From the Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

to negotiate, no bumps. If anything could make Kasey nervous, it was a perfection of organization. The human condition included flaws. These Kasey understood and accepted. But flaws were scarce in the Taylor residence.
    She worked with Jordan daily, and though she was aware that her lack of regimentation frustrated him, she was confident he could find no fault with her information. Kasey knew her field. She learned more of him. He was an exacting, disciplined writer and a demanding, meticulous man. He was able to extrapolate precisely what he wanted from the flood of facts and theories she provided. And Kasey, a tough critic, grew to respect and admire his mind. It was simpler for her to focus on his intelligence and talent than to dwell on him as a man, an individual who both attracted and unsettled her. Kasey wasn’t accustomed to being unsettled.
    She wasn’t at all certain she liked him. They were opposites in many ways. He was pragmatic, she voluble. He was reserved, she extroverted. He ran on intellect, Kasey ran on emotion. Both, however, were used to being in control. Itdisturbed her that she was not able to master her attraction for him.
    Kasey would never have considered herself idealistic. Yet she had always thought that when she became deeply involved with a man, it would be with someone who would fit neatly into the packet of her requirements. He would be strong, intelligent, with a well of emotions she could easily tap. They would understand each other. She was quite certain Jordan didn’t understand her any more than she understood him. Their lifestyles were at complete variance. Still, she continued to think of him, to watch him, to wonder. He was crowding her mind.
    As she sat in his study, reading over a draft of a new chapter, Kasey recognized that on this level, at least, they were reaching a firm compatibility. He was capturing the feelings she was trying to project to him, then intermingling them with dry facts and data. It was proof of her own usefulness. Being of use was essential to her.
    Kasey laid the papers back in her lap and looked over at him. “It’s wonderful, Jordan.”
    He stopped typing and, lifting a brow, met her eyes. “You sound surprised.”
    “Pleased,” she corrected. “There’s more empathy in this than I expected.”
    “Really?” The statement seemed to interest him as he leaned back in his chair and studied her.
    It made Kasey uncomfortable. She felt that he was intuitive enough to see through her if he chose to. That, she wouldn’t care for. She rose and walked to the window.
    “I think you might delve deeper into the two subcultures of Plains life. The semiagricultural tribes of the eastern plains lived in villages and had traits of the Plains as well as the eastern and southeastern cultural areas. They consisted of ____”
    “Kasey.”
    “Yes, what?” She stuck her hands in her pockets and turned back to him.
    “Are you nervous?”
    “Of course not. Why should I be?” She began to search for her pack of cigarettes.
    “When you’re nervous, you go to the window or,” he paused and picked up her cigarettes, “go for these.”
    “I go to the window to see what’s outside,” she countered, irritated with his perception. She held out her hand for her cigarettes, but he put them down on the desk and rose.
    “When you’re nervous,” he went on as he crossed to her, “you have a difficult time keeping still. Something has to move—your hands, your shoulders.”
    “That’s fascinating, I’m sure, Jordan.” She kept her hands firmly in her pockets. “Did you take a course in psychology from Dr. Rhodes? I believe we were discussing the subcultures of the Plains Indians.”
    “No.” He reached over and twined one of her curls around his finger. “I was asking you why you were nervous.”
    “I’m not nervous.” She struggled to keep her body perfectly still. “I’m never nervous.” A smile moved over his face.
    “What are you grinning