Darling obstacles Read Online Free Page B

feel so exposed, so strangely vulnerable. As if she had also admitted him into—Maggie promptly told herself that her thoughts were bordering on lunacy. "I'll call Paula for you, Dr. Wilder," she repeated in what she hoped was a take-charge, no-nonsense tone of voice.
    "Not Dr. Wilder. Greg,'' he corrected her. He'd asked her to call him Greg a year or so ago, but she

    never had. "Call me Greg. I call you Maggie, don't I? Is it short for Margaret?"
    "I wish it were, but it's short for Mary Magdalene." Maggie imparted this information reluctantly. "When my brothers wanted to infuriate me, that's what they would call me."
    Greg's lips twitched with amusement. "Then I guess I'd better stick to Maggie." He'd always known she had nice legs, he thought as his gaze swept the length of her limbs. Long, shapely, slim. He'd noticed them before, but now he wanted to touch them, to run his hand along their silken length. A flash of heat swept through him and he tried to shake off the thought.
    Kevin and Joshua burst into the kitchen, fortunately diverting him. "We want a snack!" Josh boomed, then caught sight of his father and stopped in his tracks. "What are you doing here, Dad?"
    Greg raised his brows and asked a question of his own. "You were asking Mrs. May for something to eat, Joshua?"
    Josh looked at his shoes. "Uh, yeah."
    "You aren't to ask for food at someone else's house, Joshua. You're to wait until it's offered to you. You know that," Greg reproved his son. "And you weren't even asking politely. You were demanding!"
    "He was just kidding, Dr. Wilder," Kevin interjected quickly. "Sometimes we joke around like that with my mother. She doesn't mind, do you, Mom?"
    "No." Maggie smiled at the boys. "I promised Kev and Josh that they could make some popcorn and I think that's what they came down to do." Both boys nodded in agreement. The car horn blared again.
    "Who keeps honking that horn?" Kevin asked, frowning. "Mr. Crothers is going to get mad and call the police if it keeps up."
    Greg cleared his throat. "Maybe you'd better make that call to Paula for me, Maggie, if you're sure you don't mind." Damn Francine! He wished he could make her disappear and the car horn along with her.

    22 • BARBARA BOSWELL
    Greg was shaken by the sheer force of his anger. He was feeling no pleasure at the thought of an evening with Francine. The prospect of watching Maggie and the kids pop corn in her too-small kitchen held infinitely greater appeal. His eyes fastened on a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail and curled against the nape of her neck. It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to keep from reaching out and touching the bright auburn wisps. Her neck was graceful and slender and he wondered if the skin was as soft as it looked. But he didn't dare touch her. If he did, Maggie would be shocked out of that creamy, silken skin. She didn't see him as a man; he was just a daddy to her, the Wilder kids' daddy. She didn't even call him Greg. Dr. Wilder. Always Dr. Wilder. Suddenly that fact irritated him enormously. He wondered if he would ever gain admittance to her home again, or if he'd be relegated back to the infernal doorstep. That idea was absolutely intolerable to him.
    Maggie saw him scowl and wondered what fate awaited the impetuous Francine. Of course, a woman as beautiful and sexy as Francine would probably have ways of creatively channeling a man's anger into something else entirely. Casting another covert glance at Greg, Maggie found herself wondering what it would be like to coax him out of his anger into . . . something else entirely. He had a sensual mouth, wide and generous, the lower lip curved and full. And his hands were surgeon's hands, big and strong and capable, with long fingers and squared, immaculate nails. What would it be like to be touched by those hands, to feel that mouth on hers? What if she were the one leaving for a night out with Greg, and Francine were staying behind to mind the