The Airman's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

for help, and Aaron might still be alive. Knowing that his father’s last thoughts about him were filled with disappointment had rubbed at him for years like a jagged pebble in his shoe.
    He stared at Helena Warner’s photo. She didn’t just share Heather’s initials, she even looked like Heather—albeit an airbrushed, polished model version of the girl he’d known. She was blond, like Heather was now, but she was thinner than Heather had ever been, so thin her collarbones protruded. Colt suspected her breasts had been augmented; no woman that skinny was so endowed in his experience. The real girl had a body like an old fashioned pinup. She was curvy and sexy and delicious—without any need for silicone.
    I can be simple and temporary. I can be complicated and permanent, too. It’s up to you.
    The last thing he needed was complicated and permanent. He didn’t have plans beyond securing the ranch and confessing his mistakes to his brothers. He didn’t even know if he would stay in Chance Creek. That depended on the reception he received. He’d marry Melanie, not Helena, and certainly not Heather.
    So why were his fingers typing a reply?
    Helena,
    I might be a cowboy, but I don’t have your heart. I’ve got nothing you’d want to have.
    I’m not looking for romance, or for anything resembling permanent, so I’ll have to sign off here and wish you well.
    Colt
    That ought to scare her off. Colt deleted her message.
    Just as quickly he hit undo .
    He read her words again. As wrong as she was for him, he couldn’t make himself delete her e-mail. Her reference to the backseat of an Impala stopped him each time he went to press delete. Those few stolen moments he’d had with Heather had been some of the happiest of his life. He hesitated, then archived the e-mail instead.
    Time to answer Melanie’s message. Might as well get down to brass tacks.
    Melanie,
    I can meet you at eight in the morning on January 7th at the Chance Creek Regional Airport with a money order for the first half of the payment I mentioned and a pre-nup for you to look over. Once you’ve signed the document before a notary, we will set up the wedding as soon as possible.
    I expect all paperwork pertaining to my inheritance to be completed by mid-April. Until then you and I will live at Crescent Hall, my family’s ranch, as husband and wife. At the end of our time together, I will give you the second half of the payment and wish you well.
    Colt
    Heather’s phone chimed to announce an e-mail, and she straightened in her chair in the waiting area of the Chance Creek airport when she saw who it was from.
    Colt.
    Had he read her message, guessed who she was, and raced to get in touch? She hurriedly clicked on the e-mail but frowned when she read the first line. Helena . So he hadn’t guessed it was her. She scanned the rest of his short note. He wasn’t interested in her either. She’d obviously blown it by going for the heartstrings rather than answering his ad in the spirit in which it was written. Colt had made it clear in his ad he wanted a fake wife. Why had she made a play for something more?
    “Mom, they called our plane,” Richard said, tugging at her impatiently.
    “What? Oh.” She came back to the present and gathered her things. They were flying to Colorado where her grandparents had retired and her whole family planned to gather for New Year’s. She followed Richard, thinking about her answer.
    Because she would answer. Colt couldn’t shake her that easily.
    Ping.
    Another e-mail. From Helena. Colt sat up on the motel room bed and pulled his laptop closer. This time he’d trash the message—right after he read it. He’d made his offer to Melanie and he hoped she would take it. Helena wasn’t right for him at all.
    Okay, you don’t want forever and you don’t want romance. How about a three-month-long adventure you’ll never forget? I’m something special, in bed and out of it, and I promise you won’t regret spending