Navajo's Woman Read Online Free PDF Page B

Eddie, Andi had known that Kate and Ed would notify Joe. Who in their family was better qualified to track down his nephew than Joe Ornelas, former Navajo Tribal police officer and now an agent with a prestigious protection and security firm?
    And there had been no ques-tion in her mind thatshewould be the one to protect her brother, to make sure no one—especially not Joe—would place all the blame on Russ's shoulders. Somehow she had to find a way to grow a tougher hide, and do it im-mediately. Their meeting didn't bode well for future co-operation. But cooperate she would, even if it killed her. Whatever Joe did, she would be looking over his shoulder. Wherever he went, she would be one step behind him. When he found the boys, she would be at his side. No way would she trust him to look out for Russ's best in-terests. Only she could do that.
    Andi would never allow Joe to destroy her brother, de-file his reputation and publicly crucify him. She had been unable to help her father, to prevent him from taking his own life. But by God, she could and would do everything in her power to save Russ. She owed him that much.Owed her father, too, to protect his only son, not only from the real killer and the Navajo police, but from Joe Ornelas.
    "Andi."
    She went rigid at the sound of Joe's voice. Only in her dreams, often nightmares, had she heard Joe call to her.Go away. Leave me alone,she wanted to shout. He was the last man on earth she wanted to see, to be with. But they shared a common goal—the rescue of two young boys, each a family member, each a beloved child of peo-ple for whom they cared deeply.
    You can do this,she told herself.Put aside whatever you feel for Joe and do what must be done in order to save Russ.
    She turned to face the man she had once believed to be not only the person she would one day marry, but the hero of her heart. But Joe Ornelas was no hero. Not in her eyes or the eyes of his people.
    Just the sight of him created unwelcome quivers inside her.Leftover mementos of a time when she had thought herself falling in love with him. Wasn't it perfectly natural for her body to react in such a way? It waspossible to intensely dislike someone and yet still find them devastatingly attractive.
    Another uphill battle to fight, she surmised. Although she had stopped caring for Joe years ago, her body had not forgotten the pleasure of his touch.Her one regret had become her one comfort—that in the past, their relation-ship had not had time to reach the point of complete sex-ual intimacy, before he betrayed her.
    Joe came toward her.Slowly.Hesitantly. She waited.Holding her breath. He was as handsome, as utterly Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    mas-culine, as he had been the day they first met. She remem-bered so well when her father had introduced them—the young man he thought of as a son and the daughter he'd never known existed. Her heart had beaten a little faster. Her stomach had filled with dancing butterflies. Never be-fore had she felt such an instant attraction to a man.
    Don't let those old feelings confuse you now,she cau-tioned herself.Joe isn't here to help Russ. He's come home to help Eddie.She didn't dare trust him.
    A warm August breeze caressed Joe's long black hair. Several silky locks fell across his face. He brushed them aside with a sweep of his large, wide hand. A gray, short-sleeved cotton sweater covered his broad, muscular upper body and a pair of black jeans clung to his lean hips and long legs. The turquoise-nugget necklace with a circular silver center that he had always worn shone brightly against the coppery tan of his neck. Despite his years away from the reservation, he looked every inch the proud Navajo.
    But this man wasn't the Joe Ornelas she had known. He had gone out into the world, far from his roots, and experienced life as the white man lived it. He had become a part of the society into which she had been born and reared.