Hallie's Destiny (The Donovans of the Delta) Read Online Free PDF

didn’t hurt you before I got here, did they?”
    “Oh, no, of course not.” She bit her bottom lip and looked down. “They squashed my bluebonnets.”
    “They squashed your what?”
    “My flowers.” She pointed to the ground. “I had a lovely bouquet of Texas bluebonnets, and now they’re trampled in the dirt. You should have seen them when they were alive, Josh. They were so bright and perky, they painted rainbows in your heart.” She knelt beside the broken flowers.
    Bending over, Josh took her shoulders and lifted her up. “Hallie, I’m sorry.”
    “They were just flowers.”
    “I’m sorry about everything, Hallie.”
    “It was just—”
    “Don’t you dare say it was just a kiss.” He released her shoulders and touched his finger to her lips. “My ego will never recover if you do.”
    She smiled. “I was going to say exactly that.”
    Swiftly, like one of the nighthawks she’d seen soaring in the Texas sky, Josh kissed her once more. The kiss was quick and hard. “Keep that smile on your face, Hallie,” he said, and then he was gone.
    Hallie strained her eyes to see him as long as she could, but the darkness quickly swallowed him up. One bright tear inched down her cheek. Sadness was a stranger to her, and she had a hard time identifying the cause of her melancholy. She suspected it had something to do with the trampled beauty of her fallen bouquet, but more than that, she feared it had something to do with the strange jubilee of her rescuer’s kiss.
    She touched her fingers to her lips. “Oh, Josh. Please stay on your side of the cove. You tempt me so.”

 
     
    CHAPTER THREE
    Josh Butler woke up in time to see the sunrise. He stood beside the water and watched the awesome display of color. The water and the sky both shimmered with brilliant pink and gold beauty. But none of it could compare to that single tear he’d glimpsed in Hallie Donovan’s eye.
    What kind of woman cried over a bouquet of crushed wildflowers? A sensitive woman, he decided. A gentle woman.
    He shook his head to rid himself of the image of that bright tear. Striding back to his camp, he picked up his rod and reel. The fish should be biting, it was early. Maybe today he would get lucky. He had his arm thrown back for a cast before he realized that he wouldn’t be going fishing after all.
    “I can’t believe what I’m about to do,” he muttered as he stowed his fishing gear and set out through the woods.
    It was eleven o’clock before he’d accomplished his mission. He was inordinately proud of his morning’s work. When he walked into Hallie’s camp, he was whistling.
    Hallie was playing a game of tag with her dogs. The dogs were barking, and she had her head thrown back, laughing. Josh was mesmerized by the sight of her. The whistle died on his lips as he leaned against a tree and watched. She played with the joyful abandon of a child, and yet the delicious curves of her body left no doubt that she was a woman. She had the look of an innocent child-woman. He found her aura of innocence very appealing. Although he knew she’d been married, knew she couldn’t possibly be untouched, he clung to the idea, indulged in his fantasy. He needed a fantasy; he’d be back in the real world soon enough.
    Suddenly Hallie saw him. Her smile was a glorious thing to see. He felt like a schoolboy as he left the shelter of the tree and started toward her. She ran to meet him, her dogs trotting at her heels, her face flushed and bright with laughter.
    They stopped when they were two feet apart.
    “Hello, Hallie.”
    “Hello, Josh.”
    A breathless silence stretched between them, finally broken by a male yellowthroat, flying high in the air, singing his flamboyant aria of love.
    Hallie looked up. “I always know it’s spring when the yellowthroat starts courting.”
    “Spring does strange things to us all.” Josh held his offering toward her, a bouquet of Texas bluebonnets, their spires of delicate blossoms glinting in the