Six White Horses by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online

time!
    As she stepped from the small bathroom into the equally small hallway, a cup of coffee was held out to her.
    Patty froze at the sight of the large hand that held it, her gaze springing to its owner. The searing flames in her cheeks were not the result of the warm shower, but from the appraising look Morgan Kincaid was giving her as he inspected her from bare head to bare toe, taking his leisure to study all the bareness the towel exposed in between.
    "What are you doing here? Where's grandpa?" Patty breathed, unable to meet the bright gleam in his eyes or see past the massive shoulders to the living area of the small trailer.
    "Outside, talking to Pete." The hand holding the cup moved forward. "Don't you want your coffee now?"
    With fumbling fingers, she took the cup from him, her knees quivering at the familiar and insulting way he kept looking at her. The warmth from the cup was comforting and she wrapped her fingers around it to draw strength.
    "Was that you I heard come into the trailer? Grandpa didn't—" Her voice began to tremble, too.
    "Gramps didn't hear a word you said. You'll have to repeat your carefully rehearsed speech again," Morgan smiled at her with infuriating complacency.
    "You knew I thought it was grandpa out here. You could have let me know," she accused resentfully.
    "I didn't find out anything that I didn't already know, so what's the harm?" One shoulder was lifted in a mocking shrug.
    "There is no harm. I can't stand you, and I'll gladly say it to your face!" Patty retorted. "But it was supposed to be a private conversation. If you had any manners or sense of decency, you would have let me know you were here." She placed, a hand on her hip in rigid challenge. "Exactly why are you here?"
    "I wanted to talk to you and gramps together," Morgan replied easily, the glitter never leaving the sapphire depths of his eyes. "He was busy with Pete, so he suggested that I come in here and wait. The coffee was your idea. Incidentally, you make very good coffee."
    "I wish you'd choke on it!" Patty hissed, spinning away to stalk to her bedroom in the rear of the trailer, the spurt of temper giving strength to her previously unsteady legs.
    "So you've decided to run, have you?" Morgan drawled.
    "It is not running!" she answered vehemently. "It's a new start." She stopped short beside her bed, stamping a bare foot in frustration.
    "I don't know why I'm explaining my reasons to you. It's none of your business!"
    "I don't suppose so," he agreed lazily.
    Whether it had been the furious pounding of blood in her ears or a subconscious belief that Morgan wouldn't follow her or a combination of both, Patty hadn't heard the footsteps following her to the bedroom. Not until his voice came from inside the doorway did she realize he was behind her.
    "Get out of my bedroom!"
    The towel almost slipped loose when she pivoted sharply around. The quick movement of her hand saved her from an embarrassing incident.
    "Is this yours?" His gaze swung with casual interest around the small cubicle. "I didn't know if you or your grandfather slept here.
    "Grandpa sleeps on the couch. I want to get dressed. Will you leave?"
    Her teeth were grinding together as her nerves reacted to his dark form that nearly filled the room. The force of his masculinity was overpoweringly apparent.
    "It's a shame that you wear jeans all the time," he commented, ignoring her biting order. "They cover up a very attractive pair of legs. They're very nicely shaped."  
    His lazy glance moved from the bareness of her thighs to the shadowy cleft between her breasts, partially visible above the towel wrapped around her body. "—Along with other things," Morgan added suggestively.
    A crimson flush tinted her cheeks as she hitched the towel higher. The protective gesture drew a smile on the hard male mouth.
    "I have to get dressed," Patty repeated, less vigorously than before as a nervous awareness took hold of her.
    "Don't mind me." he shrugged.
    The casual step