Animal Magnetism Read Online Free PDF Page A

away from the towering peaks and out to ranching land, where as far as the eye could see was nothing but gently rolling hills and hidden lakes and rivers.
    “Left,” she said, pointing to a dirt road. “And then left again.”
    The road here was narrow, rutted, and far rougher. “Ah. You’re bringing me to the boondocks to off me so you don’t have to pay for the damages to my truck.”
    She laughed. She really did have a great laugh, and something went through him, a long-forgotten surge of emotion. “Not going to deny it?” he asked, sliding her a look meant to intimidate.
    She wasn’t. Intimidated. Not in the least. In fact, she was smiling. “Worried?” she asked, brow raised, face lit with humor.
    Giving her another long look—which she simply steadily returned—he shook his head and kept driving. “I never worry.”
    “No? Maybe you could teach me the trick of that sometime.”
    Yeah, except he didn’t plan on being around long enough to teach anyone anything.
    His enigmatic passenger shifted in her seat and crossed her legs. The hem of her Carhartts rose up, giving him a good look at her scuffed work boots and the cute little black and pink polka-dotted socks peeking over the top of them. Which of course made him wonder what else she was hiding beneath those work clothes.
    The growth thickened on either side of the road, which narrowed, commanding his attention. He caught glimpses of a sprawling ranch, and then a glistening body of water, flashes of brilliance in a color that changed the definition of blue. The road narrowed again, and at the hairpin turn, two of his four tires caught air.
    “Not bad,” she said in admiration. “So how does a pilot get such mad driving skills, anyway? Because you’re not just a pilot and photographer.”
    “No?”
    “No. You’ve got a quiet intensity about you, an edge. It’s why I thought cop or military.”
    She was good. “Army.”
    “Ah,” she murmured, saying nothing more, which both surprised him and left him grateful at the same time. People were naturally curious, and his life choices and experiences tended to bring that curiosity out, but he didn’t like talking about himself.
    “Here we are,” Lilah said a minute later. “Home sweet home.”
    The road ended in a small clearing, at the top of which sat a tiny cabin next to what looked like a large barn. The sign on the barn read SUNSHINE KENNELS.
    Peeking behind the property was a small lake, shining brightly, surrounded by a meadow radiant with flowers, and lined by the not-so-distant jagged ridges stabbing into the sky.
    Actually, Brady knew this land fairly well, though it’d been a long time. Emotions tangled with the need to reach for the beauty wherever he could find it, and he soaked it all in, letting it bring him something that had been sorely lacking in his life.
    Pleasure.
    Lilah unhooked her seat belt. “It’s special.”
    “Yeah.”
    “The Coeur d’Alene Indians found it,” she said. “They lived here.” She paused. “The myth goes that the water has healing powers.”
    He slid his gaze her way, wondering if she believed it.
    “They based their lives around the legend.” She paused and bit her lower lip, like she knew damn well he didn’t buy it. “Don’t laugh when I tell you the rest.”
    He wasn’t feeling much like laughing. Not while watching her abuse that lush lower lip that he suddenly wanted to soothe. With his tongue. No, laughing was the last thing on his mind.
    “Legend says that if you take a moonlight dip, you’ll supposedly find your one true love.”
    “Of course.” He nodded. “It’s always midnight. So, do you swim often?”
    “Never at midnight.”
    He couldn’t help it, he laughed.
    With a slow shake of her head and a smile curving her mouth, she reached out and touched a finger to his curved lips. “You’re a cynic,” she chided.
    It’d been a long time since someone had touched him, unexpected or otherwise. A very long time, and he