Mackinnons #02 For All the Right Reasons Read Free

quality was difficult to move off center. Once he got himself locked in on something he was as hard to pull away as a bulldog with a mouthful of leg. Some men were content to play the cards they’d been dealt, while others like this one went through life like a swiftly flowing river that stays true to the course. No matter how many obstacles were put in a river’s way, it always managed to go around or batter its way through until it reached the place it was supposed to go. This young man had his course pretty well charted out unless she missed her guess. Lord help anyone who tried to stand in his way.
    Her eyes traveled over him once more. “Why don’t you come back to bed?”
    Alex glanced back at the bed. She was lying on her back. Her lips were wet and parted. So were her legs. He gave the area between her legs a frank look. She saw his body react and smiled. “Come on, sugar. You don’t want to go just yet.”
    For a second he considered doing just that, but he knew the real ache wouldn’t be satisfied any more than it had been the first time. He gave her a reluctant smile and shook his head, watching the warm glow fade from her eyes.
    After Lily left, Alex was still feeling odd, a combination of restlessness and dread. As far as he could remember he’d never felt those two emotions at the same time. The piano from the saloon across the street was loud and out of tune, but it drew him to the window just the same. His body was bathed in sweat, and the breeze that billowed the curtain felt good on his heated skin. He stood before the window, as naked as a scraped hog and wondered if anyone could see him. Probably not. It was dark outside and there was no light in his room. It really didn’t matter anyway, for he didn’t really care. There were only two kinds of women down there on the streets: the ones who had seen a man naked and the ones who hadn’t. If they’d seen a naked man before then the sight of one more wasn’t apt to shock them any. If they hadn’t seen one, it was probably high time they did.
    He thought about that for a minute, thinking that sounded a little detached even for him. And the more he thought about it, the more he felt that was a good description of the way he felt: detached. When had he become so indifferent to things around him? Had he seen so much killing, witnessed so many lives being snuffed out in a twinkling that he no longer held ordinary things in very high regard? Maybe this was true. He had no way of knowing the answer right now. It was something only time could tell.
    His body cooled, the whiskey having done its work at soothing his brain, Alex moved away from the window and went back to bed. He sat down and poured himself another whiskey and downed it as quickly as he had the other three, then lay down, watching the shadow of the fluttering curtain as it moved on the opposite wall. The old need filled him, possessing his thoughts. Sex was only a temporary stand-in, he knew that. Women. Fighting. Getting drunk. They all had their way of working on him, but none of them helped for long. He sighed and leaned back, his arm across his eyes, but no matter how he lay or how much whiskey he consumed, the old feeling was still with him. But it wouldn’t plague him for much longer. Soon , he thought. Soon I will see her again. How many more days before we reach our old place? Does Karin still live across the creek? Is she sweet on anyone? Is she married? He closed his eyes and called up memory after memory, wondering if Karin thought of him as often as he thought of her.
     
    “Alexander Mackinnon?” Karin’s heart pounded at the sound of his name. “Stars above! Whatever made you think of him like that—right out of the blue?” Karin looked across the kitchen table at her sister. Sometimes she didn’t understand Katherine at all. One minute she could be laughing her head off, astounding everyone around her with her funny side, only to turn us gloomy and dark as a moonless