World's Most Eligible Texan Read Free Page B

truth,” he drawled and smiled a lazy smile at her.
    They were in dangerous waters and she glanced around, trying to get the conversation less personal. “If no one lives here most of the time, who takes care of your house?” she asked, looking at the immaculate room.
    â€œWe have a staff,” he answered casually without taking his eyes from hers. His fingers stroked her nape in featherlight brushes that ignited fires deep within her. His voice was low. The only light now was from the blazing fire, and there was a cozy intimacy that was made electric by his nearness. “Why are you a teacher?”
    â€œI love children,” she answered, and he nodded his approval. “I feel strongly that all children should be able to read, so I like working with them, particularly in reading. I never had any family. Maybe that’s why I feel the way I do about kids. Why did you want to be a diplomat?”
    â€œEverything about it fascinated me,” he said quietly, his green gaze studying her as if he were memorizing every feature. “I thought I could help save the world when I went into it.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    â€œNow I know that’s an impossibility. The old world will keep turning no matter what I do. There will always be wars and intrigue, and now, more than ever, terrorism.”
    â€œYou sound disenchanted.”
    â€œNot tonight. Tonight is good,” he said, giving her a heated, direct look that blatantly conveyed his desire.
    â€œBehave yourself, Aaron! You do come on strong.”
    â€œYou won’t believe me, but I don’t usually.” As she smiled, he touched her cheek. “Dimples. You have to have been told your dimples are pretty.”
    â€œMaybe so,” she said. “Tell me about Spain.”
    â€œI’ll tell you, but soon I want to show it to you. You’ll have your weekends free when you get to Asterland and I can take you to my favorite places in Spain.”
    Though she merely smiled at him, his words gave her a thrill. She listened to him describe Spain and Asterland, and she answered his questions about her job. Their conversation roamed over a myriad of subjects as if they had a million things to tell each other. And all the time they talked, his fingers drifted over her hands or nape or ear or played in her hair while he watched her as if she were the first woman he had ever seen.
    â€œYour family has lived in Texas for more than a hundred years, haven’t they?” she asked him. He nodded while his fingers stroked her nape and she barely could concentrate on what he was answering. While his index finger traced the curve of her ear, she inhaled deeply, tingles fueling her desire.
    â€œYep. My great-granddaddy, Pappy Black, ran cattle when he came home after the War Between the States. He amassed the Black fortune. Then my granddad, Rainy Black—I’m named for him—he was Aaron Rainier Black, was a Texas senator, so I grew up around politicians. I’m as Texas as you can get.”
    â€œSure, Aaron,” she said, thinking of his eastern education. His fingers trailed from her ear down over her throat and along her arm, moving to her knee. His thickly lashed eyes were filled with desire and she tingled along every nerve ending from all his feather touches. “¿Habla Español?” she asked.
    â€œSì. ¿Y usted?”
    â€œ Muy poco. Only what I’ve picked up from living in Royal. What other languages do you speak?”
    â€œFrench, German, Arabic, Italian, Polish and Chinese. My undergraduate degree is in languages and political science and I had to learn Arabic in the military. I had to learn Polish with the State Department.”
    She thought again of the vast differences in their lives. “Which colleges did you attend?”
    â€œHarvard for an undergraduate degree,” he replied in an offhand manner. “Now tell me what you like to do? What’s