The Black Sheep and the Princess Read Online Free PDF Page A

he’s—”
    â€œNo kidding.” He leaned down and scratched Bagel behind his ears, earning an enthusiastic thumping of tail and a near orgasmic whimper of pleasure. This didn’t come as a surprise to Kate, who would have likely whimpered in near orgasmic pleasure if he’d touched her, too.
    She struggled to rally her wayward thoughts and blatant physical reaction. Like you ever could before . “I still don’t understand why you drove all the way up here. Surely not because of some silly article. Were you here on other business?” And did it have anything to do with her camp?
    He straightened and looked at her intently again, in that way he had of making her feel as though she was the only one in the universe. His universe. It was both disconcerting…and quite a turn-on.
    She really needed to find a way to turn it back off again.
    â€œI’ve done a little research,” he said, not directly answering her question. “You might want to reconsider the guard dog option. You’re being looked at pretty closely. Or your property is.”
    Kate couldn’t keep up with the barrage of information her tired brain was being asked to process. First him showing up, now him standing there telling her he knew all about her business. It was all simply too much. Eighteen years had passed, yet here Donovan MacLeod stood, in the still rippling flesh, still making her heart pound. Her camp was under siege. She was under siege. By too many memories and too much responsibility. And, to be perfectly honest, more than a passing ripple of fear. She hadn’t really let herself think about it too much, focusing on Shelby as the source of her problems. Once she had him dealt with, then she’d force Sheriff Gilby to stop brushing off her concerns and figure out who was playing stupid games on her property.
    â€œI appreciate the concern, but that still doesn’t explain why you just popped up out of nowhere to stick your nose in my business.” She wanted—no, needed—him to go away. She desperately needed to sort out her thoughts, and she couldn’t do that with him standing less than five feet away, pinning her with that intent gaze of his. Maybe it was better not to confront him so directly. After all, she really didn’t know him or what he was capable of, then or now. “Listen,” she went on, trying to sound conciliatory, “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, really, I don’t. It’s just…it’s been a very long day, and I’m not really prepared to deal with this”— or you —“at the moment.”
    Given her continued, rather visceral reaction to him, even after all these years, perhaps she’d never be ready to deal with him. She’d been so focused on launching her mission here, it had been quite a while since she’d enjoyed the company of…well, anyone, much less a member of the opposite sex. Bagel had pretty much been it in terms of companionship. But even she knew that excuse didn’t cover the extent of her reaction. It was as if all the intervening years meant nothing. Everything had changed…and yet nothing had changed. The last time she’d felt this pull toward him, she’d been a girl. Almost two full decades had passed, and she was a woman now…and yet the pull was only that much stronger. The kind of pull only an adult truly understood and appreciated.
    â€œWhy don’t you leave me the number where you’re staying, and maybe we can work something out to talk at a later time, if that’s okay.” She was still staring at him, drinking in all she could, while she could. Pathetic, perhaps, but it only cemented her decision to get him out of there as quickly as possible. “I appreciate the offer of help. I just…You caught me off guard.” Understatement of the century. He’d caught her hormones off guard, too. Every tingling, over-sensitized, and