Taming Rafe Read Online Free

The kind who’d known of her secret nest in the closet, with her horse posters, her Flicka books. The kind who woke her from her nightmares and fed her hot chocolate for breakfast. The kind who had prayed her through her teenage confusion and helped her find her own spiritual footing, beyond her Catholic boarding school. If it weren’t for Angelina, Katherine might have turned out just like her grandfather, someone resembling the ice sculpture down in the ballroom. Sometimes she wondered why he even raised her. Maybe because her mother had been so busy—
    “Katherine?”
    She held her bathrobe at the neck. “Come in.”
    The bedroom door opened. “Hey there, beautiful.” Bradley poked his head into the room. Concern filled his brown eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”
    She managed a nod. “I’ll be out in a moment. Make yourself at home.”
    “I have a quick meeting to attend. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Bradley gave a slight frown, then glanced at Angelina. “Do your best work, Senora. I have a special evening planned.” He winked at Katherine and closed the door behind him.
    Angelina’s eyes shone, evidence she’d fallen under Bradley’s spell. With his highlighted blond hair that he wore in a slightly mussed style and his lean, gym-toned physique, Bradley exuded a charm that made Katherine forget everything but the silly smile on her face and the way he put his hand on the small of her back.
    A special evening . Funny, she had waited for such a special evening all her life, but now she only felt a crimp in her stomach.
    It had to be nerves. Just because Grandfather Breckenridge had introduced them didn’t mean that successful attorney Bradley Lymon wasn’t the man of her dreams. Katherine should stop trying to figure out why Bradley wanted her in his life, give up trying to make a difference in the world, and let herself relax.
    She sat up straight on the velvet stool and stared into the tall, silver-plated mirror as Angelina put her hair up, letting the wisps curl down over her ears.
    “Your mama would have been so proud,” Angelina said, bringing her face close to Katherine’s.
    Katherine smiled, patting Angelina’s hand. “Gracias.” But sheknew the truth. Angelina saw the girl she’d raised, the Breckenridge princess. However, next to Katherine’s willowy blonde mother, Katherine had been . . . well, more like a buffalo.
    Maybe she resembled her father, Bobby, the man who’d died riding bulls when Katherine was a child. She had a faded color photograph of them together. Katherine was five and wearing red cowboy boots and a grin. Another photo displayed Bobby’s wide smile, the way he lazily hung his hand from his giant gold championship buckle, the gleam in his dark brown eyes.
    Felicia never, not even once, spoke of the man who’d died in her arms. And she’d refused to let Katherine speak of him either. Even her father’s obituary had been sketchy. “Complications from a bull-riding fall” could mean anything in her curious mind.
    And the fact that his death happened months after said fall raised even more questions.
    Someday, Katherine vowed, she’d have answers.
    Katherine put on a pair of teardrop diamond earrings, a recent present from Bradley, then added a matching necklace—last Christmas’s gift, an extravagant gesture two weeks into their courtship. She slipped on the ball gown, and it pinched at the waist as she zipped it up. Thankfully, the tasting spree hadn’t left its ravages.
    “It’s time,” Angelina said as she hung up Katherine’s robe.
    Katherine dug out her most recent migraine prescription, quickly swallowed two capsules, and massaged her temples.
    If people didn’t look too closely, they’d never notice the extra makeup covering the circles under her eyes or the way her smile didn’t quite dazzle. She grabbed her clutch, hoping that she could remember State Representative George Brennan’s newest wife’s name.
    As Katherine let herself out of her