Promise Me Forever Read Online Free PDF Page A

barely aware of the other ladies gasping, one of them squeaking.
    Tea hadn’t arrived. A cowboy had.
    And she would have recognized him anywhere.
    Tall, whipcord lean with a loose-hipped stride that hinted at no hurry to arrive, he boldly crossed over to her, confidence brimming in every step, a man with a mission. The thud of his bootheels hitting the polished parquet floor echoed through the room. He clutched his black hat in his large, weathered hand, while his dark brown eyes held her captive.
    His midnight black hair, more tamed than she’d ever seen it, brushed the collar of his white shirt, almost hidden beneath his simple black jacket. A black silk tie was knotted into a limp bow at his throat. His mustache was a new addition, as thick as his hair, framing the upper bow of his mouth and the sides that spread wide as he bestowed on her one of his slow, sensual grins.
    She didn’t think it was squinting at the unforgiving Texas sun and wind that had carved lines into his face, at the corners of his eyes, across his brow. It was harsh living, and probably hard playing. He’d never been one to do things in half measure. For all the changes that she noted, it was what remained the same that made him so recognizable.
    He gazed at her as though she belonged to him. Once upon a time, perhaps she had.
    He was the last person she’d ever expected to see again, the one person she’d given up hope of ever seeing again. Perhaps he was a mirage, a figment of her imagination, a faint hope that she’d held on to when she’d thought she’d given up completely.
    Except when he stopped directly in front of her, his scent—leather, tobacco, a touch of whiskey, a bit of dust—stirred to life forgotten memories ofnights spent with him beneath the stars. He was real. And he was there. At long last, he was there. She could scarcely believe it.
    Her heart was thundering so hard that she was certain everyone could hear it, could see it pressing against her chest with each forceful beat.
    “Tom?” she finally whispered.
    “Hello, Lauren.” His voice was a deep rumble, raspy, sensual, which shimmered through her and touched all the lonely barren corners of her heart.
    “What in the world are you doing here?” she asked.
    “I’ve come to collect a debt.”
    A debt? What on earth was he talking about?
    “My goodness, Tom, who owes you—”
    “You do, darlin’.”

Chapter 3
    L auren stared at him, his words registering but hardly making any sense. The only thing she’d ever owed him…
    Good Lord! After all this time he’d come here to collect what he’d failed to collect in Texas? Her unbuttoned bodice? Had the man taken leave of his senses?
    “You can’t be serious?”
    “Deadly.”
    Tom watched as disbelief washed over her delicate features, to be quickly replaced by defiance. He couldn’t explain why it pleased him to see the obstinate jut of her chin, the pressing together of her lips in disapproval, especially when it wasn’ther disapproval he’d come for. Somehow she always managed to bring out a bit of the devil in him.
    “You’re him, aren’t you?” one of the ladies asked, before Lauren could sting him with a sharp reply.
    Tom turned to the woman who’d spoken and wondered why he didn’t find her blond hair and blue eyes as attractive as Lauren’s. In some ways she was prettier, but in all ways that mattered to him she was simply ordinary. Still, he wasn’t in the habit of ignoring women. They were too rare in Texas for their presence to be taken for granted, so he grinned. “And who would that be, darlin’?”
    “Oh.” She released a tiny giggle, and her eyes began blinking faster than a hummingbird’s wings. Clearly flustered, she took a deep breath. “The Earl of Sachse.”
    “Of course, he isn’t,” Lauren said. “He has business dealings with my stepfather. Isn’t that the real reason you’re here, Tom? To bring Ravenleigh the latest news about one of the Texas Lady