The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter by Sherryl Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

expression. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    â€œJust that it’s downright interesting to watch a woman twist you this way and that without even trying.”
    â€œI don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Cody grinned. “Then you’re in an even more pitiful state of denial than I imagined. Want me to call in Jordan and Luke? Among us we probably have enough experience with women to give you any advice you need. Goodness knows we denied our feelings long enough to drive just about everyone around us to distraction. No sense in you doing the same thing, when we can save you all that time.”
    â€œGo away.”
    â€œNot till I’m through watching the entertainment,” Cody shot back as he sauntered over to his pickup. “‘Night, Daddy. Sweet dreams.”
    Sweet? Harlan could think of a dozen or more words to describe the kind of dreams JanetRunningbear inspired and “sweet” would be very low on the list. Provocative. Seductive. Steamy. Erotic. He had to go inside the air-conditioned house just to cool off from the images.
    He consoled himself with the possibility that their first two meetings might have been aberrations. Boredom could play funny tricks on a man. The first thing that came along to relieve it might get exaggerated in importance.
    Yes, indeed, that had to be it, he decided as he settled into a chair in his office with a book he’d been wanting to read for some time. A good, page-turning thriller was exactly what he needed tonight. That ought to get his juices flowing better than a leggy, sassy woman.
    But the words swam in front of his eyes. His thoughts kept drifting to the enigmatic woman who presented such a placid, reserved facade. He’d enjoyed sparking confusion in those dark, mysterious eyes. He’d relished making a little color climb into her cheeks. Janet Runningbear wasn’t nearly as serene around him as she wanted desperately for him to believe.
    He also had the feeling, virtually confirmed by her earlier, that there were secrets to be discovered, hidden reasons behind her decision to relocate to Texas.
    As a kid he’d been fascinated by stories of buried treasure. He’d spent endless hours searching for arrowheads left behind by Native Americans who’d roamed over the very land on which White Pines had been built. Somewhere in the house, probably inCody’s old room, there was a cigar box filled with such treasures.
    If Janet Runningbear had secrets, he would discover them eventually. He’d make a point of it.
    And then what? He wasn’t the kind of man who courted a woman just for sport. He never had been. He’d tried to instill the same set of values in his sons, tried to teach them never to play games with women who didn’t fully understand the rules.
    Everything about Janet that he’d seen so far shouted that she was a woman deserving of respect, a single parent struggling to put a new life together for herself and her daughter. If he was only looking for diversion, would it be fair to accomplish it at the expense of a woman like that? It was the one question for which he had an unequivocal answer: no!
    So, he resolved, he would tame his natural impatience and take his time with her, measuring his feelings as well as hers. It was the only just way to go.
    But even as he reached that carefully thought-out decision, the part of him that leapt to impetuous, self-confident conclusions told him he was just delaying the inevitable. He’d made up his mind the minute he’d walked into her office that he wanted her and nothing—not his common sense, not her resistance—was going to stand in his way for long. “Where the devil have you been?” Mule asked in his raspy, cranky voice when Harlan finally got back into town on Saturday after four whole days of trying to keep Jenny Runningbear in line. “Ain’t seen you since that gal stole your