Read Nothing But Trouble for Free Online

ignite a flame in him so strong, he felt his inside burn with desire.  A whole month alone with this highfalutin gal wreaking havoc with his peace of mind was going to be torture.  He had a whole month ahead of him of trying to remember that he was raised to be a gentleman in the company of a lady.  But there was nothing gentlemanly about the way Melanie Summers was stirring his insides.  “I’ll bet my last nickel this woman is nothing but trouble.”
    * * *
    Melanie woke the next morning to the sweet sound of birds singing outside her open window and pots and pans clanking in the kitchen below her bedroom.  The plan was for her and Stoney to start out early Saturday morning.  Only Melanie wished she didn’t have to wait another whole day to get started. 
    Hanging around the ranch there wasn’t much chance of someone finding out she’d hired Stoney.  The chances of it getting back to her father were slim.  But Gerald Hammond seemed to have a penchant for small talk with all the customers who came and went.  If her father had enlisted the help of a snooper, then it would only be a matter of time before he tracked her to Black Rock.  She wanted to be long gone before that happened, giving him no chance to keep her from going.
    She rubbed her eyes as she padded barefoot to the white painted dresser.  She was staying in Stoney’s sister Delia’s room.  Unlike her bedroom back home, this room didn’t have a private bath.  She’d have to be careful with her medical supplies, making sure she didn’t leave them hanging around for someone to see. 
    Fortunately, she’d gotten use to the routine of pricking her finger each morning to take a sample of blood and testing it with her blood monitoring machine.  They’d come a long way in technology since she first found out she was a diabetic at age seven.  Back then, everything seemed so scary.  Her parents were always on edge about every little sniffle or sneeze she had and made sure she ate like clockwork.  They’d even hired a special chef to prepare her meals and snacks.
    When Melanie was younger, a visiting nurse administered her insulin.  At age ten, she had finally had enough and informed her parents that it was her body.  She was going to take care of herself.  Of course, they’d fought her on it, like they did every other decision Melanie made to take control of her life.  But one day she’d decided enough was enough.  She crawled out of bed before her nurse was scheduled to arrive, and she pulled all the supplies out of the drug closet without anyone noticing.  She’d watched the nurse prick her skin, test her blood, and administer the correct dosage hundreds of times, making mental notes on just what to do.  When the nurse arrived, she proudly presented her with the empty syringe.
    Edmund and Lorna Summers were fit to be tied, but Melanie didn’t care.  It was then that she decided she needed to take control of her health and had been taking care of it ever since.  Diabetes never got in the way of living as far as she was concerned.  It was her parents who’d refused to let her believe she was a normal capable person, despite the fact that she had diabetes.  It was the main reason her father fought so hard to keep her from going on the Kenya expedition.
    She held the blood machine, which was about the size of a calculator, in the palm of her hand and waited until the machine made its reading.  When it was through, she filled the hypodermic needle and pinched the skin on her upper thigh and injected herself. 
    After carefully putting all the used materials into a plastic bag and packing them in her luggage, she padded to the upstairs bathroom to shower.  Twenty minutes later, she skipped downstairs to find Adele making breakfast for the troops.
    “There’s fresh coffee,” Adele said as Melanie walked into the kitchen.  “Would you like me to get you some?” 
    “I’d love some.  But please don’t feel you have to wait on