Embrace the Highland Warrior Read Online Free PDF

she had been closer to Cody than anyone in the world… before that summer , when everything fell apart. “I didn’t hate you. I was confused and angry. You lied to me.”
    “Some things are more important than the truth.”
    “We were best friends. We never kept secrets.”
    “I’m sorry, Shay. We did what we thought was best.”
    “Did you ever think what it was like for us? Losing someone who’d been there all our lives? Having you wash your hands of us and walk away?”
    He dropped her hand. “For weeks after you left, your aunt begged my father to go after you, to make you come home.”
    “I didn’t know. No one came after me.”
    “My dad said it was your choice. You were eighteen, an adult, and we’d hurt you enough, though it wasn’t intentional. We needed to give you room to think and make your own decisions.”
    She had decided to stay away, to avoid them all. Until the letters Cody hadn’t gotten.
    “We can’t change the past, might as well forget it and enjoy your visit.”
    “I guess that’s why I came. To see if I can forget.” Or had she come because this was where she felt safe?
    “If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for Nina. Your leaving nearly killed her.” He stood. “I’m going to turn in. I haven’t slept much lately.” He looked like he hadn’t slept for a week. “Yell if you need something. I’ll be down the hall.”
    “You’re staying here?”
    “I’m afraid your ankle might be fractured. I’m not having you go up and down those stairs if you need something to eat or drink. You got a spare toothbrush?”
    “There should be some in the guest bathroom.”
    His eyes narrowed. “You’re sweating.”
    She was roasting, but she wasn’t certain if it was from the sweater or Cody’s hands.
    “Sure you don’t want to take off the sweater?”
    “I don’t have anything else to wear.”
    He eased her wrapped ankle under the covers and then disappeared into the bathroom. A moment later, he returned shirtless, buttoning his jeans. He tossed his T-shirt and underwear on the bed. “They’re clean. I showered and changed after the lake.” He picked up her wet clothes. “Sleep tight,” he said, and with a shuttered look, he left.
    Shay stared at the T-shirt and boxer briefs, still half-molded in his form. She slowly picked them up. A rush of heat surged from her head to her bandaged ankle. She’d worn Cody’s underwear before, when she was in a jam, but that was when they were kids, not with him all… filled out. Swallowing, she got out of bed, took off the sweater, and put on his things. They smelled like him, clean but male. Sensations she didn’t want to describe zinged through her body.
    She climbed back in bed, but was too wound up to sleep, thinking about how close Cody’s T-shirt and underwear had been to his body. She needed a distraction. Renee. She would have a conniption when she found out who had just left Shay’s bedroom. Renee would douse Shay’s fire. Shay dialed from the phone by her bed, but still no answer. Where was Renee? She was prone to spontaneous trips, but it wasn’t like her to disappear when she knew Shay was coming.
    Shay glanced at her watch. Nina and Matilda never went to bed before midnight. Better check in with Nina before she and Matilda showed up pounding on the door. Matilda answered the phone before it finished the first ring. “Frank Simpson, go jump in the lake, or go find that floozy, Ethel Mae. She’s probably strutting her stuff over at the Moose Lodge right now, since she got rid of those big ol’ varicose veins.”
    “Matilda,” Shay shouted, but the phone went dead. She sighed and redialed.
    “You oversexed pervert—”
    “Aunt Matilda, it’s Shay.” Matilda wasn’t her aunt; she was Nina’s cousin, but Matilda didn’t have kids, and she liked it when Shay called her aunt.
    “Shay?” Matilda’s voice dropped from deafening to almost deafening. “I thought you were Frank Simpson.”
    “I’m sorry I