Second Chance Bride (Montana Born Brides) Read Online Free PDF

afford to pick and choose.
    “Coffee would be fine,” he said. And just in case she needed to have it spelled out, in case she might imagine he was still trying to collect on the money he’d dropped at Bella’s, he added, “Just coffee.”
    Her lids shuttered down, long lashes lingering a while on her cheeks. Not a blink, but a measured pause for a measured response, before she opened her eyes on a nod, “Just coffee then,” she said, “I owe you.”
    He didn’t argue the point. Just nodded and felt himself smile.
    Her face relaxed enough to smile back, just tentatively, but it was a start. She looked summer fresh, dressed as she was in a lacy white cotton vest with faded jeans tucked into tan boots and her scarlet hair braided into a thick rope down her back. Girl-next-door pretty, with clear skin and a wide mouth and eyes almost too big for her face—until she smiled and the curve of her lips somehow balanced it all out.
    He looked away before he could dwell too much on how good she looked, because that wasn’t why he was having coffee with her, and pointed out a cafe across the street that had stools along a bench overlooking the street and where he knew they’d both be more comfortable than sitting face to face. She wouldn’t let him carry her pack, even though it had to weigh twice as much as she did. Independent, mistrustful , or just plain stubborn, he didn’t know what she was, but he couldn’t help but find a measure of respect for her, right there.
    “What can I get you?” she asked, checking out the drinks menu. The cafe was busy with the afternoon tea crowd, but they found a couple of stools like he’d hoped at the front.
    “Long black,” he said.
    Americano , she translated in her head approvingly. But then, he hadn’t struck her as a cappuccino or a soy latte sort of guy. Her stomach rumbled and she thought longingly of food—how long had it been since breakfast? But cafe prices were too extravagant for her limited budget. Every dollar would have to count now, more now than ever—and so when the waitress came for their order, two long blacks was the extent of it.
    She pulled a few coins from her coin purse and stacked them in a pile, and when that was done, stared out at the passing traffic, grateful that the man beside her seemed content to just sit and watch too. And it was easier looking at the traffic than looking at him sitting beside her and being reminded of how he looked dripping wet and naked but for a fluffy white towel lashed around his hips.
    Don’t go there , she told herself, just say what you need to say.
    And she was about to, but his leg brushed against hers, denim against denim, and she jumped. Hoo-ee, if the guy wasn’t electric or something. “I really could do with that coffee,” she said, looking over her shoulder as she poked a few strands of hair back behind her ears.
    “It’ll come,” he said. “You’re bound to be a bit shook up.”
    She smiled. If only he knew what was shaking her up. Well, there were a couple of things shaking her up, and only one of them was him, and if she didn’t say something soon about the other, she’d burst.
    “About before,” she started, her eyes still fixed on the moving streetscape. “I’m real sorry about what happened.”
    “Not your fault. He was drunk.”
    She squeezed her eyes shut. “Not that before. The other before. At Bella’s.”
    A pause.
    “You don’t need to explain.”
    His voice had a gruff edge to it. He was still sore about it, she could tell, and that was fair, but she still needed to explain. “No, listen.” She dragged in air that tasted of summer dust and small town, and it struck her that it wasn’t that different from how summer air smelt back home in Marietta. Except it was winter at home now and the air blowing down off Copper Mountain and whistling along Main Street would be cold and clear, and her mom would no doubt be doing battle with the central heating and losing again. She