Read With Just Cause for Free Online

personal. There wasn’t anywhere to hide. It was easier to
stick with short answers, even if they kept getting harsher
voiced.
    “Nope.”
    “You don’t live there?”
    “Nope.”
    “But you’re one of them? A Bradley?”
    “Yes. And no.”
    “That sounds promising... in a sinful kind of
way. Dark. Exciting. Illicit. I’m game. Are you like a black sheep
or something?”
    Her voice sounded sincere, saying things that
couldn’t be. As if it was nothing.
    “Sort of,” he answered finally.
    “What did you do?” She asked it expectantly,
and with a hint of drama.
    “Came from the wrong side of the blanket.” He
avoided looking anywhere near her as if an infusion of real blood
darkened his already swarthy skin. He
flushed?
Incredible.
    “Wrong side of—oh. You’re illegitimate.”
    He’d been wrong. What happened now was
definitely a flush. He flicked a glance to her eyes. She wasn’t
looking at anything but him. Grimm nodded and looked over her head.
At nothing but sky.
    “You’re kidding, right? They still care about
that? Hasn’t the twenty-first century arrived here yet? I mean,
honestly. I thought it was something really bad.”
    “There’s more,” he interrupted her.
    “What could be worse?” She was amused. It
carried over in her voice. “I mean, honestly, Grimm... and you have
the most sexy name, by-the-way. It’s almost overkill. But really.
You’ve got me wondering here. If it’s so bad to be illegitimate,
why didn’t your parents wed?”
    “C-C-Couldn’t.”
    He stammered. For all the embarrassing things
to happen. Damn. Grimm shut his eyes. He couldn’t help it. It was
the way she’d said his name, and the description she’d put to it.
The zing of something electrical that snapped right through him had
affected his vocal chords. Or something along that line.
    “You going to tell me why?”
    He cleared his throat. “He... uh... died
before that could happen.”
    “Oh man. I’m sorry. And they still hold it
against you?”
    “My grandpa shot him.”
    She went stiff. Or tried. The way he held her
stopped most of it. But a glance showed her open mouth. He went
back to watching the dark sky.
    “Well, I hope he got a life sentence, then.
The bastard.”
    Grimm let a small smile tip his lips. It was
amusing. The great Woodrow Bradley the Third paying for that? Maybe
now. Not then. In fact, they’d probably held a victory supper at
the large ranch house down there.
    “Nope.”
    “Why not? Huh? I don’t care how rich he is.
Money can’t protect against murder charges.”
    “He was a breed. So am I. Well... half,
anyway.”
    “Breed?”
    “Yeah.”
    He didn’t say a word as she pondered it. And
then she put her hand on his jaw and moved his head down, making
him look at her.
    “You’re half American Indian? Is that what
you’re saying?”
    He nodded.
    “Hmm. No wonder you’re so damn sexy.”
    Sexy?
Grimm pulled his head back,
surprised and titillated and something more. Intrigued. Fascinated.
Captivated.
    This Deandra truly didn’t look as if anything
he’d said mattered. In the slightest. She’d narrowed her eyes
slightly and had the sweetest half-smile to her mouth. And then she
licked her lips.
    Grimm rocked in place, enduring every bit of
the mixed sensations he’d been fighting as they slammed through
him. He locked every muscle against it, panting in little
increments of real air as he fought his own desire, and stood
shaking so violently, she jounced in his arms. She probably thought
him mad. It wasn’t far off. In fact, if she licked her lips like
that one more time he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be. It was insanity.
And absolute nirvana.
    “What?”
    He thought that was the question coming out
of her mouth, but if he wanted to make an answer he had to look
away. And quickly. Grimm moved his entire head up to look out and
over the valley, even as it pulled against the restriction he’d put
on his shoulder muscles.
    “You don’t... care?” he