Only Hers Read Online Free PDF Page B

staying awake until I reached the meadow. Now that I’m here, I can’t seem to keep my eyes open.”
    Matt snorted in derision. “I guess you’re going to tell me Wade left you the meadow as a sleep aid.”
    “I wouldn’t dare tell anyone as judgmental and pigheaded as you anything.”
    Eyes narrowed, Matt glared down at her. “I don’t like being called names.”
    “Neither do I, but that hasn’t seemed to stop you.”
    “I never called you anything.”
    Eyes flaring, Shannon advanced on him. “Not outright, but you have a biting way of saying an innocent-sounding word and making the person feel like an inchworm.”
    “Lady—”
    “Don’t you ever call me lady again!” she yelled, so furious with him that she jabbed her index finger against his unyielding chest.
    Matt wondered where this fiery woman had come from. Then his thoughts centered on something else, on the softness of her lower body pressed enticingly against his. Desire struck him low and fast. “Damn.”
    Shannon realized two things at once: that her thighswere pressed intimately against Matt’s and that her body was enjoying every titillating second. She stumbled backward. The meadow might be helping her rest but it was also turning her into an oversexed, argumentative shrew.
    James Harper, the brilliant lawyer who wanted to marry her, the man she had known and respected for two years, had never made her body react this way. He had never made her want like this. He also had never made her lose her temper.
    Of all the etiquette her mother had instilled in Shannon, the one lesson she never forgot was that no matter the situation or the provocation, she must always remain a lady.
    Then, too, her grandfather had always maintained that being in control of your emotions had little to do with breeding and everything to do with intelligence. No one in her family shouted . . . except in court.
    Even when her parents were at their steam-rolling worst, everyone remained polite. Whatever the situation, the Johnsons were always well bred.
    “I . . . I don’t usually act this way,” Shannon excused.
    “Must be the meadow.”
    Shannon didn’t know if Matt was trying for humor or sarcasm. She decided she was too tired to care. “Good night and thank you again for dinner.”
    “I asked you before, where do you think you’re going?”
    “To find a comfortable bed.”
    “You’re not leaving this house.” Her mouth gaped. His thinned. “Don’t flatter yourself. Octavia sleeps here.”
    “Thank you, but—”
    Matt talked over her protest. “Jackson Falls is twelve miles from here on some of the most winding two-lane roads in the county. There is no sense in putting yourself, much less someone else, in danger.”
    Her chin lifted. “Thank you for the offer, but I can manage. If I can’t, I’ll pull over and sleep in the car.” Without another word she headed for the door, well aware thatMatt followed behind her. She quelled the urge to run down the steps.
    “You aren’t going to let her go, are you?” Octavia asked from directly behind Matt. “Sleeping in her car is ridiculous and dangerous, especially when we have three empty bedrooms upstairs. The poor thing is so tired she can hardly think straight.”
    Matt wasn’t surprised by Octavia’s appearance. Keeping anything from her was like trying to hold a greased pig, frustrating and almost impossible. “What do you want me to do? Drag her back by her hair?”
    The housekeeper sniffed. “All I know is that any man worth his salt—”
    Matt turned. Something about the look in his eyes stopped Octavia from completing what she had been about to say. She started back toward the kitchen. “I guess I better get to those dishes.”
    Shannon’s car engine and her headlights came to life the same instant.
    “Stubborn woman,” Matt muttered. He strode from the house and didn’t stop until he stood directly in the path of the car. Tires screeched.
    Shannon jumped out of the car, her voice and