Welcome to Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page B

there and there and...there.
    She shifted to face the side window as her nipples stiffened under his appraisal. What was the matter with her anyway, allowing a stranger to affect her this way? Just because the shrewd eyes that undressed her were the color of the Colorado sky and his face a reflection of every cowboy she'd ever seen in every movie, starting with Clint Eastwood and moving right up to Brad Pitt.
    “You don't look like a nurse,” he remarked at last.
    “Did you expect a white uniform and a starched hat? I'm off duty.”
    “For how long?”
    “Until fall.”
    He exhaled loudly. “You're staying till fall?”
    “That was the plan. Unless...”
    “Unless you get bored. There's not much to do around here.”
    “There's plenty to do at the Springs. It needs a lot of work.”
    “Unless you sell it to me.”
    “Why do you want it?” she asked.
    “Call me land-hungry. I just want it”
    “So do I.”
    “Why?”
    “I can't tell you. You'll laugh.”
    “No I won't. I swear.”
    “Is this it?” she said as they came to a roadside sign reading Welcome to Powderkeg .
    “Don't blink or you'll miss it” he warned. A row of restored two-story buildings lined the main street. Beyond them, lush green fields stretched out in every direction toward the mountains. It was as peaceful a scene as she'd seen in any Western movie. She opened her window and drew a deep appreciative breath.
    “I thought you said it was nothing,” she said. “I'll bet it hasn't changed since the stagecoach came through on its way to Paradise Springs. The women will love it”
    “The women?” he asked, startled.
    “Or the men. Men are welcome.”
    “I'm glad to hear it. Otherwise I'd have to slap you with an antidiscrimination suit.”
    “Against your next-door neighbor?”
    “I don't need another neighbor,” he muttered, as he parked in front of the dry-goods store. “I need the land.”
    Chloe shot him a swift look. His eyes were as hard as flint. His mouth set in a grim determined line. Had he said what she thought he'd said? She shook her head to clear it as she opened the door and jumped down from the front seat of the truck. He didn't want her there. But he wanted her land. What would he do to get the land? What wouldn't he do?
    Zeb sat in his truck and watched her walk away, forgetting his vow to stick by and stand as a buffer between her and the town and the gossip. He had a sinking feeling that the land was slipping away from him. The land and the deal and the money and finally his own land. It was all her fault. Whatever plans she had for that property, they were completely unrealistic and ill-conceived. Why couldn't she see that?
    He got out of the truck and in a few brisk strides caught up with her inside the store. She was looking at sleeping bags. While he leaned against the counter, surveying her through narrowed, disapproving eyes, she bought one sleeping bag. Then a gas lantern and a hammock. A camping stove. The higher the bill she racked up, the lower his spirits sank. She looked at him across racks of anoraks and khaki shorts.
    “What else?” she asked him.
    The saleswoman turned around. “Zeb! I didn't see you. I should have known,” she said with a wink. “New girl in town, Zeb Bowie's not far behind.”
    “Actually she's not new, Wilma. She arrived yesterday.”
    “Where you staying?” Wilma asked Chloe.
    “At Paradise Springs,”
    Wilma dropped the calculator she was using to total Chloe's purchases. “But the place is a shambles. Horatio let it go downhill, the old devil.”
    “I'm thinking of restoring it,” Chloe said.
    “But haven't you heard...”
    “She's heard all about old Horatio,” Zeb interrupted. “She's his great-granddaughter.”
    “No kidding?” Wilma tilted her head to one side. “Now that you mention it, I see the family resemblance. Don't you, Zeb?”
    Zeb let his gaze travel up and down her body once again. His pulse accelerated as he remembered how she'd looked in