That Touch of Pink Read Online Free Page A

petite and feminine and beautiful. Her skin looked soft and her shiny brown hair even softer. It was like a curtain of silk teasing her shoulders. And Nora was right. Abby looked an awful lot like the pregnant woman he’d married to give her baby a name. The same woman who walked out two years later when the biological father finally showed up to claim his rights. Better late than never had made him feel like hell.
    â€œHer daughter needs some kind of scouting badges,” he explained.
    â€œAnd you jumped to the conclusion that she was cut from Barb Kelly cloth and dumping the kid on you.”
    â€œYeah.” Just like old times, he thought. “I’m glad you understand.” It’s what he loved about Nora.
    â€œBut I don’t understand. Didn’t you clarify the situation?”
    He sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk. “She claimed she’d never turn the kid over to a complete stranger and said she’d be going on the `outing’ too.” He huffed out a breath. “Outing. As if it’s a society picnic with hoity-toity baskets and buckets of champagne.”
    â€œIt couldn’t be possible that you thought she was phat.”
    â€œYou’ve got eyes. Did you think she was overweight?”
    He thought she had the curviest little body he’d seenin a long time, although it was hard to tell in that full-skirted thing she’d been wearing. But her arms were toned and the silky shirt she wore under it molded to her breasts in a way that tempted a man and made him hot all over.
    â€œI didn’t say F-A-T. I said P-H-A-T—pretty hot and tempting.”
    â€œNo,” he lied. “I didn’t think that.”
    â€œOkay. Then I have to conclude you’re scared.”
    He stood, to crank up the intimidation factor, and glared down at her. “This is me we’re talking about. When I was in the army, I parachuted into hostile territory with nothing but a knife, a sidearm and a radio. I’m not afraid of anything.”
    â€œAnd this is me,” Nora said, unfazed by the intimidation ploy. “I was there to pick up the pieces when Barb Kelly walked out with the child you fell in love with—”
    â€œDon’t go there,” he warned.
    â€œWhy not? You just did.”
    â€œNo, not where you think. I just faced reality a long time ago. I’m a place-holder.”
    â€œNot that again.” She sighed. “Poor you. You were adopted, and Mom and Dad love me best because I have their DNA. Trust me, it’s not that special.”
    â€œYou’re wrong. You’re pretty special.”
    â€œSo are you. For the record—and this is the last time I’m inflating your fragile male ego—the folks love you. Dad’s shirt buttons are in serious jeopardy of popping every time he boasts to his buddies about his son the Army Ranger.”
    â€œEnough,” he said. “I’m not a kid any more.”
    â€œYou’re acting like one.”
    â€œAm not.” He grinned as she sighed. “Do me a favor and just bury it.”
    â€œYou can duck into your foxhole if you want,” she said. “But I think you noticed the resemblance to Barb, too, and it scared the stuffing out of you.”
    â€œYou’d be wrong.”
    â€œThen why did you refuse to keep your word and do the survival weekend?”
    â€œI’m busy. Just got the new contract.”
    â€œYou didn’t have it in the bag when she was here. Definitely scared.”
    â€œBusy.”
    â€œScared.”
    â€œBusy.” Now it was his turn to sigh.
    Squabbling just like when they were kids. And their parents had always seemed to take her side. Because she was their biological child and he’d been adopted when they’d thought conceiving their own baby was impossible. But there was something about Nora. He simply couldn’t hold it against her that she was a product of the folks’ love