Life Is A Beach (Mills & Boon Silhouette): Life Is A Beach / A Real-thing Fling Read Free Page A

standard operating procedure, but Karma was fascinated by his honesty. Honesty was all too rare in this business, she’d learned. “Go ahead,” she said, realizing that she was holding her breath. She let it out slowly, wondering if it was too much to hope that he’d describe a five-foot-eleven natural blonde with large feet, green eyes and breasts slightly on the small side.
    “She’ll have light hair. Yellow, like sunbeams. Kind of like yours, only straighter.” He studied her. Appraised her. She didn’t know exactly what that look meant, but she took it that he didn’t exactly disapprove of what he saw. Until he went on talking, that is.
    “She’ll be tiny. A little bird of a woman. And her voice will be sweet. Maybe she’ll like singing in the church choir.”
    Karma couldn’t sing a note. And tiny she wasn’t. As her hopes faded, she said stoically, “Go on.”
    “She’ll be comfortable on the ranch, know how it works. Or be willing to learn. I don’t expect her to rope and brand cattle, but she should understand that this is part of what I do. And she’ll be crazy about me. From the very beginning if possible. I aim to have me a wife by this summer.”
    “What’s happening this summer?”
    He looked at her as if she was crazy for asking. “Why, our honeymoon. I’ve already signed us up for an Alaskan cruise.”
    “Oh.” Karmawas nonplussed.
    He zeroed in on her astonishment. “What do you mean, ‘oh’?” Is there something wrong with that?”
    “Occasionally a wife likes to help choose the honeymoon spot,” Karma said, holding back the sarcasm with great effort.
    She judged from the perplexed expression in his eyes that this had never occurred to him.
    “I figured that if the woman loves me, then anyplace is all right with her. For the honeymoon, I mean.”
    She took pity on him. “In some cases, that’s true,” she relented, and his smile warmed her heart.
    Her heart had no place in this. She willed it to stop leaping around in her chest and pretended to make a notation on the form. But as she concentrated on her task, one side of her was having an argument with the other side. Sounding very much like her aunt Sophie, the yenta side counseled, “You’ve got yourself a client. You’ve got a paying customer on the hoof. Don’t scare him away.” The Karma side hissed, “Stupid! This is a really great guy. Why give him away to someone else? Why not keep him for yourself?”
    A disturbing thought. She’d given up on men two or three relationships ago.
    She cleared her throat. She cleared her mind. Or attempted to, anyway.
    “Mr. Braddock. This is certainly enough information for me to match you up with some charming clients.”
    He beamed. “Now that’s good news.” He produced a money clip and peeled off several bills. “Here’s the registration fee.”
    Karma’s eyes bugged out at the wad of cool cash. Most people paid with a credit card. Most people didn’t carry that much money around.
    He put the money back in his pocket. “I can’t tell you how downright scared I was coming in here today. I’drather face a nest of full-grown rattlers than do this, I can tell you.”
    She turned the full wattage of her best smile on him. “Oh, everyone feels that way at first, I’m sure. The next step is, of course, our videotape session. Normally I’d be able to do that today, but my video camera is out for repairs. So I hope it will be convenient for you to come back tomorrow?” She’d play soft sitar music on the boom box, wear something flowing. She’d make carob-and-pine-nut brownies and serve them with flair. She’d—but of course she wouldn’t. She wasn’t in the market for a guy, even one as appealing as this one.
    Slade Braddock unfolded himself from the floor cushion, rising with spectacular grace. He looked down at her, a half smile playing across his well-sculpted lips.
    “No problem, but why don’t you stop by the marina this afternoon? There’s a video