The Bride Tamer Read Online Free Page B

lusty apes.
    Annoyed and more than a little mortified by their attentions, Vivian waved at Isabela and ran toward the house.
    Racing lightly up the stairs with the ironing, Vivian found the door of Isabela’s room standing open. Isabela was inside, looking gorgeous as usual. Her black hair was done in a sleek chignon and her dark eyes and face were aglow. The slim fit and bright color of her red slacks and matching silk blouse flattered her.
    Two suitcases stood open on the bed and on the sumptuous, modern, stuffed chairs. Isabela snapped the locks of one of them and moved a suitcase to the floor so Vivian could set the laundry on the bed.
    â€œI finally found those pictures I took of him in Mexico City,” Isabela said as she rummaged through a second suitcase. “You’ve got to see them.”
    Ever since Isabela had come back from taking care of her father in Mexico City after he’d had a heart attack, she’d talked of nothing but Cash McRay.
    â€œYour rich, famous architect from the United States?”
    â€œWho else?”
    Cash was the reason she was going to Houston to shop before he came for a visit. Apparently, seven walk-in closets full of couturier clothes weren’t enough to assure success with this romance.
    â€œWhen do you have to be at the airport?”
    â€œThere are the pictures of him, ” Isabela said, handing Vivian a thick envelope as she fished in her purse for her plane tickets.
    Isabela had been so flattering about him, Vivian didn’t believe any man could be so wonderful. Even after all her pain with Julio, she could still remember how wonderful being in love had felt, and how blind a woman could be when under love’s spell.
    Faking a bored yawn, Vivian flipped through the pictures that were of the most arrestingly handsome man she’d ever seen—including Julio.
    Cash McRay was tanned and big-framed and lean. His eyes were a deep, dark green, and something about them made her feel sad and a little lost…and way too vulnerable.
    Her mouth went dry at the first photograph of him laughing with Isabel. The second was of him shirtless. At the sight of so much brown, sculpted muscle, Vivian’s tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. “Y-you look…er…great together.”
    She raced through the rest of the snapshots and placed them quickly on Isabela’s bed.
    Okay, so McRay was tall. So his body was rugged and rough-hewn. So his dark, brooding face was too like Julio’s. Dios! So what?
    So—she was breathless. So, she couldn’t resist a second glance at the shots of him.
    She picked the pictures up again. McRay’s slashed cheekbones and that wide sensual mouth were so exquisite, Vivian’s heart picked up its pace.
    McRay looked as dark and strong as the stone faces carved on the Mayan ruins. He had an aquiline nose, a high forehead and thick, black brows. His hair was really extraordinary—thick and wavy and as lush and black as glossy sable where the ends grazed his collar.
    â€œHe has this thing about his hair,” Isabela said. “He’s veryparticular about who cuts it or touches it. He loves to have his head rubbed, too.”
    Vivian’s flesh tingled at the thought of running her hands through Isabela’s modern-day Samson’s pride and joy.
    â€œAren’t his eyes gorgeous?” Isabela whispered adoringly.
    Every time Vivian glanced at McRay’s dark green eyes, she felt a little breathless.
    Carefully, she laid the pictures on Isabela’s bed again. “A man like that would never be faithful.”
    â€œHe was faithful to his first wife.”
    â€œSee—he’s divorced. And…and nobody’s as good as he looks.”
    â€œJulio hurt you so much. Not everybody’s Julio, you know,” Isabela said softly, her eyes filled with sympathy.
    â€œIf McRay was so good to his first wife, why isn’t he with her now?”
    â€œWhat’s