Royal Trouble by Becky McGraw Read Free Book Online Page A

that instinct kicked in, so she incited men with her sly smiles, then expected him to defend her, fight for her when the dumbasses fell for her tricks.  Wes wasn't a fighter, and after a while he figured out that is how she got her jollies, so he stopped responding.  It had been a game with his ex-wife, but he didn't think it was with this woman for some reason.
    "Is someone bothering you?"  He didn't know what he could do about it if they were, but he would damn well try to help her, if he could.
    "Not anymore..." she told him softly with a shake of her head which sent her ponytail swishing behind her head.
    "She'll do a good job for you, Wes," Rocky assured him, her words more sure than her expression.  "Otherwise I wouldn't recommend her, you know that."
    "I trust your opinion, Rox," he replied as he shoved his hand out to Leigh Ann. " You're hired, Leigh Ann."   Had he just said that ?
    When his hand closed around the smooth skin of her smaller hand, electricity shot up his arm to zap him in his chest.  This crazy magnetism he was feeling toward Leigh Ann Baker was going to get him in big trouble if he didn't get a grip on himself.  This woman was his employee, not someone he could let himself become personally involved with.  He needed a competent assistant, nothing more from this woman, Wes reminded himself.
    His ex-wife had told him she was out of his league many times.  This woman was a helluva lot more attractive than Laura, so he knew Leigh Ann Baker wasn't only out of his league, she wasn't even in the same ballpark as him.  He didn't need a woman like her anyway.  If Laura had made his life hell trying to protect and keep her, this woman would put him in the seventh ring of that hotspot.  Wes just didn't have the energy left for that.
    "I have a son," Wes blurted and Leigh Ann's eyebrows shot up.  The words were meant as a reminder to himself, as well as a warning to her. 
    Leigh Ann smiled sweetly, then drawled in her hypnotizing southern belle voice, "Yes, that's what Annie said...Trey isn't that his name?"
    Wes watched her lips move, but like those Kung Fu movies that were filmed in Chinese, then voiced over in English, her words were delayed in penetrating the fog in his brain.  "Annie?" he repeated dumbly.
    "Oh, sorry... Rocky ," she clarified with a glance at her sister spiced with another blinding white smile.  "I've just always called her that."
    "My mother's idea," Rocky grated, with a tight smile.  "But Leigh Ann is going to call me Rocky now, aren't you Leigh Ann?"
    The practiced smile on Leigh Ann's face turned into a genuine grin, causing Wes's heart to do a somersault in his chest.  "Yes, ma'am, I am going to call you whatever you want me to call you."
    "Good.  Now get your butt out of here, Wes.  We need to straighten out this mess you've made," Rocky ordered gruffly, walking around the desk.  Wes stood then stepped to the side, as Rocky breezed by to sit down in the chair. 
    Leigh Ann squeezed between him and the desk to look over her sister's shoulder, her light floral perfume wafted up to his nose and sent his senses into overdrive.  He savored it, tried to identify it, then decided it almost smelled like the honeysuckles that grew wild out by his fence line during the summer.  Like the bees that swarmed on those flowers, Wes wanted to hover around her neck and get drunk on the scent.
    Clearing his throat, Wes stepped back putting more distance between them, then turned toward the door to put more between them, before he did something more stupid than hiring a woman who had zero experience with animals.  "I'll leave ya'll to it then.  Trey and my mama should be back soon."
    "Wes, I have one more favor to ask..." Roxanne said quickly, before he went through the door.  His shoulders stiffened as he turned back toward her. 
    "Yeah?  What's that?"
    "Leigh Ann is new to town and doesn't have a place to stay.  Can she stay with you up at the house until she gets the money