Untamed by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online Page B

eyes.
    â€œWhat are you thinking of?”
    â€œI’m wondering why you make me feel so odd,” she told him with simple frankness. He smiled, and she noticed that it grew in his eyes seconds before it grew on his mouth.
    â€œDo I?” He appeared to enjoy the information. “Did you know your hair catches the sunlight?” Keane took a handful, letting it spill from between his fingers. “I’ve never seen another woman with hair like this. It’s a temptation all in itself. In what way do I make you feel odd, Jovilette?” he asked as his eyes trailed back up to hers.
    â€œI’m not sure yet.” Jo found her voice husky. Abruptly, she decided it would not do to go on feeling odd or to go on wanting to be kissed by Keane Prescott. She scrambled up and brushed off the seat of her pants.
    â€œRunning away?” As Keane rose, Jo’s head snapped up.
    â€œI never run away from anything, Mr. Prescott.” Ice sharpened her voice. She was annoyed that she had allowed herself to fall under his charm again. “I certainly won’t run from a city-bred lawyer.” Her words were laced with scorn. “Why don’t you go back to Chicago and get someone thrown in jail?”
    â€œI’m a defense attorney,” Keane countered easily. “I get people out of jail.”
    â€œFine. Go put a criminal back on the streets, then.”
    Keane laughed, bringing Jo’s temper even closer to the surface. “That covers both sides of the issue, doesn’t it? You dazzle me, Jovilette.”
    â€œWell, it’s strictly unintentional.” She took a step back from the amusement in his eyes. She would not tolerate him making fun of her. “You don’t belong here,” she blurted out. “You have no business here.”
    â€œOn the contrary,” he disagreed in a cool, untroubled voice. “I have every business here. I own this circus.”
    â€œWhy?” she demanded, throwing out her hands as if to push his words aside. “Because it says so on a piece of paper? That’s all lawyers understand, I imagine—pieces of paper with strange little words. Why did you come? To look us over and calculate the profit and loss? What’s the liquidation value of a dream, Mr. Prescott? What price do you put on the human spirit? Look at it!” she demanded, swinging her arm to encompass the lot behind them. “You only see tents and a huddle of trailers. You can’t possibly understand what it all means. But Frank understood. He loved it.”
    â€œI’m aware of that.” Keane’s voice was still calm but had taken on a thin edge of steel. Jo saw that his eyes had grown dark and guarded. “He also left it to me.”
    â€œI don’t understand why.” In frustration, Jo stuffed her hands in her pockets and turned away.
    â€œNeither do I, I assure you, but the fact remains that he did.”
    â€œNot once in thirty years did you visit him.” Jo whirled back around. Her hair followed in a passionate arch. “Not once.”
    â€œQuite true,” Keane agreed. He stood with his weight even on both legs and watched her. “Of course, some might look at it differently. Not once in thirty years did he visit me.”
    â€œYour mother left him and took you to Chicago—”
    â€œI won’t discuss my mother,” Keane interrupted in a tone of clipped finality.
    Jo bit off a retort, spinning away from him again. Still she could not find the reins to her control. “What are you going to do with it?” she demanded.
    â€œThat’s my business.”
    â€œOh!” Jo spun back, then shut her eyes and muttered in a language he failed to understand. “Can you be so arrogant? Can you be so dispassionate?” Her lashes fluttered up, revealing eyes dark with anger. “Do the lives of all those people mean nothing to you? Does Frank’s dream mean nothing? Haven’t