”
    That nightmare about her dad had opened all the floodgates she’d been trying to hold at bay. She remembered most of last night, especially crying her heart out in Hawk’s arms. And she knew she had asked him to stay. He understood her grief, the loss she’d suffered. He had suffered it, too. His physical and emotional strength