Star Bright Read Online Free PDF Page B

careful, Parker Harrigan might catch her later in a discrepancy. Name. That was simple, only not. Over the intercom earlier, she’d almost blurted out her real one. Date of birth. She had to look at her fake driver’s license to verify that. When it came to everything else, she decided it would be better to stick as close to the truth as possible. That way, she wouldn’t make a stupid mistake six months down the road.
    In the end, she lied about only her name, date of birth, and job references. Otherwise, she stuck with the facts. Pray God he doesn’t check me out. Nothing she wrote down could be verified because he’d be using the wrong name. Lorraina Hall had attended Pepperdine University. Anna Pritchard hadn’t. Lorraina Hall had lived in San Diego. Anna Pritchard hadn’t. She used her dad’s real first name, giving Pritchard as his surname. Marcus Pritchard? It sounded totally wrong to her, but maybe it wouldn’t to Parker Harrigan.
    Her blouse was wet under her arms by the time she finished filling out the application. Harrigan had asked her to holler when she completed the form. She swallowed, feeling as if a gooey clump of cracker had caught in her throat. She took a sip of her coffee, now gone cold. Then her gaze fell on the cookies. She stuffed a handful into her purse so he’d think she’d eaten some.
    “I’m done,” she called out.
    Seconds later, she heard the tap of his boots on the wood floors as he moved toward the kitchen. When he stepped into the doorway, her stomach clenched again. She wasn’t sure why she found his physical strength and attractiveness so unsettling. A simple matter of aftershock, maybe. Peter had battered more than just her body. A person didn’t survive experiences like that without having to deal with some emotional issues over the months that followed.
    Harrigan sat down across from her, flashed a disarming grin as he rocked back on the chair, and then slapped a big hand over her application to pull it toward him. The impact of his palm on the table made her jump so violently that she nearly came to her feet. He gave her a long look. There was a question in his eyes. What’s your problem? After regarding her for a tension-packed moment, he focused his attention on the form. As he read, he nodded occasionally. What did that mean? The frown that pleated his forehead seemed too intent. He kept backing up to reread things. She half expected him to look up and say, “What a pack of lies.” Oh, God, she felt sick. Where was the bathroom? Would he hear her retching through the closed door?
    “Looks good,” he said with a final nod. Settling a twinkling brown gaze on her, he smiled and said, “The job is yours if you want it.”
    “It is?” Wincing at the squeak in her voice, Rainie curled her toes inside the canvas slip-ons.
    He sat forward, bringing the elevated front legs of the chair down to the floor. The sound seemed to crack in the silence like a rifle shot. Rainie jerked, and bile surged up her throat. Were all ranchers so physically imposing? This man’s every movement seemed forceful. Maybe it came from pitting his strength against powerful animals all the time. Did most ranchers become incapable of doing things slowly and gently?
    “Of course the job’s yours,” he confirmed. “There’s no question that you’re qualified. More than qualified, actually. My only concern will be keepin’ you happy so you don’t decide to leave. Unfortunately I can’t make the work more excitin’. I can make the wage and benefit package appealin’, though. How does a startin’ wage of sixty a year strike you?”
    “Sixty?” Unable to collect her thoughts, Rainie could only gape at him.
    “With a full package of benefits, of course,” he added quickly. “I provide great medical insurance with dental and optical. There’s also prescription coverage on a slidin’ scale, dependin’ upon the cost of the drug. In other words, if you’re willin’ to take a generic,