Stone Cold Charade (A Stone Family Novel) Read Online Free PDF

ranch-style, two-story A-frame,
and was not deemed a big house by Texas standards. It had a measly seven
bedrooms and five bathrooms, plus the private wing downstairs that Martha
occupied. Scattered throughout the structure in an array of earth tones, were
fabrics and lightwood furnishings with a southwestern design.
    Sandra, the girl’s mother, designed the
home to replace the preexisting structure on the original homestead. Large,
elegant mesquite trees lined the front of the building, providing plenty of
shade during the simmering summer months, and withstood the test of time. They
had been there even before the old homestead was established. Well-groomed
flowerbeds and neatly trimmed shrubs were scattered around the outside of the
house. More were nestled throughout the enormous backyard. Placed beside the
large sparkling swimming pool, an iron patio set beckoned guests to sit and
relax in comfort. The estate was attractive and inviting, lending a sense of
serenity to its inhabitants, except the god-awful rusty oilrig that sat
brazenly in the middle of the back pasture. A detail, which everyone suspected
Emma of having a hand in making sure it, remained after the remodel, whether it
produced oil or not, just to get at Max’s goat.
    Alexandria drew in a long breath and
sighed tiredly. “Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a long-drawn out
day?” She mused before squaring her shoulders and heading for the den. It’s
better than heading to the kitchen to face Martha and her forty-five , she
chuckled silently.
    When she entered the den, her heart
stuttered at what was clearly a hallucination standing beside the fireplace. Ty
Phillips, her teenage nemesis, stood casually observing the collection of
family photos that were scattered in rustic wooden frames along the mantel. She
couldn’t seem to tear her startled eyes away from him. The last person on the
planet she thought she would see in this room was him. Her stomach took another
nosedive for an entirely different reason.
    Standing there watching him, she
wondered what he would think of the older Alex, until she realized she was not
dressed as Fire. Life was so unfair, in so many ways. The man still could get
her heart rate up just by being in the same room as she was. The Alex he would
remember from their childhood was all he would see if he turned. It’s what the
world saw when she was Alexandria Stone. They never looked deeper to find Fire.
They only saw what was on the surface.
    Now she wished she had followed Sam’s
advice and at least changed into something a little less comfortable. She
quickly chastised herself for even contemplating what he would have thought had
she been dressed as Fire. Ty’s opinion should have been the furthest thing from
her mind. She didn’t need his approval of her after all these years. It was
enough for her to know the little misfit he’d known had indeed grown up. She
wasn’t a child anymore.
    It was as if she had stepped back in
time. Resembling the same Ty he had been that last summer she had been at home,
he was still the equivalent of a rodeo star, although his powerful shoulders
were broader than she recalled. Having memorized that chest that led to narrow
hips, flat stomach, and lengthy muscular legs, her memory had not failed her. They
were the same. Her hands still itched to run along their lengths. He wore
clothes similar to every other working cowboy, looking rugged in a
long-sleeved, western-cut shirt that accented his physique. The tan color of
the shirt highlighted his rich, dark brown hair that just reached the collar. A
pair of worn blue jeans wrapped his lower body in denim held up by a leather
belt boasting a silver buckle. Ebony cowboy boots encased his feet, while arrogantly
tilted on top of his head was a jet-black battered Stetson.
    She knew that if he had been looking in
her direction, his eyes would be cobalt-blue, wide-set, with long lashes. The
real mystery was their tendency to ignite to a