Anna Marie Sorenson's Secret Affair Read Online Free PDF Page A

watched her from beneath his lids, watching with a patient stillness her face as she frantically tried to think of something to say to break the strained silence that fell between them.
    What in the hell do you say to a Navy SEAL, Anna Marie thought. How did your last
    mission go? No, they didn’t talk about their missions. Do you like your job? No, that was lame.
    Are you married? Any kids? No, that sounded like she was trying to pick him up. Then, because her nerves were at the breaking point from the extended silence, Anna Marie gulped down her cosmopolitan and ended up in a violent coughing fit, so that Dal had to thump her repeatedly on the back.
    “Are you alright?” he asked, a hint of amusement in his deep voice.
    “Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you,” she managed to choke out as soon as she could catch her breath. She moved away from his hand. She put the empty glass in the sink, then said, “Excuse me,” and hastily left the kitchen.
    It was probably about the most cowardly thing she ever did, but she couldn’t help it.
    There was just something about Dallas Trenton that made her feel that being alone with him was the last thing she should do. Perhaps it was his eyes, that waiting stillness that seemed to be lurking perpetually behind the cool green eyes that were always watching. Or the mouth that was set in a hard, uncompromising line that hinted of ruthlessness and cruelty. Or maybe it’s because Secret Affair 20
    he was about the most devastatingly attractive man Anna Marie had ever seen, and that she found herself in a very untenable and very unexpected position of being violently attracted to him.
    She stayed out of the kitchen, and only returned when she heard Pepper and Cameron’s voices.
    At the stove, her sister was doing her hostess best to bring out her brother-in-law, and Dallas was not being cooperative.
    “So, Dal, Cam tells me that you’ve been a Navy Seal for nearly ten years. You must
    really like it,” Pepper said brightly.
    Dallas’s voice was flat. “It has its moments.
    “I understand that you are the one who goes on the most dangerous missions.”
    “I pretty much go where my superiors tell me to go.”
    “Your job takes you to all these exotic countries. That must be exciting.”
    “It can be.”
    “With all the danger and traveling, it sounds as if you don’t have much time for a social life.”
    “It can be that way.”
    Pepper cast a bleary eye in Dallas’s direction. Her face set with dogged determination, she tried again. “Cam tells me that you’re not married.”
    “No.”
    “Do you have someone special in your life?”
    “No.”
    Pepper blew out a breath and gave up. She turned her back to him and concentrated on her filets.
    A cell phone rang. It was Dallas’s. He flipped it open. “Excuse me. I need to take this call.” He left the kitchen.
    Pepper swung around to her husband, who was trying not to smile. “Does your brother
    have something against civilized conversation, or is that a sign of a defective gene that I should be worried about because it might have been passed down to our kids?”
    “Dal has never been one to talk a great deal,” Cam said ruefully.
    Secret Affair 21
    Whether it was deliberate or not, Dallas did not return to the kitchen. Instead, Cam went to go and find him and keep him company. For Anna Marie, she was heartedly glad of the reprieve. She found Cam’s brother much too disturbing, which was only exacerbated by her heightened awareness of him. She was so relieved that she didn’t even mind when Pepper again launched into one of her favorite subject, which was her sister’s lack of what she considered a meaningful life.
    Close to an hour later, Pepper ordered everyone to the table as she and Cameron set the food. She ordered Cam to pour the wine. Dallas had taken off his jacket, looking not so trussed up in his white dress pants and shirt. All four sat down at the table.
    “Cam, remember that you need to pick up Toby on Friday