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

Dani’s head reeled.
    Eyes wide, she stared at him. If anything, his expression was more smug than it had been in victory.
    “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you, Slade Watkins?” she murmured.
    He shrugged. “I’m beginning to think I just may be.”
    Judging from his tone, Dani wasn’t certain which of them was more surprised by the discovery.

Chapter Four
    S lade’s eyes were blurring. He’d been staring at his computer screen ever since he’d dropped the boys off at Dani’s, but for the first time in memory he couldn’t seem to concentrate. He kept seeing images of Dani, her T-shirt damp and stretched taut over her breasts, her cheeks flushed with color, her hair tangled, her eyes sparkling with laughter as she leapt into the air to catch a poorly thrown pass. It had been over a week now and the fact that he couldn’t shake that image terrified him.
    He had never known a woman with so much exuberance or so little self-consciousness about what was proper. Even before her accident, Amanda would never have joined in an impromptu game of football with a bunch of rambunctious kids, much less instigated it. When she’d been home at all, she’d been more inclined to suggest a family evening in front of the TV with an old movie and a bowl of popcorn. It had allowed her to avoid any direct interaction with the husband she no longer loved.
    Feeling an odd sort of loyalty to the woman who’d betrayed him, Slade warned himself to stop making comparisons. Amanda and Dani were two very different women and that was that. It didn’t mean that Dani’s way was right and Amanda’s wrong.
    It did seem to him, though, that he’d never felt more alive or more exhilarated than he had the previous afternoon when he’d tossed practical matters aside and done something totally impulsive. Seeing how thoroughly happy the boys were to have him there had reminded him that he’d left them to their own devices far too often for their good or his.
    Not that he could quit working and play all the time, the way he felt like doing at the moment, he reminded himself. He tried to force his attention back to that blank computer screen. Nothing. Absolutely nothing came to him. The whole world of investments, which he normally found fascinating, today seemed totally uninspiring.
    Fortunately, the chiming of his doorbell provided a welcome distraction. More often than not in the past, he would have ignored it, but today any interruption, even from a salesman, would be welcome.
    Instead, though, he found Trent Wilde on his doorstep. He had a sneaking suspicion this wasn’t some sort of Riverton welcome call.
    “Good morning,” Dani’s father said heartily. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything critical.”
    Despite his instinctive wariness at finding Dani’s protective father on his doorstep, Slade was still glad of any interruption. “Hardly,” he said. “I seem to be having trouble getting started today. Come on in. What can I do for you?”
    “I thought maybe you could show me one of those fancy investing programs you made,” Trent claimed. “Now that I’ve got all this time on my hands, I thought maybe I’d start managing my own portfolio.”
    He sounded sincere enough, but Slade’s suspicions mounted. He couldn’t imagine the rancher suddenly changing the way he’d handled investments all these years. More than likely, the powerful rancher was snooping for information about the new stranger in town, the stranger he’d discovered at his daughter’s house a few days earlier. Being Seth and Wilma’s grandson hadn’t lifted him above suspicion there. He was going to have to earn the town’s respect on his own.
    Slade supposed he couldn’t blame Trent for being a bit protective of a woman like Dani. Men were probably constantly trying to take advantage of her good nature and her family ties to a man who dominated so much of Wyoming’s power broking.
    “I’d be happy to show it to you,” Slade told him,