Twice A Target (Task Force Eagle) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Maddy stared
through the window in the upper half of the kitchen door. Cirrus clouds tinted
apricot by the setting sun arched a perfect background for the violet-shaded
crags around them. Purple mountains’ majesty, in spades. Her fingers itched to
capture the images.
    Why was he asking, was the question. She couldn’t
quite adjust her mind’s lens to clarity. She grabbed the doorknob. “Thanks for
the offer, but me staying here is a bad idea all around. I’ll just walk up to
the family plot before the light goes.”
    The door half open, she paused. She didn’t understand
why, but she didn’t want to go to Rob’s grave alone. Maybe she needed Holt’s
stiff disapproval as a buffer against more painful emotions. “Do you want to
come with me?”
    His cheek muscles tightened, and his jaw rotated the
way it did when he chewed over a thought. “I don’t like to leave Bobby in the
house alone.”
    Eyeing him with speculation, she buttoned her jacket.
Images of the past minutes clicked in her head as the picture came into clear
focus. Holt was in a tight spot. A rancher alone with an infant. Pressure of
some kind in that phone call.
    Her eyes widened and she stared open mouthed at him.
“You need help with the baby. That’s why you want me to stay.”
    Color again smeared Holt’s cheekbones. Like a small
boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar, he looked appealing. Too appealing.
She didn’t want this softening attraction that pounced on her when she least
expected it.
    As if on cue, a pitiful howl erupted from the nursery.
    He lifted one shoulder in defeat. “It’s a long story.
I’ll get him and walk outside with you.” He strode toward the siren wail like a
dedicated fireman to a blaze.
    “Holt.” Her voice halted him at the door. “I can stay,
but only for a few days. Until my Range Rover is ready.”
    He jerked a sharp nod before disappearing into the
darkened nursery.
    Already she regretted her rash decision, made by
simply opening her mouth and not by conscious deliberation. But Bobby needed
her, and well, how could she resist that poor little tow-headed orphan? Helping
Rob’s son was something she could do for her old friend—the only thing
she could do.
    And what about Holt?
    Eight years ago, his rugged appeal and the chemistry
sparking between them had cinched her decision not to marry Rob. Despite Holt’s
need of her assistance, he distrusted her. How long could she tolerate her
attraction and his resentment?
    She’d remain only as long as she had to.

 
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    Bobby’s siren wail penetrated Holt’s consciousness
like a nail in his skull.
    He opened one eye. The lighted digital clock beside
his bed read two o’clock. Right on time, little guy. “Coming,” he
mumbled.
    One foot on the floor. The other. He raked fingers
through his hair, then pushed to his feet. Starting for the door, he snapped
alert as though slapped.
    Maddy McCoy .
    He’d finished some paperwork in the office, then
slipped off to bed early. But escape didn’t work worth a damn. The image of
Maddy’s sassy face and the memory of her scent kept him torturing his sheets
for hours before he finally slept.
    Shit, she was in the master bedroom. He couldn’t troop
through the house in his skivvies. Blinking in the darkened bedroom, he
stumbled back and forth like a drugged steer as he searched for his jeans.
Didn’t he leave them on the chair? Or on the floor? No. He put away the clean
ones and tossed the manure-smeared ones into the washing machine. Where they
remained.
    Bobby cranked it up a notch. He could rival that opera
singer, Luciano something.
    Hell with it. Holt hit the door and burst into the
hall.
    And collided with a slim figure in filmy white.
    He stumbled to a halt and braced himself as his arms
went around her to stop her fall. She emitted a small yelp like a cartoon eek .
Under his hands, her slender body in the silken covering was a miracle of
curves and soft, toned female flesh. His