Heat Wave Read Online Free PDF Page B

rising to slip back into her chair. “You don’t waste any time, do you?” she asked in a shaky voice.
    His expression was solemn, intent. “I can’t help what I feel when I touch you.”
    Her insides would definitely be out of kilter if he didn’t stop. “Slow down a little!”
    He sipped his wine, still gazing at her with piercing, stormy blue eyes. His tone was another caress. “You drop out of the blue into my life, working a magic spell over me, witch.”
    “I’m not doing anything to you,” she answered, wishing she didn’t sound so breathless. When his slow smile refuted her words thoroughly, she added, “Maybe you’ve been isolated here too long.”
    He studied her thoughtfully. “It’s summertime, you’ll be here to paint my house—”
    “I didn’t agree to take the job!” Earlier, she had even thought his offer was a joke.
    “I’ll make you a deal too good to turn down.”
    “You might be surprised. Sometimes I do have some resistance.” But not to that charming smile, she thought.
    “If’—he stressed the word heavily, pausing a moment—”you paint the house, you’ll be around all day anyway. Would you consider tutoring my nephew for an hour each afternoon? You’ll be paid for that, too.” He grinned. “It won’t be thrown in with the painting.”
    “Does he live near you?”
    “He’s close enough. It’ll be convenient.”
    “Your sister lives on the farm too?”
    “We’re just plain farm folks.”
    “I have another week before school is out for the summer.”
    “I can wait a week.”
    She didn’t want to paint his house. He was too aggressive; she was too vulnerable. There was a current of attraction between them that was startling and compelling.
    “What are you thinking?”
    “That I should avoid you.”
    “Oh? Am I threatening?”
    “I won’t tell you. Your ego is far too large now.”
    “Aw, shucks. Under this cool, assured exterior might be a timid, shy heart.”
    “I’ll believe it when I see a shred of evidence pointing that way.”
    She was subjected to his engaging smile again. “If I were certain of myself, I’d take you into my arms again.” His voice was husky, teasing with a hint of laughter. “The only thing that stops me is the fear of rejection. Otherwise, I’d put my fingers on your soft throat, touch your gorgeous red hair, taste your lips …”
    She wriggled in an unconscious movement that wasn’t lost on him. “Stop right now! I’m rejecting you,” she teased.
    He threw up his hands while he settled back in the chair. “See, I told you. I’m very timid.”
    She laughed and they were silent a moment before he returned to the earlier topic. “What about helping Henry an hour each day? Will you do it?”
    She was back to the same decision. She could far more easily reject the offer to paint his house than she could reject trying to help his nephew. Every child was different, each a unique challenge.
    “First, don’t you think you should confer with his mother?”
    “She’d be delighted if she thought you would help. Henry was off to a bad start his first year in school. They moved constantly and he was shuffled from one school to another. What’s the going rate for tutoring?”
    When she told him, he offered to double it. “Why the enormous fee?” she asked, surprised. “Your offer has overtones of calculated persuasion.”
    “Might be.” His blue eyes seemed to be daring her. “You don’t paint alone, do you?”
    “No, two teachers help me. We’re unemployed in the summer, you know.”
    “You don’t get a salary?”
    “Not all summer.”
    “This should be a good job. Will you take it?”
    “Don’t you want an estimate first?” She was stalling, snatching at straws, prolonging what she knew was coming, what she couldn’t resist doing. She felt as if she had tumbled into a vat of blue, deep cerulean blue as she gazed into eyes that wouldn’t release her.
    “You can give me an estimate tomorrow.”
    “On