Cameron, Paige - The Billionaire Maverick Bargains for a Wife [Wives for the Western Billionaires 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) by Paige Cameron Page B

screen door, and took brisk strides along the dirt path. He met Drake on his way back to the house.
    “You headed out?”
    “Yes. I’ll need your truck again.”
    “No problem. I have Janice’s. What’s up?”
    He gave Drake a quick update on the situation. “I’m going to Angie’s first, and then the Cut and Curl.” He grinned. “One of them is bound to hit me over the head.”
    “True. Take care and let me know when I can help.”
    Brent nodded, took the keys Drake threw to him, and kept walking.
     
    * * * *
     
    Angie had slept a few hours, but woke restless. After a quick shower, she put on her shorts and a halter top then went to the kitchen. She’d bake, that always seemed to calm her. She berated herself as she mixed the banana bread. Losing her temper had been dumb. Of course, Brent being the inquisitive man he was would have started checking on her. And then their anger had turned to lust, and they’d both forgotten how it all started.
    She smiled remembering how he made her feel when he kissed and touched her. She had no business thinking about marrying him. What she needed was a man who’d see the temporary marriage as a business deal. It was too easy to lose her heart to Brent, and he was not a forever kind of guy.
    The banana bread went into the oven, and she started making a spice cake. Heat from the baking warmed the cool room. The sun had just come up, and shone through the window onto her kitchen table where she beat the batter. The wonderful aroma of the bread and the spices filled the air. Her coffee pot had begun to perk, morning music to her ears. She didn’t hear the truck or sense the man until he spoke.
    “I think I’ve stumbled into paradise. Let me in, please. It smells and looks like heaven.” A wicked smile curved his mouth.
    Angie wiped her hands on her apron and unlocked the screen. “I thought you’d sleep late this morning.”
    He bent and brushed his lips across hers. “Tastes like heaven, too.” He wriggled his eyebrows at her.
    “Down, boy. Sit. Do you want coffee? I’ll be taking the banana bread out in”—she glanced at the clock—“two minutes.”
    “I’ll wait for the coffee and have it with the bread. Man, it smells delicious in here. You look sumptuous.” His eyes roamed up her long legs to her short shorts, and stopped at the tops of her breasts, exposed by the bra top she wore.
    She put her hand over his eyes. “We’re not playing this morning.”
    Brent kissed her palm. “No, we’re not. Still, a man can dream.
    “You’re impossible.” She turned back to her cake. “What brings you here so early?”
    “We need to finish our talk from last night.”
    She glanced at him. “I know. Let me take out the bread and put this cake in. I’ll get our coffee and cut a slice of the banana bread for you. Then, we’ll talk.” Angie poured the cake batter into her greased pan and exchanged it for the hot bread.
    His eyes followed her movements. They felt like a warm caress heating her insides. She forced her mind off the stirring of desire he could kindle in her so quickly. Today, she had to finally tell someone the story she’d kept locked inside for the past twenty-one years.
    She’d handed him his cup and the plate with the bread. Her hand shook as she poured herself a cup.
    “I need to get my mother’s chest.” She hurried into the bedroom where she’d kept the box on her bedside table during the night. When she went back to the kitchen, she sat across from Brent at the small table.
    “Inside this box is where I found my father’s letters, some financial papers, my mother’s and my birth certificates, and a key.”
    “Your mother was Beverly Starling, and you are Diana.”
    “Your men are good. No one has called me Diana in years. I’ve become Angie.”
    “She married Harmon Yannell and had another daughter. Why did she run and only take you?”
    “Yannell would have never stopping looking for us. He’d have killed her and me. He loved