The Bachelor by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online

threat to her at all.
Yeah, right.
    “The more you challenge me, the more determined I get.” He laughed, obviously not believing she meant what she had said.
    Little did he realize she was deadly serious. Nothing more could happen between Charlotte and the carefree world traveler,
     unless, of course, she wanted to end up alone and abandoned, like her mother.
    But Roman had thrown down the verbal gauntlet. Now all she had to do was remain strong enough to resist.

CHAPTER THREE
    B y the time Roman walked out of Norman’s and into the cooler night air, he had a job to do.
    Chase had gotten an emergency call from his editor, Ty Turner, who needed to miss the town meeting in order to accompany his
     pregnant wife to the hospital. The last thing Roman wanted to do was take over
that
assignment, but he did want to lighten his brother’s load. So he volunteered to cover the meeting.
    And so, while Rick headed to a pay phone to call and check on Raina before heading back to work, and Chase retired to do some
     work for next week’s edition, Roman was on his way to tonight’s bickering session.
    He glanced at his watch, noting he had a few minutes to kill. A few minutes to browse the seductive shop next door and figure
     out who owned it. One look at Charlotte, and he’d nearly forgotten his own name. No way he’d been focused enough to ask her
     about her new business.
    He focused on the window display and his mouth opened wide. Were those crocheted panties on the amazingly lifelike mannequin?
     In the conservative town of Yorkshire Falls? He couldn’t have been more astonished. He felt a distinct rush of arousal when
     he realized that raven-haired mannequin bore an uncanny resemblance to Charlotte. Suddenly realizing he looked like an old
     lech leering at women’s lingerie, he stepped back. God, he hoped to hell no one was watching, or he’d never live down the
     embarrassment.
    Roman took another step back and bumped against something hard. He turned around to find Rick, arms folded across his chest,
     grinning at him. “See something you like?”
    “You’re a laugh riot,” Roman muttered.
    “I figured you were revisiting your youth.”
    Roman couldn’t mistake Rick’s meaning. Leave it to his middle sibling to remember Roman’s high school prank, done back when
     his idea of fun had been a panty raid at a friend’s house, where the girls were having a slumber party. Not only had it been
     his idea, but he’d been so damn proud he’d hung a pair from his rearview mirror for about twenty-four hours. Until his mother
     had found them and given him a blistering lecture and punishment he’d never forget.
    Raina Chandler had a unique way of curing her sons’ most incorrigible habits. After a summer of rinsing his boxers and hanging
     them to dry in
front
of the house, he’d never subject anyone to that same humiliation again.
    With any luck, the rest of the town had long forgotten. “I can’t believe a shop like this is making it here,” he said, changing
     the subject.
    “It is. Young and old, slim and the more … robust— they all shop here. The younger ones anyway. Mom’s on a crusade to get
     the older women in here too, and she’s one of the most loyal customers.”
    “Mom
wears
these panties?”
    The brothers shook their heads at the same time, neither wanting his imagination to travel down that path. “How
is
Mom?”
    “Hard to tell. She sounded winded when I called, like she’d been running, which is impossible. So I’m heading on over to check
     myself.”
    Roman exhaled hard. “I’ve got my cell phone. Call me if you need me.”
    Rick nodded. “Will do.” He then walked along the street by the store, turned right at the corner leading to the apartments
     above, and returned soon after.
    “What’s going on?” Roman asked, recognizing a walk-by when he saw one. His brother was patrolling the area and Roman wanted
     to know why.
    Rick shrugged. “Yorkshire Falls had a couple of