From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone Read Online Free PDF

dropped the little bomb that she’d obtained a job and would be moving. His glowing response, which was not unexpected, with flushed cheeks burning crimson, was his mouth falling open from obvious shock. Oops, guess she’d read that right. He’d expected her to land flat on her face, but to hell with him and his expectation for her to come crawling back. Hell would freeze over before she’d ever consider it. No, she was almost free. And to prove it, Gina arrived right before Emily left for her first day of work at the ranch with three pages color-coded by priority. What Emily needed to do, along with numbers and contact names, which included the lawyer to handle her legal separation, the gas and electric company, notice to the post office for change of address and one page of sensible questions to ask Brad, which Emily, in her fog of excitement should have thought of, but hadn’t.
    Wow! She scanned the checklist, hugged Gina and then hurried with Katy to the van, in awe of the organizational skills of this woman.
    And even though Gina offered once again to keep Katy with her this morning, Emily knew how imperative today was. Today with Katy would be to test the waters, sink or swim, as the old saying goes, and find out just how smoothly—she hoped, no believed, it would go. “It’ll work out.” It had to, since she was uprooting Katy to a home that wasn’t hers. Children needed stability so as Emily drove through the familiar gates of Echo Springs, past the split rail fence framing each side of the long winding, well-treed entrance, where the dirt and gravel road looked freshly grated. Emily felt a sudden spiral rise from the pit of her stomach up through her chest, as if she’d been drop-kicked into her future, without having any chance to analyze, a.k.a. question her sanity, and back out.
    And it was a good thing too, since Brad was waiting outside his lovely Victorian in the bare front yard. All that pure, masculine power : six feet two inches of ruggedness. How could a man wearing a worn tan barn jacket exude all those damn fine, good-looking vibes? “Oh shit.” Without Katy to keep her distracted from those magnificent see-right-into-your-soul whiskey-colored eyes, she’d probably trip over both her feet.
    Emily parked her van and focused on taking the keys out and zipping up her purse. When she looked up through the window, Brad lifted a little boy bundled in a dark blue hoodie up onto his shoulders. He swaggered toward Emily in a way that said he owned, and was proud of, this land. Emily opened her door and tried to contain the shake in her hand. She slammed her door and hurried around to the passenger side to slide the side door open.
    “You made it.” She could smell his earthy fragrance, no sandalwood, as she craned her neck up. His smile was intoxicating and today he was much more relaxed, nicer. Maybe, if he’d be a jerk again, she could relax.
    “We did.” Okay , how stupid was that. Emily turned away before her face grew any redder, and focused on unbuckling Katy from her booster, and lifted her.
    “So who’s this?” His voice was teasing, light and riddled with tenderness. He was a different man from yesterday and he didn’t ignore Katy ; just the opposite, he reached over and tickled her chin. Hooray, another completed checkmark on Gina’s detailed laundry list—the list to reorganize Emily’s life.
    “This is my daughter , Katy. Katy, this is Brad, the man I told you about.” She giggled and clammed up that sweet pert little mouth, in a too-shy ploy she always launched upon meeting anyone new. Emily was positive this was just the beginning of the ploys she’d play on many a man to wrap around her finger. “Sorry, she’s shy, but wait until she warms up to you, then she won’t stop talking.”
    He laughed with such genuine warmth, for an instant Emily wondered if he was the same difficult man she’d met yesterday. Trevor bounced on Brad’s shoulders reciting a “Blib,