The Bridal Path: Ashley by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

encounter would give him a chance to discover if his adolescent crush truly meant anything. He wondered what Trent would do if he knew Dillon was locked away up here with his youngest daughter. When asking about Trent’s family, Dillon had always tried very hard never to mention Ashley any more than Sara or Dani. If his eagerness for news of Ashley had been evident, Trent had never let on.
    Despite the closeness he and Trent shared, Dillon had always feared there might be unspoken limits. He’d figured a relationship between him and Ashley might top the list.
    But though he never wanted to betray the older man’s trust in him, Dillon had recognized in the past twenty-four hours that nothing would stand between him and Ashley this time. There was a fragility to her now that intrigued and worried him. Something or someone had hurt her, and he aimed to find out how. If it was within his power, he would fix things for her.
    He figured he owed it to himself, too, to find out if, as he’d always suspected, she really was the only woman in the world for him. Or if he’d just built up a world-class fantasy about the one girl he’d never had. He could only pray that Trent would never put his loyalty to the test by asking Dillon to walk away from his daughter.
    * * *
    Despite his late-night wrestling with his conscience, Dillon was up at the crack of dawn the next morning. Even so, Ashley was up ahead of him. He found her at the kitchen table with a half a grapefruit in front of her and a sour expression on her face. He suspected that expression had less to do with the taste of her meal than with its sparseness.
    “How about some scrambled eggs?” he asked cheerfully and earned a scowl and a curt refusal.
    “Toast, then?”
    “No, thank you.”
    “If you don’t eat, then I can’t take you with me today,” he said as he whisked three eggs and dumped them into a skillet sizzling with butter.
    “Oh?” she said, looking ever-so-slightly intrigued.
    “I was thinking of a picnic.”
    She sighed. “More food.”
    “After a long hike,” he amended. “A very long hike.”
    “I suppose that could be fun,” she admitted grudgingly.
    “It’s another gorgeous day,” he said. “The rain stopped before dawn.”
    “You were awake that early?”
    “Just taking advantage of opportunity,” he taunted. “But I’m not taking you, if you’re going to pass out halfway there from lack of food.”
    She rolled her eyes, but she accepted the plate of scrambled eggs he held out. And the toast. She did ignore the butter, which he placed prominently in front of her, and the orange marmalade. He chose to let that pass.
    He ate his breakfast, then sat back and studied her over the rim of his coffee mug. Eventually she lifted her gaze from her plate and stared at him defiantly.
    “Is there something on your mind?” she asked.
    “I was just wondering what all those admiring hordes would think if they could see you now.”
    Immediately, she touched a self-conscious hand to her casually caught-up hairstyle. “I’m a mess,” she said. “Don’t remind me.”
    “You are not a mess,” he contradicted. “You look more natural and more beautiful than you ever have on any magazine cover.”
    She stared at him, mouth gaping. “You’re crazy.”
    “Nope. I don’t think so. You have color in your cheeks that doesn’t come from any cosmetic I’ve ever seen.”
    “Because you’re making me blush.”
    “Whatever. And your lips look extraordinarily kissable,” he added, enjoying the way that deepened the pink tone in her cheeks. “As for your hair, no man could resist the urge to tug away that silly ribbon or whatever it is that’s holding it up.”
    To prove it, he stood and reached behind her to release waves of blond silk. The wayward curls tumbled past her shoulders. Ashley tried to scoop them back into the careless ponytail, but Dillon prevented it with a touch.
    “Don’t. It’s magnificent.”
    “It hasn’t been