Free White Dove's Promise by Stella Bagwell

never met a woman he couldn’t read. Even her smiles were enigmatic. And the mystery of not knowing exactly what was going on in her head made her even more attractive to Jared.
    â€œHow has Peggy been doing today? Does she still like her new kitten?” he asked.
    The image of Peggy pushing Claws around in her baby buggy put a soft smile on Kerry’s lips. “They’re inseparable. I think Fred is starting to get jealous.”
    Jared chuckled as his gaze slid slowly, seductively over her face. “I don’t blame him. We males don’t like another male horning in on our territory.”
    The possessive gleam in his gray eyes reminded her of a determined wolf, resolute in catching his prey. Slivers of anticipation rippled down her spine and warned her this man was too dangerous to play with.
    Pregnant moments began to pass as they stared at one another. Kerry figured if the room had been dark, anyone could have seen the flashes of fire arcing between their bodies. In all of her life she’d never felt so spellbound.
    â€œAnd just where is your territory?” she finally asked.
    One corner of his mouth lifted in a sensual grin. “I haven’t marked it. Yet.”
    Kerry was struggling to think of something to say to that, when a knock on the door saved her.
    As Jared went to usher the newspaper reporter into the house, she told herself this was the last time she could allow herself to be in Jared Colton’s company. He was simply too masculine, too downright dangerous for a woman who’d already suffered a broken heart.

Chapter Four
    T he reporter was a rail-thin man somewhere in his mid-fifties with graying hair and an affable smile. After he’d introduced himself as Luther and explained to Kerry and Jared just exactly what he wanted, he proceeded to pose the three of them for a photograph.
    Before Kerry knew it, she found herself wedged next to Jared on a small couch while her daughter was artfully positioned on her rescuer’s lap. All the while the reporter snapped his camera, Kerry kept thinking the whole thing was more like an intimate family portrait than a news story photo. Husband and wife cuddled on a loveseat with their small daughter on her daddy’s lap. She could only imagine what her mother and friends were going to think when they saw it in the newspaper.
    To make matters worse, once the picture-taking ended, Kerry had every intention of rising and finding another seat in the room. But before she could makeher escape, Luther pulled a nearby wooden rocker right in front of them for his own seat and began to fire questions. Kerry had no choice but to remain on the couch with her shoulder and thigh jammed against Jared.
    Forty-five long minutes later, Luther finally packed up his camera and notebook and left with the promise that they’d see the article in tomorrow’s edition of the Black Arrow Times. By then Kerry didn’t care if she ever saw the piece. Being so close to Jared had left her as jumpy as a cat. Especially when he’d spent the bigger part of the interview grinning at her.
    â€œWell, that wasn’t so bad,” Jared said cheerfully after he’d shut the door behind the departing Luther. “I’ll bet he’ll only get half the story twisted.”
    â€œTwisted?” Kerry asked in surprise. “Why should he do that? We told him exactly how everything happened.”
    Jared chuckled as he walked back to where Kerry was still sitting on the couch. “Yeah, but it always somehow gets changed when it’s transcribed to paper. Just ask Bram. I doubt there’s been one time since he’s become the county sheriff that he’s been quoted correctly.”
    Kerry quickly rose to her feet. “Well, I don’t suppose it matters all that much. As long as the readers understand that you got Peggy out of that horrible hole without hurting her.”
    All during the interview, Kerry had stressed several