Pride (In Wilde Country Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

waving him off as if he were a pesky housefly, “I’m not in the mood to play games with a make-believe carpenter or cow—”
    She caught her breath as Luca wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
    “You have a short memory, Ms. McKenna. My name is Luca Bellini. I am not a make-believe anything.” His hand tightened on her, just enough to draw her closer. “And if I choose to play a game, I am the one who issues the invitation.”
    The people gathered at the table had gone silent.
    They were all staring.
    Staring at her, Cheyenne knew.
    She felt all those eyes on her as surely as she felt the pressure of Luca Bellini’s encircling fingers on her wrist.
    She’d made a fool of herself.
    She knew that.
    Bursting in here the way she had…
    The housekeeper had politely suggested she wait in the living room, but Cheyenne, angry as hell—unreasonably angry, though she had not wanted to admit it—had brushed past her and said she was tired of waiting
    Well, she was. But that really had nothing to do with the Wildes.
    It had to do with her and her life, and why she’d decided to let her anger out on people who had no part in any of it was beyond her.
    So what if she’d waited an hour for Travis to show up? Really, did she have anything else to do?
    Not anymore. No deadlines. No shoots. No interviews.
    Her time was her own.
    Another adage and a bad one. Who wanted their time to be their own? People needed to have commitments. Things to do. Places to be. That was one of the reasons she was buying Sweetwater Ranch. She needed to feel as if she had purpose, dammit, and because she was on shaky ground when it came to that, she’d taken it out on these absolute strangers.
    And on this man.
    His hand still clasped her wrist.
    She looked up, and their eyes met. His were blue, so blue they were almost black. He had what her makeup stylist would have called a Roman nose. His mouth was full; his chin was square and had an almost indiscernible cleft.
    She came from a world filled with handsome men, but this man wasn’t handsome. He was beautiful in the way a hawk or a wolf is beautiful, as if there were a tightly contained wildness in him, a kind of savagery.
    Something hot hummed through her blood.
    The sensation shocked her. It had been a long time, a very long time since anything or anyone had made that happen.
    Logic warned her that the smart thing to do was turn down his offer, but it had been an equally long time since she’d paid attention to logic.
    “Very well,” she said. “I accept your offer.”
    “What offer is that?”
    “The one you made. To take a look at my land.”
    “Are you asking me to look at your land, Ms. McKenna?”
    How subtly he’d changed the meaning of her words, she thought, and smiled.
    “One more adage, Mr. Bellini. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
    Luca laughed. He walked back to where he’d been sitting, picked up his mug of coffee and drained it dry. Then he put down the empty mug.
    “How can I turn down such an enticing offer?” he said, and he followed Cheyenne McKenna from the room.

CHAPTER TWO
    O nce outside the house, Luca started toward the car the Belllinis had rented at the airport.
    Cheyenne McKenna headed for a bright red pickup.
    “I have a car,” he said.
    “Trucks do better on these roads,” she replied, yanking open the driver’s side door and getting behind the wheel.
    He hesitated.
    He didn’t like being a passenger. Not in cars, not in life, not in anything.
    Women always sensed that, or maybe they liked it. Whatever the reason, if he rode in a woman’s car, she always tossed him the keys
    The man was in command, the one who decided on speed, route and destination. That was the unspoken agreement.
    Apparently, Cheyenne McKenna wasn’t aware of it.
    He thought about telling her that he wanted to drive, thought about how she’d have to provide him with directions and how ridiculous that would be, even assuming she agreed, and instinct told him that she