Harlequin Romance March 2021 Box Set Cara Colter (the mitten read aloud TXT) 📖

applied for the same job on the Australian version of Mystery Family Trees that I’m applying for here in the States.’

He froze, presentiment trailing an icy finger down his spine.

‘When he didn’t get the job, I tried to cheer him up by telling him he was an amazing researcher and a wonderful lecturer and that he already had a dream job.’ Her lips twisted. ‘I didn’t realise how much he festered over that. Unbeknownst to me he took it as a sop to his ego, a meaningless banality that proved I didn’t understand him. So he took my dream job away from me so I’d know exactly how it felt.’

Nausea rolled through him. ‘What a despicable thing to have done. But—’

‘When he finds out I’ve landed the job he coveted…’

Her eyes narrowed in what he assumed was imagined satisfaction, but a moment later she shook herself.

‘My application needs to be in by the end of the week. I don’t care if you approve or not, Owen, I’m putting what I found out today in my documentary.’

He ignored that. If she wanted to include Richard’s shocking revelation that was her business, but… ‘The TV job…’ acid burned his stomach ‘…it isn’t your dream job?’

She frowned. ‘I never said it was. I just said I wanted it badly.’

He tried to get his head around what she was telling him. ‘I thought…’

Revenge. His stomach dropped. This was all about revenge. She’d told him so in the lawyer’s office the first day they’d met. He’d been a fool to forget it.

‘So all this effort has been directed at getting back at a man who isn’t worth the time of day rather than actually scoring your perfect job?’

She glared at him. ‘It’s about getting my power back.’

‘This isn’t about your power! If it was about power you’d be putting your best efforts into finding your real dream job—there’s more than one university out there.’ He felt himself go icy cold. ‘This is about getting even. Which means you’re hurting yourself more than you’ll ever be hurting Dominic.’

Her nostrils flared. ‘What do you know about anything? You’ve known me for a month. That doesn’t make you an expert on what I want or need.’

‘I know you love spending time with young people and helping them find their way forward, like you have with Lissy and the girls you’ve been tutoring. I know you like taking Barney for walks in the park because he always picks someone to demand pats from and that gives you an excuse to sit down and chat with a perfect stranger. You like connecting with people, Callie. Sure, you enjoy research. But for heaven’s sake, you became best buds with four of the librarians you met at the public library. History is a living, breathing thing for you—not something dry and dusty and impersonal.’

Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. She folded her arms and thrust out her chin, but the martial expression had started to drain from her eyes.

A hard ball lodged beneath his breastbone. ‘And if you think you’re going to get a chance to indulge your personal touch in this TV job then you’re in for a rude awakening. You’ll be working months ahead of schedule in heaven only knows what part of the country—probably racing here and there to find out the necessary answers. And as far as the producers are concerned, the juicier those answers are the better. You’ll probably never even get to meet the people whose family trees you’re tracing. You certainly won’t be the one softening the blow of shocking or confrontational news.’

She stared at him, visibly at a loss for words.

His chest cramped, making his breath come hard and sharp. ‘Are you still in love with him?’

‘With who?’ Her eyes widened. ‘Dominic? No! Why would you even ask such a thing?’

‘Because all this effort you’re going to—it’s as if you’re seeking his attention.’

Her lips thinned. ‘You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried.’

‘So it’s about pride? He hurt your pride and now you want to get even and hurt his.’ Couldn’t she see how personally destructive that was?

Her eyes went cold and remote. ‘You’re starting to sound like just another man who’s happy to tell a woman how wrong she is, how she’s got her head into a silly little muddle, but never mind he’ll fix it all for her—a man who’s happy to steal a woman’s power!’

He rocked back on his heels, the injustice of her words burning through him. ‘If that’s what you think, then we have nothing else to discuss.’

She paled, and he immediately regretted the words.

‘I didn’t mean that. Callie, I…’

She pulled in a breath that made her whole body shudder. ‘I know you’re not like that.’ Some of the steel went out of her. ‘Not really.’

What the hell did she mean, not really?

‘I think you’re angry because I refuse to see Frances through the same rose-coloured glasses you do,’ she said.

He had to clamp his teeth against an angry retort. He didn’t see Frances through rose-coloured glasses. He’d known her. And, despite what Callie thought, Frances had been a wonderful woman.

‘You’re judging Frances based on one mistake. You’re not judging the whole woman. You’re shutting your mind off to everything else she stood for.’

She gave a harsh laugh. ‘You feel it’s your duty to see her wishes through, but I’m not the least bit interested in accepting her blood money.’

His jaw started to ache.

‘When it comes right down to it, Owen, who would you choose—Frances or me?’

The world felt as if it was suddenly spinning out of control, and he had no hope of preventing the collision that was about to happen. ‘Do I have to make a choice? Because I will never be able to hate Frances.’ His chest ached. ‘So if that’s what you’re asking of me…’

‘It’s not.’ She stared at him with troubled eyes. ‘Yet I won’t be able to do anything other than loathe her.’

The ache in his chest radiated outwards.

She