A MATTER OF TRUST Read Online Free PDF Page B

might be a little more pleasant if you weren’t in so much pain.” She held up her hand when he opened his mouth to speak. “Don’t bother trying to deny it. I realize it isn’t the macho male thing to do to admit that you’re hurting so I won’t try to drag a confession out of you. As for the tea, I promise it’s one hundred percent herbal.”
     
    Chase hesitated for a moment before taking a tentative sip. The predominant spice was cinnamon but there was an unusual blend of other herbs and spices that made him think of cozy fireplaces on cold winter nights and the warmth of a feminine body curled up next to his. Specifically, Madysen’s body. He drank a little more, savoring the unique flavor and wondering, as he had several times that evening, why a woman as kind and caring as Madysen obviously was hadn’t been snatched up by another man long ago.
     
    Her bashfulness would have created a stumbling block to some degree, but it hadn’t taken him more than a few hours in her company to realize just how special she was, so how was it that she’d remained unattached? Maybe she had been, he thought with a frown. Maybe she was running away from a broken relationship or a bad marriage.
     
    “Have you ever been married?” He blurted out.
     
    She arched an amused brow. “I thought you didn’t want to know anything about me. As I recall, you said you’d be perfectly happy if I only responded with a yes or no.”
     
    “Indulge me. Besides, the question only requires a yes or no answer.”
     
    “No.”
     
    “Engaged?”
     
    “No.”
     
    “Have you ever come close?”
     
    Maddy pursed her lips. “I thought so, but apparently it was one-sided.”
     
    “How old are you Madysen?”
     
    “Maddy,” she corrected him. “No one but my father calls me Madysen and that’s only when I’ve done something to disappoint him.”
     
    Downing the last of his tea, Chase set the cup on his nightstand. “I can’t imagine you ever being a disappointment your parents.”
     
    “I’m twenty-six,” she said, a light blush coloring her cheeks at his casual compliment.
     
    “Hmmm, not as young as I thought you were.”
     
    Maddy bristled. “I’m not exactly an old maid, you know.”
     
    “I wasn’t insinuating that you were,” he chuckled. “I just meant that you look like a freshman in college, still pure and untainted by the harshness of the real world.”
     
    “You sound very cynical, yet it doesn’t appear that your life has held much hardship.”
     
    “Yes, but…appearances can be deceiving.” He closed his eyes for a minute, amazed that the soothing effects of the tea had already begun to ease the pain in his arm. “How did you know what to use in the tea and…” he yawned sleepily, “do you always travel around with a spice rack in your trunk?”
     
    Maddy resisted the urge to reach out and smooth back his dark hair. He looked incredibly vulnerable at the moment and it pulled at her heart in a most unsettling way. She’d spent less than a day with Chase so it was impossible to say she could have any real feelings for him, and yet she couldn’t deny there was something there, even if she wasn’t able to define just exactly what it was. She studied the handsome features of his face; the strong jaw and cheekbones, the slight crook in his nose that told her it had been broken at one time, and the full lips that seemed to ignite a desire to kiss them every time her gaze fell upon them.
     
    “You’re not alone,” Chase said softly.
     
    Maddy jumped as if he’d prodded her with a stick. “Wh-what do you mean?”
     
    He opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment then reached up and stroked the side of her face with his fingertips. “I want to kiss you, too.”
     
    Her stomach did a wild flip at the same time her heart lodged itself in her throat. “Don’t be silly,” she said, startled by the raw tone of her own voice. She stood up, masking her emotions with an indignant toss