Cowboy's Chocolate Roses Read Online Free

sister’s gaze on her, and finally couldn’t take it anymore. “What is it, Charlotte? Spit it out.”
    Her sister huffed. “Well, I was just wondering what made you do it.”
    “Drink or run?”
    Charlotte shrugged the best she could with both hands on the steering wheel. “Either. Both.”
    Bri sighed, the heat of her breath fogging the windscreen even though it was still warm outside. “I ran because I freaked. I woke next to someone I didn’t recognize, someone who could hurt me. I panicked. And the drinking...I don’t know...”
    “I pushed, didn’t I?” Charlotte asked, sadness tinging her tone. “I pushed...again...but this time you snapped.”
    “No. Char—”
    “Yes.” Charlotte sent her a quick smile. It was small and sad. “I just hate what happened. I hate you aren’t yourself anymore. And every so often the old you shines through, and I want to do any and everything to...push it out.”
    “I know.”
    “It’s the whole big sister thing, I guess.” Charlotte’s laugh was bitter.
    “This isn’t your fault. I’m a big girl,” she insisted, reaching to cover her sister’s hand as it fell into the gearshift. “I take full responsibility for my careless actions. And the consequences. I want to track him down, I want to give him the choice, but no one is expected to do anything accept me. No guilt. No blame. Got it.”
    Bri could feel the confidence in herself grow with every word. A spark of the old her. She knew what she wanted, what her options were, and for the first time in a long time, she wasn’t afraid. Nervous, maybe a little anxious. But there was no fear.
    Charlotte’s smile grew into a grin. “Now there’s my stubborn little sister.”
    *****
    It took eight weeks before Bri found any sign of Josh. She had just about given up, had decided to confess all to her father and deal with the fall out, when her sister turned up on her doorstep.
    Letting Charlotte in, she noticed her sister held an article from The Dallas Morning News . If the way she held the paper scrunched up in her hand wasn’t an indication of her mood, the frown marring her beautiful features was.
    "You're not going to believe this." Charlotte sounded pissed.
    "Believe what?"
    Without answering, Charlotte strode through the apartment like she owned it, and headed for the living room. Bri followed—easier just to go with the flow when Charlotte got like this. Better than fighting it, plus Charlotte had been incredibly supportive since the day she found out about the pregnancy. Joining her on the lounge, Bri raised an eyebrow expectantly. Charlotte fidgeted with the paper she held, her mind must have been going a hundred miles an hour because Bri could practically see the wheels turning. What had gotten her sister so worked up, and why did Bri think she would rather not know? When her sister still said nothing, Bri grew even more concerned. The more Charlotte stewed on something, the worse it usually was.
    "You need to see this, Bri," Charlotte said finally, her tone gentle when she handed over the article.
    Taking the offered piece of paper, Bri glanced down at what looked like the front page of the newspaper, and immediately stopped breathing. No way! In her hand she held a story on their father and a big-business deal he had just signed. Nothing strange about that in and of itself, her father's dealing quite often made front page, but the man next to him and shaking his hand, made her draw in a shaky breath. Josh. The man she had been trying to track down for the past three and a half months.
    "Oh, God. That's him." Bri couldn't believe it.
    Josh stood in the picture with her father, both men with satisfied expressions on their faces. Oh, that couldn't be good.
    "God, I had been hoping I was wrong, 'cause there is Joshua Kell. He's the owner of the Silver Stone Ranch and he just recently landed daddy's account to supply meat to all of his restaurants." Charlotte pointed to the picture in Bri's hand, and