Best Man's Conquest Read Free Page B

as she tried to focus on the small print, the words ran together in a nonsensical jumble. Was a few minutes of peace really too much to ask for?
    Several more minutes passed quietly by, but she knew without looking up that he was still watching her. The question was, why?
    When she couldn’t stand it any longer she looked up and met his gaze. “Was there something you wanted?”
    â€œNo, ma’am,” he said, his eyes never straying from her face. “Just enjoying the scenery.”
    Something in his eyes, in the intense way he stared, suggested that the scenery he was referring to was her. He was beginning to annoy the hell out of her, and she had the sinking feeling that was exactly his intention.
    â€œDo you think you could possibly enjoy it from somewhere else?” she asked as politely as possible, despite her rapidly mounting irritation.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Ivy?” He leaned forward on his elbows, deeper into her personal space. “Do I make you uncomfortable?”
    That was the last thing she wanted him to think. He no longer had any power over her. She was strong and independent. She answered to no one but herself. “No, but I would like to read a few more chapters before dinner. If you don’t mind.”
    â€œNot at all. You go on ahead and read.”
    â€œThank you.” She turned her attention back to her book. He was quiet for several minutes, but in her peripheral vision she could see that he hadn’t moved from his spot. He was still watching her.
    He was definitely doing it to annoy her. There was no other logical explanation.
    â€œI saw your mom a few weeks ago,” he finally said.
    She sighed and gathered her patience. So much for sitting outside, reading and enjoying the view.
    She very calmly marked her page, shut the book and looked up at him. Ten years ago she would have thought he looked damned good standing there, the sun reflecting bluish-black off his dark hair, eyes slightly squinted against the glare and crinkled in the corners. The distinguished kind of crinkles that men got. The same things that on a woman were just plain old ugly wrinkles.
    Dillon had that special something, a physical appeal that was impossible to ignore. Or resist. In the short term, anyway.
    As she’d quickly discovered, looks aren’t everything. What he needed was the personality to go along with it. One that wasn’t quite so… annoying .
    â€œYou still fold your page over to mark your spot,” he said. “No matter how many bookmarks you bought, you always misplaced them.”
    For a minute she was speechless. How had he remembered such a mundane, trivial detail about her? She honestly didn’t think he’d been paying attention.
    â€œAnyway,” he continued, “I was in downtown Dallas for a meeting, and I saw your mom through the window of her shop. She looks as though she’s doing well.”
    â€œShe is.” It had taken a while, but her mom had finally gotten her life together.
    â€œI would have stopped in for a trim, but I was running late.”
    Only a complete fool would go to his former mother-in-law for a haircut. And while Dillon may have been a big pain in the behind, he was not a fool. Complete or otherwise.
    â€œI figured I would stop in after my meeting instead. But then I got to thinkin’, she may not have the highest opinion of me.”
    â€œGosh, you think?” Her mom had never liked Dillon. Not even when they’d been dating. She’d always said he was too much like Ivy’s real dad. Arrogant and unreliable.
    After Ivy’s dad took off, she and her mom had been forced to stay with Deidre and her parents until they got back on their feet.
    He hadn’t bothered to stick around, and her mom had been sure Dillon wouldn’t, either. She’d warned Ivy repeatedly that she was asking for trouble, just begging to get her heart broken.
    Ivy had wanted so badly to prove her