Cowboy Underneath It All Read Online Free PDF Page A

did.
    Kane leaned in and kissed her. Not a peck on the cheek like the one she’d given him earlier or the hesitant kiss in the ladies’ room at the pub. No. This was a real kiss, and even though he felt some hesitancy—or maybe that was shock—in Eliza’s stiff muscles, it didn’t take long for her to give in. She relaxed, made a silky sound of pleasure and kissed him right back.
    All in all, that was not a good thing.
    He was still battling the cloudy head and the fire she was creating, and kissing her was a confirmation of a couple of things he already knew. One, Eliza was indeed a woman. And two, he was damn attracted to her.
    Kane went with blaming it on the dress again, but that was just a reminder that she would probably look even better out of that dress. Especially since the kiss had moved past the mere hot stage.
    And speaking of hot, they were both still juggling their coffees as they tried to get closer to each other. Kane remembered that when he sloshed more of it on himself, and it was a good cue for him to either toss the coffee or take a moment to consider what the hell he was doing.
    He pulled back, dragging in a much-needed breath. Eliza did the same, and she stared at him, repeating the “what the heck?” expression with her bunched-up forehead. Since her face was flushed from the kiss, it somewhat diminished that question because “what the heck” was pretty darn clear. They’d kissed each other’s lights out.
    â€œIt was a test,” he said. That was more or less the truth. He had wanted to know if he could pull off what he was about to suggest. But it was also shallower than that. He’d really just wanted to kiss her.
    â€œI didn’t tell Dax,” he admitted. “I let him keep on believing the two of us are together because it didn’t feel right to tell him something like that when he was gushing about the woman he loves.” Then Kane picked through his cluttered thoughts and remembered there was a second component to this.
    Violet.
    Heck.
    â€œHow did your sister react when you told her the truth?” he blurted out.
    Because obviously when Dax and Violet compared notes of the conversations they’d had with Eliza and him, then Dax was going to know Kane had joined the “liar, liar, pants on fire” club.
    Eliza’s attention went back to her coffee. The way she was staring at it, it held the secrets of the universe. “By the time I got Violet alone, she was already drunk. I told her, but there’s no way she’ll remember anything I said. When I had the limo driver take her home, she didn’t even remember there’d been a bachelorette party.”
    So, their secret was safe, even though safe wasn’t exactly the right word for it. More like a festering pile of falsehoods that would soon catch up with them. After all, they were in Spring Hill, where secrets had a very short shelf life. Usually much less than the two days until the wedding. Of course, if anyone had just seen him kissing Eliza, then the lies wouldn’t have looked so much like a festering pile as much as the scalding hot truth.
    â€œAre you mad I didn’t tell Violet before she got drunk?” Eliza asked. She was nibbling on her bottom lip now, her nerves showing, but it was a flashing neon sign to Kane’s libido that he wanted to be nibbling on her lip, too.
    â€œNo. In fact I think it’s for the best.”
    Since she was giving him the same kind of stunned look he’d given her the night before, Kane figured he needed to add something to that.
    â€œIt’s best for the time being ,” he amended. “Until after the wedding. And then we don’t have to spill the whole truth. We can just let everyone believe that we gave this romance thing a whirl and then broke up.”
    She stayed quiet a moment. “But what about your cow deal with Charlene?” she asked.
    It was a better question than