Love Redone Read Online Free PDF

lonely—she was safe.  Safe from having to engage her heart and end up broken and bruised.  Turning frozen and brittle when the enormity of how he’d deceived and used her all those years ago came flooding back, Shannon sharply jerked herself ramrod straight in a physical rebuff just a heartbeat before hastily yanking her arms from his shocked, loosened grasp in wild arcs as she tried to pull away from him.
    Gaining her release , she cried, “No!” as she turned to escape, aware in her heart of hearts that she was fleeing her wild desire for him more than the man himself.
    In one frantic maneuver , Shannon tried to reign in her flailing arms in the same second that she turned to run away. Unfortunately, her hasty attempt at retreat was immediately halted by the heel of one boot getting caught in some scenery. Before she knew what was happening, she fell sideways in a clumsy wobble and went down hard with a thud before putting out her hands to break the fall and lurching forward when her knees hit the ground.
    To make matters worse , as her body pitched frontward, she smacked her head on the edge of an inconveniently placed wagon wheel. Crying out in distress, she found herself stunned, sprawled on the ground, skirt and petticoat revealing way more leg than this situation called for, ankle twisted, knees bruised, hands scraped, and a nasty bump growing at her hairline.  Fabulous .
    Trying to right herself from the uncomfortable and clumsy sprawl, Shannon put a hand down on the ground for leverage and instantly regretted that decision.  She cried out in a painful gasp a split second before Nick gently grabbed both wrists and turned over her hands , palms up, so he could assess her injuries.
    Shannon was overcome with pain and distress and could feel a welling of tears making their way to her eyes, something she seriously did not want at this moment.  Breaking out with some waterworks was simply not an option, no matter how hurt she was.  Blinking furiously to keep the problem at bay, she stared in helpless fascination where Nick’s large, masculine hands so gently held her own much smaller and slightly trembling ones.
     
    * * *
    If his brain hadn’t been so damn fuzzy , Nick was sure he would have caught her before she hit the ground or at least reacted quickly enough to help break the fall. Instead he stood there numb and frozen, watching in a sort of slow motion haze.
    As it was, his fabled cool had deserted him the moment he understood that his most fervent desire, his one true wish, was right there in his hands. For real.  Not a dream. Not a hallucination or fantasy, but the lovely Shannon, his Shannon, right here, close enough to pick up on her haunting scent.  She always smelled of almonds with a hint of something else, deeply feminine and elusive, which he tucked away in the most secret corner of his mind lest he lose himself in wanting something he would never have again. Only this was real, and those hidden thoughts were colliding in rapid-fire fashion as the situation unfolded before him.
    Nick recovered quickly though and was at her side before she’d taken more than a breath or two. Realizing that she was definitely hurt gave his analytical mind something to focus on beside s the wild rush of adrenaline overlade with yearning and a painfully deep desire that was washing over him and through him in wave after wave.
    A fierce and focused businessman, he was a serious force to be reckoned with.  It wasn’t all that unusual for competitors and those whose compan ies he engaged with to have a healthy fear of him.  What the hell, sometimes even he was scared of himself, but right at this moment, after eight long years of self-imposed emotional isolation, he was suddenly bereft of his usual steely cool.  Having something purposeful to do meant he could pretend to be that other guy, while inside he was quietly reeling and struggling not to lose control.
    Beneath a frown of concern Nick carefully inspected