Don't Tell Me You Love Me (Destiny Bay Romances~The Ranchers Book 6) Read Online Free

She’d been so strong, so sure of herself—sure of her feelings. She’d known what she wanted and she’d pushed everything else out of her way to get it.  
    Things were different now. She had Zachary to think of. What she wanted didn’t matter. What was best for her son did.  
    She’d calmed down since the night before. Johnny wasn’t going to take Zach away from her. No judge would let that happen. She’d been up half the night worrying about it, but by dawn she’d realized she was being foolish. Johnny had never even seen his son. He knew nothing about children. He didn’t really want him. He’d only said that to scare her.  
    She’d thought long and hard about what she was going to do about Johnny being back and she’d come to a decision. Things would fall apart if she tried to hold them together too hysterically. What was going to get her through this—what was going to get them all through this—was a sense of humor.  
    If only she knew where hers had gone. This pasted on smile wasn’t it.  
    She laughed at a joke Sara told, even though she didn’t really hear it, and at the same time, she felt a whisper shiver through her blood. She closed her eyes and felt Johnny’s heart beat and knew he was in the room. She wasn’t surprised that he’d come. She’d known he would. But she hated the way she could feel him, just like the old days. She couldn’t let him know it was still the same. If she waited, he would be there any moment.
    There’d been a time when she would have run into his arms the moment she’d sensed him nearby—a time when every one of his glances sizzled across her skin, when electricity danced across her nerve endings at the sound of his name. She’d hoped that was all over. It had to be. She was going to make sure it was.  
    “Frank,” she said, touching his arm. “I think I’ll go check on Zachary.”
    The mildest hint of annoyance flitted through his eyes, but his voice was mild. “The last time I looked, he was sound asleep,” he said. “But if you feel the need….”
    Mitch Barton, another neighbor, came up and threw an arm around Frank’s shoulders, and Cheyenne escaped while he was engaged in manly banter, glad not to have to explain any further. She knew why she was suddenly worried about her son, and she knew it was ridiculous. But she was going to follow her instincts anyway.  
    Instincts were tricky things. It was another one of them that led her to look across the room and meet Johnny’s gaze, just as the crowd parted enough for them to see each other despite the fifty or so mingling people between them.  
    Time reeled, slowing, then speeding up too fast, leaving her dizzy enough to need to reach out and steady herself against the banister of the stairs to the second floor. She watched him coming toward her and she held her breath. It wasn’t until he’d stopped a foot away that she realized he had come attached to another woman—a woman whose arm was linked with his. Her gaze followed the arm up to the face that told her it was her cousin.  
    “Lysette,” she said in surprise.  
    “Cheyenne,” her cousin said in return. “Wonderful party. So glad to be here. Congratulations and all that.”
    “Thank you,” she said faintly. “Uh…won’t you have something to eat?” She gestured toward the buffet table lavishly set along the kitchen wall. “There’s lobster pate and crackers and champagne and…oh yes, those little meatballs that you love.”
    “Ah, the perfect hostess,” Lysette said brightly, reluctantly slipping her arm from the crook of Johnny’s. “Don’t worry,” she told him. “I can handle getting the food myself. I can see that the two of you have things to talk about.” She sauntered toward the table with a lingering backward glance at Johnny, but he wasn’t paying any attention.  
    “Hello, Cheyenne,” he said softly.  
    She stared at him. “I can’t get used to you being back,” she said. “After all this