The Texan's Tennessee Romance by Gina Wilkins Read Free Book Online Page B

twenty-four to forty-eight hours after that, according to the instructions on the can.”
    “There’s a lot of maintenance involved with these cabins, isn’t there? It’s mind-boggling how much hard work is involved in being a vacation landlord.”
    “Yeah. Kyle and Mack both put in long days, especially now that their full-time maintenance guy’s on the bench. And your aunt stays busy with the books and reservations.”
    Still looking at the empty deck, Natalie murmured, “Tommy used to complain that his family lived in a vacation destination and never had time to actually take a holiday themselves. I didn’t understand when I was a kid, but I certainly do now.”
    Casey studied her face, regretting that he saw shadows of sadness in her eyes again. “Kyle’s talked about your cousin. It sounds as if he was a great guy.”
    “He was.”
    Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned, thinking maybe the stray dog had come back for dinner. Instead, he saw a small herd of deer wander out of the woods, grazing on the grass of the lawn. He counted three full-grown does and another that might have been a young buck.
    “Natalie,” he said softly, nodding in that direction. “Look.”
    She turned her head, then smiled. “They’re beautiful.”
    “They are, aren’t they?”
    They watched in silence for a moment, and then something—a scent, a motion, a sound, perhaps—startled one of the does. She lifted her head, looked directly at Casey and Natalie, and then turned to melt back into the woods, followed by her companions.
    “We’ve certainly seen the animals today, haven’t we?” Natalie said, looking at him again. “Think a black bear will come out of the woods next?”
    He grinned. “I kind of hope not. Dogs and deer I can handle. Bears—not so much.”
    She chuckled. “The ones around here usually leave you alone if you do the same with them. Tommy and I saw one on a hike once. It looked at us, we looked at it, and then we all turned and went our own ways. Fortunately, Tommy and I had been making a lot of noise, so we didn’t startle the bear when we appeared. That’s when they’re particularly dangerous, when they’re frightened or protecting their young.”
    “We didn’t see many bears back in Dallas. Saw a few rattlesnakes on my uncle’s ranch. I didn’t care for them, either.”
    Natalie shuddered delicately. “Neither would I. I don’t like snakes.”
    “Ah. So there is something that intimidates the intrepid Natalie Lofton.”
    “Intrepid?” she repeated, lifting an eyebrow.
    Shrugging, he admitted, “It’s a word I tend to associate with you, for some reason. Maybe because you seem so hard to rattle. Broken pipes, blood, stray dogs—bears, apparently. You deal with it all without blinking. I’ve only heard you admit to two things that intimidate you—snakes and babies.”
    She blinked and he could tell that he had taken her completely off-guard, something that apparently didn’t happen much with her. And then she gave a little smile that didn’t quite reach her somber eyes and said, “I’ll admit to being wary of both snakes and babies, though maybe not quite to the same extent. As for the rest—I’m not sure intrepid is the word to describe me. Trust me, I don’t handle everything as calmly as you suggest.”
    “Coulda fooled me.”
    He’d always considered himself fairly proficient in interpreting body language. Something about the way she crossed her arms and then huddled a bit into her sweater made him wonder what it meant. A slightly self-protective gesture, perhaps hinting at a recent blow that had been difficult for her to handle? Or was she just chilly and he was reading too much into the emotions he’d thought he glimpsed in her expression?
    “The temperature seems to be dropping,” he commented, telling himself to mind his own business. “Maybe you’d better go back inside.”
    She glanced again at the clean, empty deck. “I guess so, since