The Bachelor by Carly Phillips Read Free Book Online Page A

break-ins over the weekend.”
    Roman’s reporter’s instincts kicked in. “What was stolen?”
    A smile Roman could only describe as wicked settled on his brother’s mouth. “If I weren’t with you myself at the time of both
     break-ins, you’d be my only suspect. But I’ve got squat.”
    “
Panties?
” Roman shifted his gaze from his brother to the assortment in the window, then back again. “You’re telling me some idiot
     broke into a house and stole women’s underwear?”
    Rick nodded. “I’d have filled you and Chase in over dinner but Norman’s was too crowded to talk privately. It seems the good
     people of Yorkshire Falls have an actual crime spree on their hands.” Rick filled Roman in on the details of the thefts. It
     turned out that all of the stolen panties had been purchased at the store they were standing in front of now.
    Roman glanced at the window once more. The panties in question were there for the world to see.
Who owned this place?
The Charlotte he’d known might not have been brazen enough to open this shop, but the one he’d seen dressed in bright colors
     and who’d laid down that challenge, well, she was another woman entirely.
    “Are you going to tell me who owns this place?” he asked Rick.
    A gleam danced in his brother’s eyes and Roman’s instincts went on high alert, confirming what he’d already suspected. When
     Rick remained silent, a knowing look on his face, Roman did the obvious. He took a step back and glanced up at the awning.
    A burgundy overhang with hot pink trim and bold calligraphy stared back at him. C HARLOTTE’S A TTIC —H IDDEN T REASURES F OR THE B ODY , H EART, AND S OUL .
    “Hot damn.” Apparently he’d been too quick to discount the possibility. Charlotte,
Roman’s
Charlotte, owned this sensual, erotic shop.
    Because she was a sensual, erotic woman, as she’d proven to him in Norman’s back hall. He’d proven something to himself as
     well. He was a man with healthy carnal appetites, and it had been too long since he’d indulged those.
    “Don’t you have someplace to be?” Rick asked.
    Roman ignored his brother’s laugh, slapped Rick on the back, and headed off to town hall.
    Twenty minutes later, Roman was overwhelmed by complete and utter boredom. The things he did for family, he thought and yawned
     as he waited for the architectural review portion of the evening to end. Though he could barely concentrate, he jotted notes
     just the same. He waited, pen hovering over his pad.
    “Next up. Petition for variance to put dog door in the front entrance of 311 Sullivan Street, in the Sullivan Subdivision.
     Neighbors complain said door will destroy uniformity and beauty of subdivision—”
    “My beagle Mick’s entitled to have free access to his home.” George Carlton, petitioner, rose to his feet, only to be jerked
     back down by his wife, Rose.
    “Hush up, George. It’s not our turn to speak.”
    “Go on,” a man on the board directed.
    “We’re getting older and so’s Mick. Having to get up and down each time he needs to relieve himself is wearing on us.” She
     took her seat and folded her hands into her lap.
    People were starving in Ethiopia and being killed in the Middle East, but here in Yorkshire Falls, canine concerns ruled the
     day. Roman remembered that the itch to leave town had started during his apprenticeship with Chase, and had grown with each
     meeting he’d attended that had degenerated into petty arguments between neighbors with too much time on their hands.
    Back then, Roman’s imagination had traveled a dual path in search of excitement, from foreign locales with more intriguing,
     fast-paced stories, to Charlotte Bronson, his crush. Now that he’d visited most of the places in his dreams, he had but one
     focus. His mind returned to Charlotte and the attraction he’d proven was mutual.
    He’d intended to corner her, to make her admit to avoiding him tonight and find out why she’d ditched him in