Second Chance With the Rebel: Her Royal Wedding Wish Read Online Free PDF Page B

idiot.
    “If I needed a hero,” she said with soft fury, “you are the
last person I would pick.”
    That hit home. He actually flinched. And she was happy he
flinched. Snotty, stuck-up brat?
    Then a cool veil dropped over the angry sparks flickering in
his eyes, and his mouth turned upward, that mocking smile that was his
trademark, that said You can’t hurt me—don’t even try. He folded his arms over the deep strength of his broad chest, and not
because he was cold, either.
    “You know what? If I was looking for a damsel in distress, you
wouldn’t exactly be my first pick, either. You’re still every bit the snooty
doctor’s daughter.”
    She felt all of it then. The abandonment. The fear she had
shouldered alone in the months after he left. Her parents, who had always doted
on her, looking at her with hurt and embarrassment, as if she could not have let
them down more completely. The friends she had known since kindergarten not
phoning anymore, looking the other way when they saw her.
    She felt all of it.
    And it felt as if every single bit of it was his fault.
    “Just to set the record straight, maybe it’s you who should be
thanking me,” she told him. “I came down here to rescue you. You were the one in
the water.”
    “I didn’t need your help....”
    So, absolutely nothing had changed. She was, in his eyes, still
the town rich girl, the doctor’s snooty daughter, out of touch with what he
considered to be real.
    And he was still the one who didn’t need.
    “Or your botched rescue attempt.”
    The fury in her felt white-hot, as if it could obliterate what
remained of the chill on her. Lucy wished she had felt that when she had seen him get knocked off the dock by the post. She
wished, instead of running to him, worried about him, she had marched into her
house and firmly shut the door on him.
    She hadn’t done that. But maybe it was never too late to
correct a mistake. She could do the right thing this time.
    She stepped in close, shivered dramatically, letting him
believe she was weak and not strong, that she needed his body heat back. Mac was
wary, but not wary enough. He let her slip back in, close to him.
    Lucy put both her hands on his chest, blinked up at him with
her very best will-you-be-my-hero?look and then
shoved him as hard as she could.
    With a startled yelp, which Lucy found extremely satisfying,
Macintyre Hudson lost his footing and stumbled off the dock, back into the
water. She turned and walked away, annoyed that she was reassured by his
vigorous cursing that he was just fine.
    She glanced back. More than fine! Instead of getting out of the
water, Mac shrugged out of his leather jacket and threw it onto the dock. Then,
making the most of his ten minutes, he swam back to his plane.
    Within moments he had the entire situation under control, which
no doubt pleased him no end. He fastened the plane to the dock’s other pillar,
which held, then reached inside and tossed a single overnight bag onto the
dock.
    She certainly didn’t want him to catch her watching. Why was
she watching? It was just more evidence of the weakness he made her feel. What
she needed to be doing was to be heading for a hot shower at top speed.
    Lucy had crossed back into her yard when she heard Mama’s
shout.
    “ Ach! What is going on?”
    She turned to see Mama Freda trundling toward her dock, hand
over her brow, trying to see into the sun. Then Mama stopped, and a light came
on in that ancient, wise face that seemed to steal the chill right out of
Lucy.
    “Schatz?”
    Mac was standing on the dock, and had removed his soaking shirt
and was wringing it out. That was an unfortunate sight for a girl trying to
steel herself against him. His body was absolutely perfect, sleek and strong,
water sluicing down the deepness of his chest to the defined ripples of his
abs.
    He dropped the soaked shirt beside his jacket and sprinted over
the dock and across the lawn. He stopped at Mama Freda and grinned down at