Christie Read Online Free PDF Page B

as if I know you already."
    Only Christie caught the amusement that lay slightly beneath the surface of his words, and she gritted her teeth together before managing a smile as she replied, "Welcome to Windreach, Mr Randall. It's always a pleasure meeting Father's guests."
    Actually, she felt tongue-tied for something to say and silently cursed her luck at her awkward situation which caused her such to make a bland and colorless reply when in reality she wanted to hurl at him some properly cloaked but scathing remark to stun him out of his grinning insolence.
    "Oh, damn!," she thought, "Of all people, he had to turn up here, in my father's house!"
    "Christie," Charles broke in, "I'm afraid Mr Randall is the reason I had to cancel our ride this morning, but I think when you hear about the exciting breeding principles he's planning to put into action, involving some of our stock, you'll see this was no run-of-the-mill horse business we were into and you'll surely forgive my breaking our engagement, darling."
    Garrett continued to grin blatantly back at her, all the while running his eyes warmly over her discomfited slender form as she stood there, rooted to the spot.
    "Forgive my stealing your father's time, Miss Trevellyan, but had I know he had you waiting for him, I'd have delayed my arrival. There was a prior engagement I might have prolonged to bring that about."
    Piercing emerald eyes danced with amusement as his firm, broad mouth once more relaxed into a lazy grin.
    At this point, Christie was speechless with anger and she stared at him helplessly for a moment before Charles interrupted teh growing silence.
    "I wonder what's keeping Celia this evening. I'd better go and find out while I leave you two here to become better acquainted. I think you'll find you have a great deal in common, Christie," he said as he went toward the doors. "Mr Randall runs a breeding operation that, from the sounds of it, is not too different from our own.
    Then he was out of the room, leaving Christie and Garrett alone together, and as this was the last thing in the world she wanted right now, she squirmed nervously even as she found herself staring at him once again.
    Garrett moved over toward his left, then leaned casually against the fireplace mantel, his arms folded across his chest. This time, the brazen manner in which his eyes roamed thoroughly over her, left no doubt as to what he was thinking.
    "Formal clothes become you every bit as much as boy's breeches, Christie. Right now, I'm trying to decide which I like you better in, and you know, my dear, I cannot decide. In either, your beauty overrides the apparel and commands a man to give up such hopeless decision-making and to happily settle on the woman beneath the clothes."
    Christie continued to stare dumbly at him as he spoke, but even as she remained there, still fixed to the floor, she felt a strange play of fear and delight nothing down deep within her, and she could not take her eyes from him.
    His height was such as to cause him to stand out anywhere, for he had even stood taller than Charles, who was well over six fee. Broad, capable shoulders topped a lean, well-muscled frame, apparent even beneath the carefully tailored clothes he wore with an air of casual indifference. His broad chest tapered down to a lean masculine waist and narrow hips, that flowed into long, muscular legs which were covered by buff-colored breeches encased in a pair of shiny black riding boots. His jacket, of a deep emerald hue, was the color of those intense eyes.
    The face which held those eyes was more than handsome. Its sharply chiseled features blended together to suggest a hard, masculine beauty reminiscent of Greek and Roman statues she had once glimpsed in a book in Charles's library. His straight, fine nose was balanced by a wide - but not too wide - brow above prominent, angular cheekbones, and his squared-off chin was accented by the slightest suggestion of a cleft. And his mouth ... It was a