A Marriage Made in Texas (The Brothers Kincaid) Read Online Free PDF

she said, indicating the messy bed and the chair piled high with clothes. “So go ahead. And while you’re at it, explain how I managed to totally misread the situation. Did you or did you not come on to me from the first time I met you?”
    There was no way to answer that except the truth. “Yes.”
    “Wasn’t the entire weekend of Mark and Cat’s wedding a prelude to getting me into bed?” When he tried to speak, she held up her hand. “Because if all that flirting and kissing and dancing and romancing wasn’t intended to get me into bed, then I’m stupider than I thought.”
    “I did want to take you to bed.” Still did, especially now as she vibrated with emotion. What would it be like if desire had caused that passion, rather than anger?
    “Thanks for clearing that up. It makes perfect sense then, that you’d go home with me and then turn me down flat when I asked you to stay. I couldn’t figure out what had happened. What I’d done wrong.”
    Her words made him wince. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” He hadn’t been at his smoothest that night, obviously. “I didn’t want you to…I didn’t want to hurt you.”
    “Why would you have hurt me? Are you that clumsy?”
    He smiled, amused as always by that smart mouth of hers. “Not physically. Emotionally. I didn’t want to hurt you emotionally.”
    “Oh, please.” She tossed her hair back in a gesture of irritation. “That is such a load of cow manure.”
    Frustrated, he jammed his hands through his hair. “It would have been a one-night stand.” And she’d been vulnerable, still hurting from her divorce. Thelast thing he’d wanted was to add to those problems. Once they’d arrived on her doorstep he’d managed to think past the haze of lust and realize maybe taking her to bed wouldn’t be the best thing for either of them.
    One glance at her narrowed eyes and grim expression decided him. No way he’d tell her all this. She’d rip his face off.
    “I’m not a moron, Jay. I knew you were going back to California the next day. So what?”
    “I didn’t want you to regret it. I thought the best thing would be to avoid it. Obviously, I hurt you. I’m sorry for that.”
    Her chin lifted. “As you can see, I lived through it. Hell, I lived through my divorce, don’t think I can’t handle something as insignificant as a failed—” she hesitated, then shrugged. “Whatever it was.”
    Insignificant? That pricked his ego. Still, if it had been so insignificant, she wouldn’t be so pissed. But he wasn’t going to point that out. Nope, no way. Instead, he said, “You haven’t ever brought this up before.”
    “You hadn’t made a move on me since then, either,” she reminded him. “Besides, I didn’t see you for a long time, and by then you were tied up with Carla. What would have been the point?”
    “How long are you planning to stay mad at me?” Her lips twitched and he breathed a sigh of relief.
    Regally, she inclined her head. “I haven’t decided. Possibly forever.”
    “Then why are you biting your lip to keep from smiling?” He wanted, badly, to nibble on those lush, enticing lips himself. But even though he’d handled the situation so poorly five years before, he wasn’t a total fool. Giving her his most charming smile, he held out a hand. “Friends?”
    She took it and smiled. “Friends,” she echoed.
    Jay had an idea that smile hid a plan. He just wasn’t sure what that plan was. But he’d never backed off from a challenge.

CHAPTER FOUR
    A FTER WORKING for two weeks—actually, after one—Jay knew he’d made the right decision in moving to Aransas City. He liked the clinic setup. His office, while conservative, suited him, holding a handsome mahogany desk, a comfortable deep blue leather desk chair and a couple of burgundy leather side chairs for his patients.
    One of the things he especially appreciated was the slower pace of practicing in a small town. Most emergencies went directly to the Corpus