The Barons of Texas: Jill by Fayrene Preston Read Free Book Online Page A

she had to admit that he was right, though she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of telling him so. “Up to now, I haven’t focused on that particular aspect of, uh…”
    “Being a woman?” he supplied helpfully.
    She shrugged. “I’ve always been a quick study. How hard can it be?” She eyed him, something, perhaps an idea, tickling at the back of her mind. “You didn’t answer my question.”
    “That’s because I can’t.” He smiled. “I’ve never been a woman.”
    She almost laughed at the thought. He was one of the most masculine men she’d ever known. Why hadn’t she noticed it before? As soon as the question formed in her mind, the answer followed: she woreblinders that kept her from seeing anything but business. If she hadn’t been born with them—and she wasn’t entirely certain that she hadn’t been—then her father had strapped them on her shortly thereafter. “But you’re certainly around a lot of women. I mean, you seem to… attract women.”
    “What’s your point?”
    “I don’t know.” Her answer was an honest one, but she kept prodding at her mind, trying to figure it out. Whenever she was uncertain about a decision she needed to make, she usually made a list of what she knew for a fact, so that was what she did now. “You seem to know a lot about Des. And you certainly know a lot about women.”
    “Where did you get that second idea?”
    She drew her brows together, annoyed that he’d interrupted her fragile train of thought. “I’ve talked to quite a few of your castoffs.”
    “I don’t cast off women.”
    “They seem to think you do.”
    “Think about what you just said, Jill.” His tone was surprisingly gentle, but his expression was uncompromising. “That can’t be true.”
    She threw the gold pen on the desk. “Okay, okay—they’re usually just disappointed that you don’t get serious about them and normally don’t ask them out again beyond the first or second date.”
    “I don’t lead women on, Jill.”
    She sighed, sorry she had even brought up the subject. “Look, what you do with women is your business, okay?”
    He stared at her with an expression that clearly said he wasn’t going to let her get away with anything.
    “Don’t look at me like that. You know women onlyhave to look at you to start drooling over you. And if you happen to smile at them and they see that damned dimple of yours, they’re suddenly planning their wedding.”
    “Once again, I think you’re exaggerating.”
    She folded her arms across her chest. “No, actually, I’m right on that one. You seem to only want to be friends with most of them, and from what they say, you make a great friend. But that doesn’t keep them from being extremely disappointed, or hoping that one day you’ll look at them in a more romantic way. At any rate, why are we talking about your relationships with women when we started out talking about Des and what he thinks about me?”
    “I believe you brought up the subject of my, as you put it, relationships with women.”
    “I did?” She frowned. It was what she privately termed the day-after-a-migraine syndrome. She often had trouble keeping her mind on a subject. And after last night with Colin… Damn .
    “What’s bothering you, Jill?”
    She attempted to erase all thought from her mind and tried again. “Des. Des…” The idea that had been tickling at the back of her mind suddenly came to the front, fully formed.
    He shook his head. “Sorry, but you don’t have a chance with him.”
    “So you say.” She eyed him warily. “Can I trust you?”
    He seemed to relax, and with a smile, he sat down on the corner of her desk. “You slept in my arms last night. If you can’t trust me, who can you trust?”
    She almost groaned. “Will you please just forget about that?”
    He chuckled. “You’re kidding, right?”
    Everything in her was tensed as she walked around the desk and stopped in front of him. Even though he was sitting