Heart So Sweet: Book 3 in the Great Plains Romance Series Read Free

focusing on the waves of pleasure cascading through her body.
    Unfortunately, Tate did not respond in kind. He broke off the kiss, now frowning deeply. “Oh hell!” He pushed Susannah away until she stood at arm’s length from him, then turned to walk to Bruce, who was lying at the back of the SUV.
    Susannah leaned back through the open car door against the backseat of the SUV, keeping her feet lightly planted on the ground as she fought to control her racing pulse and heavy breathing. She wasn’t exactly innocent when it came to men, but she’d never had such an overwhelming response to any man, and certainly not to a simple kiss. She watched Tate stride over to Bruce, who was handcuffed to the underside of the vehicle. She cocked her head to one side. When did Tate have time to do that?
    Susannah rolled her eyes at her own naiveté. She’d been so freaked out that she’d be stuck in the backseat of the SUV that she’d let her emotions get the better of her. Tate obviously wasn’t hurt. He’d shot the would-be assassin. And while she’d been trying to break out of the SUV, he’d been doing his job. Susannah put her hands on her knees and dropped her head until her chin was resting on her chest. She hadn’t been reacting to his kiss, but to the emotional intensity of the moment—and an imagined moment at that. She’d never been in danger, nor had he, but she’d freaked out like a little kid.
    Tate would undoubtedly have a good laugh over her actions, probably sharing that laugh with her brothers, who would never let her live it down. He would tell them how she threw herself at him, clung to him, kissed him. She moaned in embarrassment. Her brothers would have a field day with this tidbit of information. And Tate had let her do it, let her make a fool of herself.
    She sat up just as Tate returned to the car with Bruce in tow. “Miss Clark, if you’d like to move to the front passenger side, I’ll put Mr. Garrison in the back here.”
    “What, no department policy anymore?” She sneered at him as she pushed past both men and started walking around the front of the SUV. But instead of turning to head for the passenger side of the vehicle, she continued walking down the road. She wasn’t under arrest. He couldn’t force her to ride with them. In a few miles the road would pass by the lane that led to their farmstead. A nice afternoon walk was just what she needed to work the anger out of her system. Well, maybe not all of her anger, but certainly the embarrassment she felt from having thrown herself at Tate after all these years. The anger that she felt brimming below the surface, the anger that sparked as she remembered him pushing her away at the end of their kiss, frowning—that anger she would let come to a nice frothy boil just as she faced her brothers about their actions from today. After all, had they not gone against her warnings, she would have not been rejected by Tate.
    Susannah slowed a bit. Yes, what had really set her off was his rejection, and she had no doubts that his dark frown had been directed at her. He’d made a point to push her away from him even.
    “Don’t be so stupid, Susannah,” she mumbled. So they’d shared a roadside kiss in the heat of the moment, and he’d returned to reality more quickly than she had. So what? It was over and done and she could move on knowing that a long-forgotten crush wouldn’t lose control and fall into her arms. Such silly daydreams belonged to twelve-year-old girls, not women running the family farm. She had more important things to deal with than a kiss, even if it had been the best kiss she’d ever experienced.
    “I see you’re still a stubborn one, Annie.”
    Susannah whipped around to find Tate standing right behind her, his dimpled smile directed at her, the SUV still parked along the side of the road in the distance.
    “I don’t need an escort, sheriff.” She spoke with what she hoped was an icy tone. “Besides, you have other