The Case of the Mesmerizing Boss by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online

absently, staring out at the horizon. “Two people need more than physical attraction to make a marriage.” He glanced at her. “Such as?”
    “Respect,” she said. “Shared interests, similar backgrounds-things like that.” “And no sex?”
    She shifted uneasily, her eyes on the windshield. “I guess if they wanted kids…” His eyes darkened. “Children aren’t always possible.”
    “I suppose not.” She glanced at her hands. “Maybe some people don’t mind intimacy.” “Tess,” he said heavily. “You don’t have a clue, do you?” She flushed. “Don’t I?”
    His dark eyes played over her profile, and the fire in his blood kindled. She knew nothing of men and women. It was his fault that she had such hang-ups. He’d hurt and frightened her. Now he wished
     
    The Case of the Mesmerizing Boss41 he’d been different. If he could learn tenderness, it would be sweet to lie with her, to share the beauty of a man and a woman together with her. His body tautened as pictures danced in his mind. Tess, loving him. He could have groaned out loud. He’d thrown away something precious. Ironic that it should have taken a bullet to bring him to his senses, when it was a bullet that had robbed him of them in the first place. “Here’s the ranch.”
    He turned in between two rows of barbed-wire fences where red-coated cattle grazed. “I share a purebred Santa Gertrudis stud bull with the Big Spur,” he explained. “We’ll have to replace him pretty soon, though. We’ve been using him for two years, and that’s enough inbreeding.” “I don’t understand.” “Are you interested in ranching?” he asked suddenly.
    “Well, I don’t know much about it,” she faltered, her gray eyes darting up to his. “I guess it’s complicated, isn’t it?”
    “Sometimes. But it isn’t as difficult a subject as it sounds. You don’t ride, either.” “I guess…I could learn,” she said hesitantly.
    He smiled to himself as he rounded a curve, and suddenly they were coming up to a sprawling one-story white wooden frame house with beds of flowers all around it and tall trees. “How beautiful!” she exclaimed.
    Dane’s heart swelled at her delight in it. “It belonged to my grandfather,” he told her. “He left it to me when he died.”
    “Oh, it’s charming,” she said breathlessly. “And the flower beds! I’ll bet they’re glorious in the spring!”
    “They are Beryl’s contribution to beautifying the landscape. There are magnolia trees and azaleas and camellias, all sorts of blooming things. She can tell you, if you’re interested.”
    “I love to garden,” she confessed. “I’ve never had anyplace to do it, except in my apartment window, but I used to do all the yard work at my grandmother’s house.”
    He pulled up at the steps and turned off the engine, staring at her quietly. “I don’t know you,” he said, his voice soft and deep. “I don’t know a damned thing about you, Tess.”

42
    Diana Palmer
     
    “Why would you want to?” she asked evasively. “Look, is that Beryl?” A short, white-haired woman had come onto the porch. “That’s Beryl.”
    “It’s about time you got here!” the woman muttered. “Late, as usual. Is this her?” She stopped in front of Tess and looked her over. “Thin and sickly, she is. I’ll take care of that with some good home cooking. How’s that arm, lovey?” she asked gently. “Still hurt?” Tess smiled, at home already. “It’s much better.”
    “If you’re through running your mouth, I’d like to get the walking wounded into the house,” Dane drawled. “She isn’t going to get better standing out here in the cold.”
    “It’s not that cold at all,” Beryl scoffed. “Why, in little more than a month there’ll be flowers everywhere!”
    Tess could picture that, but she wouldn’t be around to see it, she thought wistfully. She let Dane help her inside, unable to stop herself from stiffening at the feel of his lean arm around