A Daring Proposal Read Online Free PDF

settled to a warm flame in his stomach. His uncle poured another. Jed threw that one back as well before setting the shot glass firmly on the table between them. “Loving Chaney wasn’t stupid.”
    “I didn’t say it was, son. The stupid part was thinking loving her meant you had to sleep with her. You were asking for trouble and you know it. Travis McBride was a proud man. He wasn’t about to let some wild stallion steal his precious daughter. You both knew that or you wouldn’t have been sneaking around to spend time together.”
    “Maybe,” Jed offered grudgingly.
    “No maybe about it. You were looking for a way to prove you weren’t worthy of anything and you took the surest road to that end.”
    Jed didn’t say anything. He simply stared at his uncle. He wanted to deny it, but couldn’t.
    His uncle tossed back another shot. Another long silence stood between them. Dale moved the bottle to the middle of the table.
    “I ’ve no doubt you know I’m not apologizing for letting you leave. I will apologize for not reaching out sooner, but after all this time I figured you didn’t want to hear from me.”
    His uncle leaned back in his chair and rolled his shot glass between his palms. Jed wasn ’t sure he wanted to hear the rest. He waited anyway. His uncle sighed and Jed felt true confusion. Dale did not sigh. Ever. Something must be terribly wrong. His already tense shoulders tightened more. Was his uncle sick? Like his aunt, did his uncle now have cancer and didn’t want to tell Steve and ruin the wedding?
    His uncle shook his head and grinned awkwardly. It didn’t ease Jed’s worry.
    “That’s not true,” Dale said. “I was afraid. Afraid if I did call, you would tell me you never wanted to talk to me again. Then, any hope would be gone.”
    Shocked by the unexpected admission and the lack of trouble, Jed was at a loss. “I ’m not sure what to say. I wouldn’t have said that to you. You and Steve are--”
    “I know, but that only makes it worse that I let this go on so long.”
    “Why don’t we say we both acted poorly and let it go,” Jed said.
    “You ’re letting me off the hook. I don’t deserve it,” Dale said. “I’ll take it, but I want to explain a little more.”
    Jed nodded and sat back to listen.
    “Explaining isn’t my strength. Unfortunately, the only words I’ve ever been any good at are orders. The soft words kids and women like to hear, that was your daddy’s gift.”
    Jed perked up a bit. His uncle had never once mentioned Jed’s father after the funeral. It was like an unwritten rule between them.
    “And yours. Don’t look so surprised. I knew you had the gift the moment you started talking as a baby. It’s probably the reason I kept you at a distance.”
    “I don’t understand. I always thought you and dad were close. ”
    “We were. Jed, you are your daddy from head to toe. You look like him, you act like him, and you even talk like him. It hurt.”
    “I talk like Dad?” Jed remembered Belle telling him earlier he spoke beautifully. He’d thought she was teasing him. Listening to his uncle though, had him remembering other times people commented on his speech.
    At times, especially in high school, it had been a curse. The other guys called him a smooth talker, always handy with a line for the ladies. Getting A’s in creative writing wasn’t exactly cool for the football running back at the time. However, to know his dad had been the same made all the teasing worthwhile.
    “If you talked any more like him it would be downright spooky,” his uncle chuckled. He stared at Jed in silence for a moment. “Anyway,” Dale paused, then looked Jed straight in the eye, “what I was getting at is, I want to take back what I said earlier.”
    Jed dropped his gaze and shook his head trying to figure out why he’d let his uncle’s offer of a drink and rare glance at the past make him believe things had changed. He still doesn’t want me around . Why can’t I