Second Chance Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Trish Morey Read Free Book Online Page B

reservation.
    “All done,” he said, repocketing his cell, “Ms. Scarlett Buck.”
    Something about the way he said her name alerted her. She looked up from her puzzle. “Yes?”
    He was smiling. “Cute name.”
    “Yeah. Bella thought so too.”
    His smile widened. “I bet. Probably thought she was going to make a killing. Guess you must have had a bit of a rough time growing up though.”
    She screwed up her nose. “You better believe it. Tara and I spent an entire childhood being pooped on from a great height because of our name.” She shrugged. ‘”We got so used to it after a while that someone would say something and we’d just laugh and say it was water off a Buck’s back.” She grinned up at him. “They breed us tough in Montana.”
    He liked it. “Beer?” he asked, as he pulled a Corona from the fridge and held it up. He pulled out another and flipped both lids when she nodded. “What’s she like, this sister of yours?” he asked, as he handed her the longneck and sat down in the other arm chair, his elbows resting on wide-apart knees. He had his shirt sleeves rolled up and his forearms were strong and lean, and she didn’t know what it was about him but just looking at him was intoxicating and one beer would likely put her over the limit. Lucky she wasn’t driving. “Same as you?”
    She laughed at that, happy to be distracted. “Hardly.”
    “But you’re twins, right?”
    “We’re twins, but not identical. We’re pretty different, when all ’s said and done.”
    “How so?”
    She shrugged. “Tara’s real pretty—”
    “Not so different then,” he said, and she felt a bloom of heat burst open inside her right there.
    She bowed her head and raised her beer at him. “Thank you, kind sir. What I was going to say, is Tara’s real pretty only she doesn’t like to show it too much. I mean, she’s got the most gorgeous long blonde hair, but she pulls it back real tight and wouldn’t be caught dead getting a color—well,” she lifted up her hair, “anything like this. And she’s real sensible and does everything right.” She took a sip of her beer. “Whereas, and you may have noticed this, I tend to be the one who jumps in feet first and, more often than not, bucks up .”
    He laughed into the neck of his beer before he took a draught. “Sounds like you’re pretty hard on yourself. She can’t be that perfect.”
    “Ha, then listen to this. She doesn’t just have a good job, she’s a cop—a patrol officer over at Bozeman and she’s marrying sensible Simon the history teacher later this year. No doubt about it, Tara is the perfect daughter.”
    “Definitely hard on yourself.”
    She shook her head and threw her legs over the arm of the chair and looked up at the ceiling, the bottom of her beer resting on her belly. “You know, I think I’m just starting to realize how much grief I’ve put everyone through these past twenty-six years. Tara’s the sensible twin and I’m the flaky one, the one who dropped out of school, the one who spent more time under the bleachers researching anatomy with boys than cheering my sister on her ribbon-winning way from up top. And sometimes I’ve thought Tara’s just being a party pooper when she gives me advice or tells me not to do something, but I’m starting to see that sometimes she’s even a little bit right. Well, a lot right, actually, come to think of it. Sometimes I think I should be more like her.”
    He sipped his beer. “Interesting.”
    He was being polite, she was sure. She’d seen Amtrak timetables that were more engaging than the details of her family’s dynamics. “What about you? Have you got family somewhere around?”
    “Mum’s still going well in Melbourne. Dad died a few years back. Heart attack.”
    “Nasty. Our Dad left when we were thirteen. I think Mom would have been a lot happier if he’d had a heart attack.” She looked over. “Oh, damn, I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
    “No, it’s