Badland Bride (Book 2 - Dakota Hearts) Read Online Free PDF Page A

and weddings and such. My younger brother Logan and his fiancé are hoping to be the first to have their wedding there. It’s a pretty spot. Or at least, it was before the flood waters came in.”
    “Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry. I talked with a lot of people today. I do remember talking to a man named Ian. I didn’t make the connection.”
    “There are quite a few of us in these parts.”
    “I guess so. I look forward to meeting them while I’m here.”
    He nodded. “I would like to see you again.”
    “I don’t think I’ll really need a follow-up appointment for this. I should be able to wrap this myself now that I’ve seen you do it twice already.” She reached for her cell phone so she could check her calendar. “To be quite honest, I don’t think I could fit—”
    “I wasn’t thinking of an office visit. I was thinking more alone the lines of having dinner again.”
    She eased the cell phone back into place on the night table. “Excuse me?”
    “I enjoyed being with you tonight. I thought you might like a repeat.”
    * * *
    The deer-in-the-headlights expression was back on her face, Hawk realized. Regis was staring at him, wide-eyed with her lips slightly parted. He waited for her to respond but he wasn’t altogether sure she was even breathing until she finally spoke.
    “I don't like to get…involved,” she said.
    “You’re never in one place long enough for that, are you?”
    “No.”
    “You eat alone every night?”
    “Most of the time, yes. Sometimes I have dinner with one of my colleagues if they’re in the same town, but most of the time we’re all too exhausted and have too much paperwork to do.”
    “Sounds lonely.”
    “It’s the nature of the beast.”
    “It doesn’t have to be. Especially when someone is offering you a home cooked meal.”
    Her mouth dropped open. “Home cooked?”
    “Yeah, my house. Okay,
    “Your house.”
    “Well, not exactly home cooked like my mother’s. But I have a pizza stone that needs breaking in. We can be creative.”
    She shook her head. “I...when I’m on the job, things get complicated.”
    “You don’t like complicated?”
    She sighed slowly, seeming to choose her words carefully. “Sometimes I have to deliver bad news, like with the Proctors. I hate it. It’s the worst part of my job. But it’s a fact. It makes things easier if I just keep to myself.”
    A grin tugged at his mouth. “I didn’t propose marriage, Regis. Just pizza.” He kept his tone matter-of-fact, trying to ignore just how badly he wanted her to say yes. He’d been watching her all night, wondering if the intrigue he’d felt earlier in the day would be gone. She’d greeted him with messy hair, make-up smeared down her cheek, and old gray sweats that were probably two sizes too big and still she looked like the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He looked at that cluster of freckles on her cheek and wanted to rub his thumb across it as he looked into her eyes.
    Hawk watched the choices play across her face. But then she was shaking her head again. “Thank you for the offer, but I have to decline. And thank you for this tonight. I was wondering if I was going to get to eat more than just Cheetos and peanuts from the vending machine outside.”
    He forced a smile he didn’t feel. “Well, I’m glad we had the chance to talk tonight then.”
    She started to get up off the bed, but he held her back with his hand.
    “I’ll let myself out. You stay off your leg at least for tonight. Make sure you come back to the office if your leg gives you trouble.”
    Hawk had his hand on the doorknob when Regis stopped him.
    “Thank you for tonight. I’m not…I don’t usually have to depend on people. I’m glad you stopped by.”
    “It was my pleasure.”
    Hawk whistled as he left Regis’s room and made his way to his truck in the motel parking lot. She’d turned him down, but he could see that she was conflicted. To him, that just meant he’d have to win her over