McFarlane's Perfect Bride Read Online Free PDF

what’s gotten into you lately, but I don’t like it. First your sister, and now you. Throwing over your life work, your heritage. ”
    â€œDad. I’m not throwing anything over.”
    As usual, Donovan wasn’t listening “—your sister with her ridiculous dude ranch, you with your sudden burning need to buy that failing resort.”
    â€œThe Hopping H is doing very well, thanks, Dad. And we agreed that the resort could work for us.”
    â€œI agreed to no such thing. I do not care in the least about that resort. I want you back here in Philadelphia right away. I need you here.” It was a bald-faced lie. Donovan McFarlane could run the McFarlane House corporate office with one hand tied behind his back and a bag over his head.
    â€œI’ll be there next week for the monthly—”
    â€œNot next week. Now. You’re welcome to stay with us until you can find another house. Your mother would be only too happy to have you nearby again. Why you had to give Jennifer your house is beyond me.”
    â€œIt was her house, too, Dad.”
    â€œWhat about the prenup? We both know what that prenup said. She had no right to that house. And then she went and sold it, anyway.”
    â€œDad, let’s not rehash all this again.”
    â€œAll right. Come home. You could have at least kept that condo.”
    â€œDad. We discussed this. I sold the condo because when I come back in the fall, I’m going to find another house.”
    â€œI’ve reevaluated and I want—”
    â€œWell, I haven’t. Except for the specific meetings and catch-up visits we agreed on two weeks ago, I’m here in Thunder Canyon for the summer with my son.”
    There was a silence on the other end of the line. A deadly one. Finally, Donovan said, “You could just send Connor Jr. back to school. A summer without distractions, time to focus on his studies. Do the boy a world of good.”
    â€œDad.”
    â€œAhem. What is it?”
    â€œI’m spending the summer here in Thunder Canyon and so is CJ. End of discussion.”
    â€œYou’re very stubborn. You don’t get that from me.”
    Connor almost laughed. It would have been a sound with zero humor in it. “I have to go now, Dad. See you next week.” Connor disconnected the call before his father could start issuing more orders.
    And then he just stood there, in the study of his rented house, staring blindly out the window at the snowcapped peak of Thunder Mountain in the distance. There had been a time, not that long ago, when he and his dad saw eye to eye on just about every issue.
    But now, whenever he talked to Donovan, he hung up wanting to put his fist through a wall. Donovan just didn’t get it. Times were changing and a man either swam with the tide or drowned.
    Sometimes Connor thought he was a survivor, that he really was changing, working his way toward a better life for himself and the son he’d neglected for too long.
    And sometimes he knew he was kidding himself, thathe was actually drowning, going under for the third time and still telling himself he had both feet firmly planted on solid ground.

Chapter Three
    â€œR oses.” The schoolteacher looked up at him through those amazing hazel eyes. “You actually brought flowers.”
    He blinked. “What? That’s bad?”
    â€œNo, of course not. It’s lovely.”
    He handed them over.
    â€œThank you.” She said it softly. She seemed to mean it. “I should put them in water, huh?”
    â€œGood idea.”
    She stepped back from the doorway. “Come on in.”
    So he followed her, admiring the view of her trim backside in a slim-fitting red dress as she led the way through a comfortable-looking great room, back to an open kitchen with turquoise-blue walls and old-fashioned counters of white ceramic tile.
    She opened a cupboard by the sink and pointed atthe top shelf. “See that square