Jackson Brenda Thorn's challenge

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cards to start a new game.
Thorn had been sitting back listening to his brothers make their bets. He looked over at Dare
who just shrugged his shoulders. Making those kinds of bets aren t legal, and since as a
sheriff I m duty-bound to uphold the law, I ll pass, he said jokingly. However, if I were a
betting man, I d say you could pull it off, but it wouldn t be as easy as Storm thinks. Calendar
or no calendar, Tara s not going to let you just waltz in and sweep her off her feet. You ll
have to set yourself up on a mission, he said, grinning, as he remembered the tactic he d used
to win the heart of the woman he d loved. Then you can t play fair, he added, thinking of
the technique his brother-in-law, Prince Jamal Ari Yasir, had used to woo their baby sister,
Delaney.
Thorn nodded. Set myself up on a mission and then play unfair. He could handle that. He d
put his plans into action later tonight when everyone left. Tara wouldn t know what had hit
her until it was too late.
Way too late.
Three
T ara s heart, beating twice as fast as it should have, slammed against her rib cage when, after
the card game was over, it became obvious that, unlike his brothers, Thorn had no intentions
of leaving.
She closed the door and turned to him. The air in the room suddenly seemed charged. Aren t
you leaving? she asked, as she leaned against the closed door.
No. I think we need to talk.
Tara inhaled deeply, wondering what he thought they needed to discuss. While upstairs in her
bedroom she had managed to get her thoughts and her aroused senses under control after
convincing herself that her earlier reaction to Thorn had been expected. After all, from the
first she had been physically attracted to him and memories of the kiss they had shared a few
months back hadn t helped matters. Then there was the way he always looked at her with that
penetrating gaze of his. After thinking things through logically, she felt confident that the next
time he looked at her as if he would love to gobble her up in one scrumptious bite, things
would be different. She would be more in control of the situation as well as her senses.
What do you want to talk about? she asked, wondering if Chase had mentioned anything to
him about the charity calendar.
He met her gaze. About us.
She lifted an arched brow. There was no us and decided to tell him so. There s no us,
Thorn. In fact I ve always gotten the distinct impression that you don t even like me.
Boy, was she wrong, Thorn thought. If anything he liked her too damn much. There were
several emotions he d always felt toward Tara Matthews from the first and dislike hadn t been
one of them.
He took a couple of steps forward, bringing him right in front of her. I ve never disliked you,
Tara.
She swallowed deeply against the timbre in his voice and the look of melting steel in his eyes.
That s the same thing his brothers had claimed when she d told them how she felt last year.
They had argued that Thorn was just a moody person and told her not to take it personally.
But a part of her had taken it personally.
My brothers think you re my challenge, he added, not taking his eyes off her.
Why would they think that? she asked. She had wondered about it the first time the brothers
had mentioned that very same thing to her. But none of them had given her any further
explanation.
Because they don t think I can handle you.
She frowned. Handle me? In what way?
His gaze ran provocatively down her full length before coming back to meet hers. Evidently
not the way I originally thought, he said, thinking just how much he had underestimated his
brothers cleverness. They had set him up from the first.
Of the five of us, I m the one who d always had a better handle on Laney than anyone, so I
assumed they meant that I couldn t handle you because you were as headstrong, willful and
unmanageable as she could be at times. And although you seem to have those traits, too, I
now believe they meant you were my challenge for a totally different reason. I think they
meant that I couldn t handle you as a woman. There s a big difference in the two.
They gazed at each other for a long, intense moment and then she asked. And what s the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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