Taming Clint Westmoreland - Brenda Jackson [2]
Inhaling, she tried concentrating on what he’d said. She, too, hoped that what needed to be done wouldn’t take more than an hour. If she spent much more time with this man, Alyssa was certain she would lose her mind. Besides, she hadn’t brought any luggage, just an overnight bag. After they took care of matters, she would check into a hotel for the night and fly back to Waco in the morning.
“So, how have you been, Alyssa?”
She glanced over at him. She knew he was trying to be cordial so she smiled accordingly, while thinking another thing he’d still retained over the years was that deep, sexy voice. “I’ve been doing fine, Clint. And you?”
“I can’t complain.”
She figured he couldn’t if what she’d heard from the few friends she still had with the bureau was true. No longer a Ranger, Clint now operated a horse-breeding ranch on the outskirts of Austin on over three hundred acres of land. It was a ranch he had inherited from a close relative. And according to her sources, the horse-breeding business was doing quite well. Although she was curious as to why he had left the force, she really didn’t feel comfortable enough with Clint to ask him about it. She would have sworn he’d make a career of it.
Deciding it was none of her business, she thought of something that was and said, “I can’t believe the bureau would make such a mistake. The nerve of them sending that letter saying we’re married.”
They had reached his truck and he shrugged massive shoulders when he opened the truck door for her. “I couldn’t believe it at first myself. I guess it’s a good thing neither of us ever took a notion to marry.”
She decided not to tell him that she had taken a notion a couple of years ago, and had come as close as the day of her wedding before finding out what a weasel she’d been engaged to. To this day Kevin Brady hadn’t forgiven her for leaving him standing at the altar. But then she hadn’t forgiven him for sleeping with her cousin Kim a week before the wedding.
From the corner of her eye she could tell that Clint was looking at her as she slid into the smooth leather seat and couldn’t help wondering if he could see the heat that had risen in her cheeks denoting there was something she wasn’t telling him.
“You look different than before,” he said, as he casually leaned against the truck’s open door.
She threw him a sharp glance at his comment and wondered if she should take what he’d said as a compliment or an insult. She decided to probe further and asked, “In what way?”
“Different.”
A smile touched her cheeks. He was still a man of few words. “I am different,” she admitted.
“In what way?”
She chuckled. Now he was the one asking that question. “I live my life the way I want and not the way others think that I should.”
“Is that what you were doing five years ago?”
“Yes.” And she figured he didn’t need to know any more than that. He must have thought so, as well, because he closed the door and crossed in front of the truck to the driver’s side without inquiring further.
“It will be lunchtime in a little while,” he said after easing onto the seat and closing the door shut. “Do you want to stop somewhere and grab a bite to eat before we meet with Hightower?”
Lester Hightower had been the senior captain in charge of field operations when they had done that undercover assignment five years ago. “No, I prefer that we meet with Hightower as soon as possible,” she said.
He lifted a brow as he glanced over at her. “Maybe I spoke too soon earlier. If you hadn’t taken a notion to get married before should I assume you might be considering such a move now?”
She stared over at him and he did something she hadn’t expected. He smiled. And immediately she tried to ignore the heat that touched her body when the corners of his lips curved. “No, you can’t assume that. I just don’t like surprises and getting that letter was definitely a surprise.”
He nodded as he broke