M. Donice Byrd - The Warner Saga Read Online Free PDF Page A

found his breath.
    “Oh, God!”
    “Shh,” he hissed.
    Meredith clamped her mouth shut realizing her nervous prattle wasn’t helping. The warm hand covering hers patted her hand twice and she felt his body physically relax.
    Suddenly, Viper’s head dipped down sniffing at the air as he honed in on the stranger’s face. Meredith was about to push her horse away, when he lip-nipped the man in the mouth. His eyes flew open as he turned his head away, reflexively pushing Viper with both hands and making a groan of disgust.
    Meredith couldn’t help herself when she began to laugh. No polite titter or a girlish giggle escaped her lips either. Instead, a hearty belly-laugh exploded from her mouth.
    The man pushed himself to a seated position, again thrusting the horse away as it persisted in getting closer.
    “Either he really likes you or he’s saying he’s sorry, too,” she choked out trying unsuccessfully to stop laughing.
    His eyes never left hers as he removed his handkerchief and wiped the horse slobber from his face. Annoyance tinted the bluest eyes she had ever seen and she wondered if his nearly black hair always looked so tousled or if it happened when he fell off the horse. The messy hair looked out of place on someone dressed in a finely tailored black suit but she suspected the unruly mop was impossible to tame.
    “I’m glad you’re able to find humor in this situation,” he said.
    “Be glad he couldn’t figure out how to mount you.”
    The man’s shock showed on his face but in spite of himself, he chuckled. “Are you always so…earthy?”
    “Earthy? No. You’re shooting a little high. Most people around here call me the local hellion,” she said sobering. “I’m Meredith.” Her hand shot out in a bold, almost masculine gesture.
    “Blake,” he said reaching out and grasping her hand. He locked eyes on hers as he raised her outstretched hand towards his full lips.
    She jerked her hand back before he could kiss it. “What-what are you doing? I don’t even know you.” A genuine smile twitched at her lips. “I don’t know where your lips have been. If you let my horse kiss you, you might’ve let someone’s dog kiss you and we all know what parts of their bodies they lick.”
    Blake laughed again, his smile lighting up his eyes and Meredith’s smile died away as she stared unabashedly at the most handsome man she had ever seen. Heavens to Betsy. When his eyes lit up like sun shining through stained glass, her mouth went dry. It didn’t hurt that he kept his face clean shaven unlike her neighbors who wore scraggly unkempt beards. What a shame it would be to cover up that perfectly shaped jaw or camouflage those enticing lips with an ugly beard.
    “Whatever you think just spews straight out of your mouth, doesn’t it?”
    She certainly hoped not or she’d really be embarrassing herself if her wayward thoughts did not stray from this attraction she felt.
    Feigning an air of nonchalance to cover up her real feelings, Meredith shrugged. There was nothing more embarrassing than being attracted to someone who didn’t return the feelings. “You really shouldn’t laugh, it only encourages me.”
    “Duly noted.” Blake slowly moved to pick himself up off the dusty road.
    Meredith bolted to her feet and extended a hand to help him. “You never answered my question.”
    “Which one?”
    “Are you hurt?”
    His eyes met hers briefly as he took the proffered hand before him. She braced herself and leaned back and he rose to his feet simultaneously. “I’ll probably be a bit sore tomorrow but other than having the wind knocked out of me, I think I’m fine.”
    “Thank heavens. Holy smokes, you’re tall.”
    It just spewed out.
    Blake shrugged before dusting off the seat of his pants. “I’m just six feet,” he said making note of her diminutive stature. She couldn’t be more than five feet tall. “I’m just wondering how you fit so much hellion into such a small package.”
    She