Mail-order bridegroom Read Online Free PDF

from beneath his rear wheels. They watched in silence as he disappeared down the dirt drive. A minute later all that remained of Bull's passing was a tiny whirlwind of dust, spinning lazily in the distance. Leah eyed it with a thoughtful frown.
    Hunter slipped the rifle from her grasp and leaned it against the porch rail. 'Something you forgot to tell me?' he murmured sardonically.
    She lifted her chin. 'There might be one or two minor details we didn't get around to discussing. Not that it's any concern of yours.'

    'I don't agree. I suggest we go back inside and discuss those minor details/
    'No!' She rounded on him. First Titus T., then Bull and now Hunter. This definitely wasn't her day. 'You know full well that there's nothing left to talk over. You want the ranch and I won't let you have it. Even if you were interested in responding to my ad—interested in marriage—I won't choose you for the position. How could you think I would?'
    He raised an eyebrow. 'Position? I thought you wanted a husband.'
    'That's right, I do. But since you aren't interested...' Fighting to keep the distress from her voice, she said, 'You've had your fun. So why don't you leave?'
    He shook his head. 'We're not through with our conversation, and I'm not leaving until we are. If that means applying for your...position, then consider me applied.'
    'Forget it. You don't qualify,' she insisted. 'That ends the conversation as far as I'm concerned.'
    'I qualify, all right. On every point.'
    She didn't want to continue with this charade but, aside from picking up her rifle and trying to force him off her property at gunpoint, she didn't see any other option available to her. Especially considering how far she'd gotten the last time she'd turned her rifle on him. 'Fine. You think you qualify? Then prove it,' she demanded.
    'A challenge? Not a wise move, Leah, because once I've proven myself we'll finish that discussion.' He tilted his head to one side, his brow furrowed in thought. 'Let's see if I can get this right... Number one. You want a man between the ages of twenty-five and forty-five. No problem there.'

    'You should have read the ad more carefully, Hunter! It says a kind and gentle man. You are neither kind nor gentle.'
    His gaze, black and merciless, met hers. 'You'd do well to remember that.'
    Tempted as she was, she didn't back down. 'I haven't forgotten. The ad also says applicants should be looking for a permanent type of relationship.' She shot him a skeptical glance. 'Don't tell me you're finally ready to settle down?'
    'That isn't my first choice, no. But I'd consider it if the right offer came along. Number two. As I recall that concerns ranching experience.' He folded his arms across his chest. 'You planning to debate my qualifications there?'
    She shook her head. After all, there was nothing to debate. 'I'll concede your ranching abilities,' she agreed.
    A grim smile touched his mouth. 'You'll concede a hell of a lot more before we're finished. Number three. He should also have solid business skills—particularly those skills necessary to please a bullheaded banker.' He settled his hat lower on his forehead. 'You've tipped your hand with that one.'
    'Have I?' Something about his attitude worried her. He acted as though this were all a game, as though she'd already lost the match but didn't yet know it. What she couldn't figure was... how? How could she lose a game that she wasn't even playing?
    His smile turned predatory. 'You're having financial difficulties and the bank won't help without a man backing you. Close enough?'
    She gritted her teeth. 'Close enough,' she forced herself to confess. 'But you aren't that man. End of discussion.'
    'Far from it. There isn't a bank in the world who wouldn't back me.'

    That gave her pause. 'Since when?'
    He closed the distance between them, crowding her against the porch rail. 'It's been eight years since our last meeting. A lot has happened in that time. I'm not the poor ranch-hand you once