Desert Blood (The Wolves of Twin Moon Ranch Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

to move. Not when he stood so near.
    “What’s the rush? Got a date?” With his fair hair backlit by party lights, he looked like the son of Apollo and not a mere mortal.
    Heather shook her head. “No rush.” Definitely no date. But didn’t he have one—the dark-haired beauty? “You’re a good dancer,” she blurted as the image swung through her mind.
    “Only with my sister. With anyone else, I’ve got two left feet.”
    His sister? Heather’s mind pulled up the image of the woman. “That’s your sister?”
    “My half sister, Tina. You remember Ty?”
    The thundercloud? “Sure.”
    “He and Tina came first. Then my father got together with my mother and had me and my little sister, Carly.”
    Now it made sense. His dark-haired dance partner did resemble Ty, and when Heather replayed the scene, she realized they’d danced loose and light. Nothing like the intimacy between Ty and Lana. She exhaled. “Half sister, huh?”
    Cody cracked a smile. “Doesn’t mean she’s only half bossy to her poor, innocent little brother.”
    “Innocent?” Little? Sweet, sensual, yes. But not innocent. And nowhere near little.
    The golden smile of a guilty man flashed. “Absolutely innocent.”
    “Why do I doubt that?” she managed.
    “I don’t know. Why?”
    “Oh, just because.”
Because I see the laughter in your eyes. Because of the way you hide behind your smile. Because that nick in your ear tells a different story.
    She’d been watching him the past few days. At first, she fell for that happy-go-lucky cowboy persona. But every so often, she’d catch his mask slipping, as it had when he watched his brother dance. Underneath, Cody’s eyes flashed with fierce determination—to do what, she couldn’t tell. Then he’d catch himself and paste the smile back on. How often had she seen that in her students? Once a child assumed a role—class clown, science nerd, beauty queen, whatever—it was hard to let it go.
    Cody. Little boy, lost and lonely, or grown man, tough and unassailable? He hadn’t quite found his balance between the two.
    Right now, the mask was firmly in place. “I was a very good boy!” He winked. “If you leave out the time with the skunk and the glue on the chair...”
    She knew the type exactly. And how hard it was to break out that self-imposed persona. She turned to the car. “I really should get moving.”
    “No dancing?”
    Heather shrugged. Not invited. She was an outsider here, just as she’d been everywhere else.
    “What’s the hurry?”
    “They said I shouldn’t stay after dark.”
    His voice dropped, face earnest. “One dance before you go?”
    She tilted her head at him. “I thought you had two left feet.”
    A grin, small but sincere. She wanted to reach out and grab hold of him—the real Cody, now.
    “Let me prove it.” The way his words hit the air made Heather wonder what else he had to prove.
    He put his hand out, and the gesture brought her to a different place, a different night. The night she nearly died. For a moment, all her muscles threatened to shut down. Heather swallowed the scream, blinking the panic away.
    His eyes narrowed on hers, and she caught her breath. Unlike the eyes of that terrifying night, these were brown, tinged with gold. Safe eyes.
    “Everything okay?” His voice was soft, coaxing her back from the edge of a cliff. Heather nodded robotically. She could do this.
    “I’m fine.” Right. Now she was the one wearing a mask.
    Slowly, carefully, like a man handling a spooked filly, Cody led her to the small space between her front bumper and a hitching post. His hands were callused and strong. Comforting, even.
    The spinster’s voice was back in Heather’s head.
Not so close!
But only her ears got the message; the rest of her was melting fast.
    Cody stepped into a slow dance. Not too close, not too tight, just…nice. They fit together just right, her chin just over his shoulder, his arm around the curve of her waist.
    Get away! Get