The Loner Read Free Page B

cheek, then traced the shape of his mouth.
    He had lowered his head to kiss her, their mouths only a breath apart, when he realized what he was doing. He caught her head forcibly between his hands. It was hard to breathe with the pain in his chest. He wanted her to go away and take all the hurt he was feeling with her.
    “What do you want from me, Summer? A quick lay before you’re tied to some man your father handpicked for you? I’m not available.”
    He saw the shock on her face, followed quickly by anger, as she shoved his hands away.
    “How dare you! You know damn well—”
    “Keep it down,” he said. “We don’t want your father or your fiancé to hear us arguing out here and get the wrong idea. Not that a few wrong ideas haven’t crossed my mind. And you seem pretty damn willing to indulge in—”
    She swung at him with her open palm.
    He caught her wrist long before the flat of her hand could reach his jaw. “You always were a spoiled brat. I see you haven’t changed.”
    “You always know exactly which buttons to push,” she said furiously, jerking free of his grasp. “I don’t know why I let you provoke me.”
    He kept his arms folded over his chest as the tears brimmed in her eyes.
    “I don’t want to fight with you,” she said, her chin wobbling.
    Billy bunched his fists under his armpits and pulled his arms tighter around his chest, resisting the urge to comfort her.
    His whole body tensed as she laid her hands on his crossed arms, leaned up on tiptoe, and kissed the cheekshe’d almost slapped. “I’m sorry, Billy. I only want us to be friends again. I’ve missed you. I’ve missed having a friend to—”
    “What about your fiancé? Isn’t he your friend?” Billy asked through tight jaws.
    She sighed as she took a step back. “Geoffrey is—”
    “What the hell is going on out here?”
    Billy saw the wariness on Summer’s face as she turned and discovered her fiancé striding toward them. She scrubbed at her teary eyes and swiped her hands on her jeans as she said, “You should have stayed inside, Geoffrey.”
    “I got worried when you were gone so long.”
    Billy dropped his fists to his sides and widened his stance as Summer’s fiancé eyed him suspiciously. He kept his gaze on Summer, wondering how she was going to handle the situation. He didn’t want to fight, not on his first day back in town. But he wasn’t going to back down if the other man confronted him.
    “Let’s go back inside,” Summer said as she slid her arm through Geoffrey’s and turned him back toward the bar.
    “In a minute,” he said. “I have a few words to say to your friend.”
    “Geoffrey, please—”
    Billy’s teeth clamped over a growl as he watched the other man jerk himself free of Summer’s grasp.
    Geoffrey marched over, jabbed Billy with a stiff finger and said, “I know who you are and what you are. Keep your hands off Summer. She belongs to me.”
    Billy tamped down the urge to fight for the woman he loved. The only woman he would ever love. He glancedat the baby sleeping in the cab of the pickup. What he wanted had to take second place now. He had to think of Will. He couldn’t afford to end up in jail for teaching this asshole the lesson he deserved.
    “Geoffrey, please,” Summer said, tugging at his sleeve.
    “Stay the hell out of this, Summer,” Geoffrey said, elbowing her backward.
    Summer cried out in alarm as her heel slipped into a large pothole and she began to topple backward. Her arms windmilled in an effort to stay upright, but it was a losing battle. She cried out again—this time in pain—when she hit the ground.
    Billy glared at Geoffrey, glanced at Will, and muttered, “To hell with it.”
    He felt the pain all the way to his elbow when his fist landed satisfyingly on Geoffrey’s strong, aristocratic chin. The other man went down in a heap next to Summer.
    Billy leaned over, gripped Summer’s hands, and pulled her carefully to her feet. “You all