The Millionaire's Secret Wish Read Online Free PDF

her back stiffen. She didn’t like being ordered, even if it wasfor her own good. “Thank you for your concern, and for taking me to my apartment,” she said, and walked toward the house.
    “Alisa, don’t overdo it,” he warned, his tone serious.
    “Don’t give me orders,” she tossed back. “That may have worked when I was a little girl when I had a hard case of hero worship, but it doesn’t work n—”
    He was by her side and taking her arm before she could finish. It occurred to her that there were times she liked his height and times she didn’t. This time she didn’t. “This isn’t about hero worship,” he told her, his eyes glinting with anger. “I’m responsible for you.”
    “I don’t need a baby-sitter or a nurse anymore.”
    “Then act like it,” he said, and turned back toward the car.
    Alisa fumed as she watched him get back in his car and pull out of the driveway. What a chauvinistic, heavy-handed jerk! She fought the undignified urge to stick her tongue out at him and yell, bite me. What made it worse was that he was right.
    Pushing Dylan from her mind, Alisa went inside, fixed herself some lemonade and enjoyed a brief conversation with Dylan’s housekeeper/cook, Mrs. Abernathy, a shy, but kind woman in her sixties. After lying down for a nap that wouldn’t come, she rose and decided to explore the estate. From Mrs. Abernathy she’d learned a stable with horses was on the far west corner of the pasture.
    The walk through his rolling fields stretched her alittle more than she’d expected, but the sight of a pony, a chestnut mare and a gelding rewarded her.
    “Hello, beauties,” she said as she walked in front of the stalls.
    “Good-natured, too,” a sturdy gray-haired woman said as she left the pony’s stall. “I’m Meg Winters. Dylan lets me keep the horses here for classes for handicapped children.”
    “Really?” Alisa said, amazed. “He didn’t tell me about this.”
    “I’m not surprised,” Meg said. “It doesn’t go with his image.”
    Alisa nodded slowly. “Wealthy, indifferent, materialistic, doesn’t need anything from anybody,” she said, stopping when she heard her voice rising with emotion.
    “How long have you known him?” Meg asked curiously.
    “About twenty years.” Alisa introduced herself. “I’m a guest. I’m recovering from a too-long stay in the hospital. But I come bearing gifts,” she said, pulling apples from her small backpack.
    Meg nodded in approval. “Go ahead. Do you ride?”
    Alisa visualized herself on the back of a horse. “Yes,” she said. “But it’s been a while.”
    “In that case, Sir Galahad would be a good choice. He’s well broken, well behaved and pretty much does all the work for you. If you want to take him for aride, he’s your man.” She cocked her head toward the door. “I’m headed home. Nice to meet you”
    “And you,” Alisa said and turned to offer an apple to the pony. She petted him and fussed over him, then meandered to the next stall which housed Sir Galahad. He took the apple from her palm with only his lips. “What a gentleman,” she said, breathing in the scent of the clean barn and the horses. A lovely peace settled inside her as she stroked the horse. Her edginess and frustration seemed to drift away. It was a sweet temporary relief that her amnesia didn’t matter to Sir Galahad, she thought with a sigh. Maybe a ride would do her good.
     
    Dylan got a creepy feeling down the back of his spine when he searched the house for Alisa and didn’t find her. The rain poured, thunder rolled, and dinner beckoned. He asked Ms. Abernathy if she knew where Alisa was.
    “I’m sorry. The last time I saw her she was walking beyond the pool.” The woman frowned. “She did seem interested in the horses when I told her about them earlier today.”
    His gut clenched. He glanced outside at the pouring rain. Surely she wouldn’t go horseback riding after he expressly told her to take it easy? Dylan felt