Her Tender Tyrant Page 0,27
the sight of his bare chest. “You did! You were outside splitting logs one moment and the next you’re in here. Why do you do that?”
He laughed and leaned into her. “Keeping track of me?” he asked softly, that husky voice coming out and causing her heart rate to speed up to heart attack levels. “You were watching me, weren’t you?” he taunted with a sexy half smile.
“No! I just…” she wasn’t sure what to say since her comments made it perfectly obvious that she had been watching him. Caught! She backtracked even more. “I was going to get some lunch and saw you. But my phone rang and I went somewhere else.”
“Somewhere that didn’t have a view of the back yard?”
Darn, why did he have to be so on target? “Get over yourself!” she snapped and walked out of the kitchen. She grabbed her notebook and walked out into the fresh air and sunshine. Taking a deep breath, she knew that this was what she needed. Just to get out of the house, away from that horrible man and all of his…hormones! Or should she say pheromones? She had no clue, which was really bad for someone in her occupation. She was supposed to be studying people. Why was her relationship with Marcus so contentious?
Her whole thesis was based on observing people and knowing how to help them get along better. So why was she standing here shaking like a leaf?
With a disgusted sound, she turned her attention to the horses. They made sense, she told herself. She could study them and watch them all day long. Horses were beautiful and instinctive with none of these complex emotions tying them in knots.
She thought about that for a moment, watching some of the female horses prance along the fence line. Were people really more complex than horses or animals? Or were all mammals basically the same? That’s what she was here to discover, but she’d been doing too much fighting with one large mammal to focus properly on her task.
From now on, she’d just come out here early in the morning and stay out until late enough that he was most likely in the study working on something. The man was supposed to be relaxing, Juliette knew from what his mother had told her. But he wasn’t very good at it. He was working hard, probably just as hard as if he were in his office.
Of course, when a man controlled an empire that large, was there really any way for him to completely relax? Probably not. A small note of compassion sparked to life inside of her with that realization. Maybe he was just tense because he had too much work to do.
Definitely, staying out of his way would help, she thought.
Chapter 7
Juliette pulled her boots on, zipping them up the sides then looked at her reflection in the mirror. Yep, she looked ready to go dancing! The red sweater was fluffy but showed off her figure perfectly. Her favorite jeans hugged her butt just right and the boots added a more exotic look than she normally was able to pull off.
She’d curled her hair, applied more makeup than normal, including a red lipstick to match her sweater, and she had given herself a stern lecture to meet other eligible men, to push one specific enormous brute out of her mind and focus on having fun. She was ready!
The doorbell rang right on time and Juliette stuffed money, license and credit cards into one pocket, keys and phone into another.
The doorbell rang and Juliette was relieved that Marcus had already left for the night. She had no idea where he’d gone, but it meant no inquisition as to where she might be going. “I’m ready!” she called in greeting as her friends, Mindy and Josie, both looked at her with a surprised look.
“You look hot!” Josie said, engulfing Juliette into a bear hug. “And obviously ready to party!”
The girls all dove into Mindy’s car and Juliette pushed Marcus out of her mind. She shouldn’t be wondering where he was. She didn’t care if he might be out with another woman. He was an independent agent and probably had a string of mistresses tucked away all over the world.
Ugh! Why did the thought of him being with another woman make her want to throw up? This was crazy! The man went out of his way to pick fights with her. She should be immune to those incredible abs or his