The Bride Wore Blue Read Online Free

and as sure as tomorrow.
    “My mistake,” he conceded anyway, giving her the room she seemed to need, catering to the panic he’d seen flashing in her eyes.
    And it had been panic. Though diminished, or at least glossed over with irritation, it was still there, puzzling and heartbreaking and deflating the hell out of his ego.
    He never lost sight of the fact that he was a big man. Because of it, he’d never given a woman reason to be afraid of him due to his size and strength. Instinctively, he knew that wasn’t what was making her so skittish now. It was something else, something that had nothing to do with him.
    “I always did make my share of mistakes around you.” He forced a smile when what he wanted to do was pin down the real cause of her fear.
    Hershey trotted out of the woods and onto the dock before he had the chance to ask her about it. J.D. watched in silence as Maggie took the opportunity to close off any possibility of a twenty-questions session. She went down on one knee and gave the lab the attention his slowly wagging tail and soulful brown eyes begged for.
    Rubbing his jaw thoughtfully, J.D. simply observed as Maggie lavished soft words and generous affection on the adoring dog. The picture she made was one of complete control. And yet her hands were shaking. He worked his lower lip between a finger and thumb and made a decision to back off. For the time being, anyway. The lady clearly needed some time to pull herself together.
    He didn’t know what it was that had put the fear in her eyes but he was solid in the belief that it wasn’t him. In the moment when their mouths and bodies had come together, fear had been the last thing on her mind. She’d reacted to him. Sure and swift and with a stunning combination of desire and need—a need so strong he’d felt an outrageous need of his own to protect her.
    Protect, possess. Provide for.
    Whoa. Back up the boat, Hazzard. Hormones, memories and long-ago summertime lust did not equate to the “P” words, which in turn equated to commitment—notafter a fifteen-year absence. Hell, they’d both been kids then.
    He let his gaze drift along her sun-bright hair and tanned skin and drew a deep, controlling breath. They definitely weren’t kids anymore. While physically the changes in her appearance had been subtle—a lush and benevolent maturing of a youthful face and body—in other ways he could see much more pronounced differences. As he watched in intrigued silence as she buried her face in the lab’s silky coat, he was suddenly very sorry he hadn’t been around when those events had been molding her into the woman she was today. The Maggie he’d known had been tough and tart. She’d had a mouth made for kissing and put-downs and a mind set on independence.
    In this life or the next, he’d never figured she would have turned into a woman who would let a little good-natured flirting upset her. If pressed, she might try to deny it with indifference, but he knew otherwise. She had been upset.
    Okay. So he’d gone a little further than flirting. But she’d gone a lot further than being upset. She’d been scared to death. Yet, it had only been a kiss.
    Wrong, Hazzard, he conceded. If it had only been a kiss, his heart wouldn’t have skipped like the Cessna’s engine on a nosedive. It wouldn’t be going all mushy right now as he watched her try to get hold of herself.
    Aw, Stretch. What the hell happened to you?
    And what the hell had happened to him to make it so important that he find out?
    Had to be the legs, Hazzard, he told himself on a lengthy, self-deprecating sigh. He’d always been a sucker for her legs. And her smile. And her tough-guy temperament that had had him stepping and fetching and panting like a marathon runner at the finish line.
    Only he’d never crossed that line with her. Not back then. He’d never even come close.
    He made an immediate and reckless decision then. Now that she was back on the scene—whatever the