Wishing on a Rodeo Moon (Women of Character) by Grace Brannigan Read Free Book Online

close to him and lifted a hand toward his
head. Jake felt her fingers on his hair, and a tingling spread through his
scalp. He gripped her wrist and jerked it away from his head. He stared at the
small twigs in her fingers, then looked into her face. She seemed ready to
burst into laughter. Some of the tension eased from Jake.
    "Somehow,
I don't think these will go well with your business meeting."
    Jake
released her wrist. "Thanks. Anyway, I wanted to tell you about the
water." He looked at his watch. He was going to be late. "Do you want
company walking back to the house?"
    "Sure,
if you have time. You can show me the path you took through the woods."
    "The
path?" Jake thought fast, then took her arm and guided her to the edge of
the trees. There was no path. "Sure, follow me."
    Jake
managed to find a fairly clear area for them to walk through. Worried about her
falling, he deliberately shortened his pace, holding her arm the entire time.
Strangely, she didn't protest, and he began to feel some of the tension ease
from his body.
    Partway
to the house he heard Tye give a small laugh. He looked at her questioningly,
seeing the light in her eyes, the relaxed curve of her lush lips. He smothered
a groan, then looked fixedly ahead. How different she looked from last night,
when everything had seemed to weigh her down.
    "Well,
Jake, it’s understandable why Ben has kept in touch with you all these
years."
    Surprised,
Jake came to a standstill. "Why is that?"
    "Ben's
a pretty smart guy. It's because you're such a good friend, and friends like
you are hard to find. I’m glad you’re his friend." To Jake's
ears her voice sounded almost wistful. In the next moment, the thought was
banished when she gave him a brilliant, almost carefree smile. "Do you
think we could manage to be friends?"
    "Friends?"
Jake felt a rush of anger. What the hell was she asking? How could they be
friends? He didn’t want to be her friend. He wanted her to get well and
leave, so he’d never have to think about her again. He wouldn’t
think of her as a friend. Friends didn’t go away, they kept in touch. If
she didn’t leave, all the old emotion might surface and he’d make a
fool of himself again. He knew the pain of trying to hold on to a woman who
wanted to let go.
    "I
think we can do it, Jake. It’s been a long time since we were anything to
each other."
    Tye’s
gaze was turned away from him, and Jake wasn’t sure if that was
deliberate or not. He swallowed hard, stopping the protest about to jerk from
his throat.
    "You’re
right, ten years is a helluva long time," he said. He told himself
he’d better remember that. She had her life and he was working on his.
    "I
think we should try for friendship the short time I’ll be here. It might
be easier all around." Tentatively, it seemed, Tye held out a slim hand to
him.
    Jake
looked down at her, then let his gaze drift over her palm, the skin pale and
smooth, with hardly a trace of a callus. His thoughts flashed back to the night
of the accident. He recalled taking her hand then, remembered, too, the slight
calluses against his own larger palm. Drawing a deep, fortifying breath, he slowly
grasped her hand in his.
    Tye
shook his hand firmly. "I won't break, Jake. If we're going to be friends,
I want you to remember that. We’re both adults now. I think we can work
through the past and leave it where it belongs."
    She
looked too damned fragile to him, but Jake merely nodded and said,
"Sure," with a smile. He knew he’d ruin this tentative overture
if he did what he wanted to do ― step forward and plant a kiss on her
luscious mouth, lose himself in her scent and warmth, like old times.
"Friends," he heard himself say.
    Jake
liked the feel of her hand in his. Was he such a glutton for punishment that
any contact was better than none? Dangerous road there! Back up, he warned
himself.
    "I
think I'd enjoy that, too," she murmured. They reached the house and
stopped beside his truck. As Jake opened