The Fifth Season Read Online Free PDF

it won’t due for us to be at constant odds and tip-toeing around one another. I don’t feel like being an invader in a hostile camp.”
    Emma nodded. “I hadn’t meant to make you feel that way. I suppose I’m the one that owes you an apology.” As much as she hated to admit it, he made sense.
    Stone shook his head and held his hand up to ward off her sputtering. “No more apologies, and no more invasions of privacy. I won’t ask personal questions, and you’ll provide me with the same respect. I shouldn’t have pried earlier. We’re employer and employee and that’s how things need to remain. I expect you to run this resort with the same efficiency and strive for success that you offered my grandmother. In return, I’ll do what I can to ensure that the new owners maintain your services. In the meantime, I’ll begin work on sprucing up the exterior and doing whatever you deem necessary to continue our five-star rating. Is that agreeable?”
    “Yes,” she whispered, more than a little shocked that he wasn’t being more difficult.
    “Do you want your rooms back?”
    “Oh no, I only use them when we’re on downtime like this week. I’m fine where I am, but thank you.”
    “Okay.” Stretching his legs he rose from the table. “Good night.”
    “Good night,” she said, successfully hiding the sadness she felt because he was leaving.
    He paused before entering the house. “By the way,” he said, turning to face her. “Keep your watch-pig away from me.”
    “Pocahontas?”
    “Yeah, Porkahontas.”
    She glared at him and started to rise. Of all the insulting, conceited, ignorant things this man could do, stooping to the level of calling her pig names appeared downright childish in her book.
    “Pocahontas will remain in the barn.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “What?” She knew she sounded curt, but her anger wouldn’t stay in the background.
    “You’re frowning. What’s the matter?”
    “Nothing,” she said. “My brain’s just rushing through everything that needs to get done before the weekend. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    He grinned and winked. Emma’s eyes widened when she realized he’d been teasing her. All sorts of foreign reactions sprung forth from within, including little flashes of heat that burned from the pit of her stomach down to the tips of her toes. Damn those muscles.
    She glowered at the man before her and ignored the throat-tightening response to his wicked smile.
    “You’re still frowning.”
    “Don’t make fun of Pocahontas,” she said.
    Tilting his head back, he laughed loudly.
    “I’ll make a note of it.” Stone turned and walked into the house. “Let’s meet in the morning to review what needs to be done. I’ll help you prepare for the weekend.”
    Suddenly the space without Stone Connor seemed too quiet and too empty. “Sure, no problem,” she said absently, watching as he retreated through the living room and back toward the master suite. Picking up the half-full bottle of wine, she filled her glass. With a sigh, she settled in to enjoy the cool evening air. Alone.
     
    ***
     
    Stone reached his room. His heart beat like a manic drummer, and he crossed the hardwood floors in five angry strides. Flinging open the French doors, he inhaled the crisp air. He’d done it. Made his speech and escaped.
    The atmosphere, the dinner, the attraction that bristled beneath the well-protected layer of emotional detachment he and Emma devised, accumulated into an extremely volatile grenade. How many times had he resisted the urge to lean forward and touch her? He’d lost count.
    Emma O’Malley was a contradiction with a capital “C.” She intrigued him, and she frightened him. Stone recognized the precarious situation, and he promised himself to tread lightly and remain distant.
    He’d ignore her allure. Ignore her mystery. He’d pay no attention to whatever it was that made her squirm with apprehension. Wandering outside, the cool night air caressed his