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Dangerous Secrets (Montana Men #6)(7)

By:Elizabeth Lennox


He knew that it would take a lot to spook her. "Talk to me, honey. What happened?"

She shook her head, taking a deep breath and trying to pull herself together. Mike admired her strength, which was one of the reasons he was so attracted to her, but at the moment, he was irritated by her stubbornness. He could help her if she would just tell him what was going on. Why was she being so obstinate? "Halley, if something happened, you can talk to me."

She shook her head again. "Nothing happened. I just came by to say hi to my dad. I … "

He knew that was a lie. Everything about her body language screamed lying. She lowered her head, unable to look him in the eye and she kept trying to pull her hands away, although he wasn't allowing it. Not this time. Not when something was genuinely wrong.

Turning around, he called to the others. "I'm going to drive Halley home. I'll catch everyone next time."

The men all looked over at Mike for a long moment, understood the subtle messages and nodded their heads.

Mike appreciated their understanding as well as their acceptance. He wouldn't want to battle all of these men but he would if he had to. Halley was worth it.

"Come on. You're not telling me something, so I'm going to find out what's going on." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and started guiding her towards the front door again, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Halley resisted for about one second, but she knew she wouldn't sleep well at her own place. Still, she pulled back, not wanting Mike to know how genuinely scared she was at the moment. "I was going to head over to Fleur's house and help her with the baby."

Mike shook his head. "If that had been your intention, you wouldn't be heading over there at ten o'clock at night. You would have been there around five o'clock when Emma starts her witching hour," he commented, referring to the part of the evening when every small baby seems to have trouble getting settled. Fleur and Hunter normally took turns walking around the house with their infant daughter, trying to soothe her rattled temper while the other made dinner or just took a break.

Halley muttered a curse under her breath, which caused Mike to chuckle. He whistled for the dogs, both of whom came sprinting across the floor, eager for more affection. Mike reached down and patted both of them, giving them both a hefty dose of rubbing on their rough fur before standing up and nudging Halley out the door. "Come on. Let's go find out what has you spooked."

Halley rolled her eyes, feeling foolish now that Mike was trying to help her out. Was she really freaked out because someone had cleaned her house and left her flowers? "I'm fine!" she told him yet again, trying to sound convincing this time. "Really, nothing is wrong."

Obviously Mike didn't believe her for a second. "Except that you showed up at your parent's house on poker night with both your dogs in tow and your face devoid of color." He opened her car door and waited for her to get in. "I know you, Halley. You don't spook easily."

She crossed her arms over chest. "I'm not going back to my place with you Mike."

He moved in closer. "Fine, you can come to my house. I'll make sure you're tucked into bed nice and early."

She laughed, but then he was pressing his body against hers. No more laughing, she thought. "Mike," she started to say, but he pressed closer. "Mike, this isn't going to work."



       
         
       
        

His hands slid up her waist, moving under her sweatshirt. "Seems to be working just fine at the moment," he said.

Halley shook her head. "You're being obtuse, Mike. I meant it … "

She couldn't breathe when his hands cupped her breasts. She was so shocked by the intimacy and heat, she jumped back, knocking her head on the side of her SUV. "Why did you do that?" she whispered.

Mike laughed softly. "Because I want to feel you, Halley. I'm going to make love to you." He kissed her gently. "But not tonight. Tonight, you're spooked and you're going to tell me what's wrong."

She shook her head and pressed a hand to his shoulder, not daring to touch his chest again. No way! Not after this morning. She couldn't touch him again. Not that way! She'd learned the hard way that touching that massive, muscular, magnificent chest of his was a dangerous game.

"Mike, please. It's been a long day and I'm tired, my feet are aching," she explained, although she didn't tell him why. "All I want to do is to go home, take a shower, and fall asleep."

Mike looked down into her eyes. Yeah, she looked exhausted. He wanted to ask her what she'd been doing all afternoon because he knew for a fact she hadn't been out here with her horses. They were fine, but she'd fed them before coming to the funeral earlier in the day and her stable hands had fed them in the evening. He knew that, normally, Halley didn't allow anyone to feed her "babies".