Maggie's Mountain Read Online Free Page A

signing deals. And through it all, he’d barely had a decent night’s sleep, though he’d stayed so exhausted his eyes often closed before his head hit the pillow. His subconscious hadn’t allowed him more than a few minutes of peace at a time; his dreams were constantly interrupted by the memory of violet eyes and a sweet, reluctant smile. His body had stirred and ached, a damn annoying reaction considering the lectures he’d been giving himself. He’d put it down to being without a woman for nearly six months. He couldn’t allow himself to imagine anything else.
    Letting out a long, deep breath, Hale tucked his hands into his jeans pockets and rambled on. He tried to blank his mind of the image of Maggie Mae Cooper; he tried not to remember his mother’s cool questions about his plans for the business; he tried not to think about his brother who was, at this moment, happily conducting business over luncheon cocktails. Hale had never been jealous of Trent’s schmoozing…until now.
    Rolling his shoulders, Hale determinedly tuned himself into the gentle world around him. It was simple here, surrounded by towering trees, the outside world cut off by the tender hand of nature. The smell of deep earth, the cool fingers of the breeze, the tumble of crystal clear water over smooth stones, the muted sound of sobbing.
    He came to an abrupt stop and shook his head. Sobbing? He had to be wrong. He tilted his head, listened, and the sound came again. No, he hadn’t been mistaken. Someone was in his woods, and they were crying. Not just crying, he thought, but weeping with deep pain. It was obvious that whoever it was had wanted privacy.
    Quietly, he began to turn around, intending to leave the person alone. Then he caught a glimpse of rich brown hair cascading over a red jacket and he stopped cold. Even without seeing her face he knew who it was perched on the large rock. Maggie Mae Cooper.
    "Of all the—" Frustration and curiosity overrode good sense and he strode toward her. “What are you doing on my land?” The question came out completely wrong and was harsher than he’d intended, causing him to inwardly flinch as she looked up, startled, her brilliant eyes rimmed red. Her face was flushed from crying, but the skin around the crimson color had quickly leeched white. She appeared to be as dumbfounded to see him as he had been to find her.
    “Your land?” The words were a husky question. “I don’t think so.”
    He might have made a mistake by blundering into a confrontation, but he was a Warrick, and Warricks didn't back down. “I’m pretty sure I know Warrick land, Maggie Mae, and you're sitting on it.”
    She blinked, brushed her hair behind her ear, sighed. “You missed the property marker?”
    It was his turn to be confused. “Marker?”
    “Granite, about waist high, a foot wide, with Eli R. carved into it?”
    “Eli R.?” Now he sounded like an irritating echo.
    “My several-times-great grandfather. There are several of them marking the border between my land and your stables.” With a final sniff, she eased herself up and wiped her hands down her wash-worn jeans. “They’re easy to miss.”
    “Oh,” was all he could say. He’d been so sure she was trespassing, but he’d been the one in the wrong. The knowledge was humbling and maddening. “I didn’t know.”
    She shrugged, avoiding his gaze. That move alone irritated him. He couldn’t understand why, since she hadn’t done anything more than be caught crying. He remembered the sound, saw the traces of the emotional storm on her face, and bit back the strange need to curse. He hated acting like a bastard, but that’s what he’d been on the verge of doing, and all because of what…family pride? Hadn’t he struggled most of his life not to act with the same type of angry suspicion his father had? And here he was, causing pain. He was man enough to admit that it wasn’t Maggie’s fault; she certainly hadn’t come onto him in any way. He