Fall Into His Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page A

like to work with her to promote them. New York has an energy all of its own, and yet…Texas is special, too.”
    They stared at one another across the kitchen with its drop cloths and smell of paint, the materials she used in stenciling and the sudden intrusion of Sunny, whining at the tension in the air.
    Rachel’s phone rang. “Hello? Mrs. Haughton!” Relief in her voice. “I’ve been trying to reach you. It’s about your birdhouse.”

Chapter 4
     
    Gramps’s old car swayed and wobbled as Rachel drove too fast around a corner on her way home from Mrs. Haughton’s. She eased off the accelerator, grimacing at how dangerously emotional turmoil impacted her driving. She risked a glance over her shoulder, but the birdhouse remained upright, well-wrapped in a tarp and seat-belted into place on the backseat.
    Mrs. Haughton had been thrilled to contribute her birdhouse to the photo shoot project.
    If only Rachel was half as thrilled about the offer to return to her old job with a pay rise and a bonus, and the tantalizing near-promise of a promotion.
    Part of her was thrilled. Part of her was exuberant, jubilant and triumphant. That part of her wished she could have recorded Mr. Trimm’s conversation and played it to Mabel so that the whole town learned that Rachel wasn’t a washed-up dreamer, a Miss-Too-Big-For-Her-Boots. No, she was a respected professional, on the first rungs of becoming a high-powered advertising executive.
    Only…where Mr. Trimm had evidently anticipated her gleeful acceptance of his offer, she hadn’t been able to take it. She’d asked for time to consider things.
    Six foot two things like Wyatt Allenjo.
    Things like, was it possible to fall in love in a week? She’d not previously have believed it, but there was no doubting that she very much wanted to see where their attraction might lead them.
    There were other things, too. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed her friends and family, the town and the Texas spirit of freedom and independence. She liked breathing in clean air and listening to country sounds rather than the blare of traffic and people. Jezebel the donkey was noisy, but nothing compared to New York cabs.
    But New York was where she’d achieve the dream she’d had since she was fourteen. The dream in which helping others to promote their best elements earned her success and acclaim, made her wealthy and envied, and she lived happy ever after.
    Alone?
    “Frogs’ feathers,” she swore gently. Being career-focused and ambitious had been the center of her life for so long that these alien feelings frightened her. Was she attracted to Wyatt because she’d been rejected by New York? Now that New York wanted her back, would her feelings for him fade?
    If she stayed in Bideer would she grow bitter and resentful of chances not taken?
    She walked into her family home, into the heart of it, the kitchen. “Mom, what should I do?”
     
     
    “I’m sorry, Wyatt.” Rachel hesitated in his spotless kitchen with its newly painted yellow walls and stenciled cupboards. “I should have finished the stenciling before I left, yesterday. I didn’t mean for you to add it to your work. You’re busy enough. It looks lovely though.” She smiled uncertainly.
    He didn’t smile back. He looked grim this morning.
    “I brought onions.” She placed two on the counter, like a peace offering. “I’ll slice them and pop them in bowls of water, and they’ll take the paint fumes out of the air.”
    “Thanks.” He stood, immovable, a dog on either side of him.
    “The birdhouse is in the car. I’ll bring it onto the porch if you don’t mind hanging it?”
    “I’ll get it.”
    She watched him walk out, and sighed.
    Beau pushed a cold, wet and friendly nose into her hand.
    “Yeah, not a good day.” She patted the dog.
    Wyatt placed the birdhouse on the porch and as she crouched to unwrap it, his home phone rang.
    “Excuse me.”
    She listened to his boots strike the wooden