Page 57 of Tristan’s Temptation

“Shannon. Honey. Please don’t cry.”

“I’m not crying!” Why she yelled, she had no clue. Her emotions were all in a welter.

He reached out to dab at the stream but she dashed his hand away. “Shannon…”

“I’m just tired of it, Tristan. Tired of being a part of your life you cannot bear to share with your friends. Your brother. Your mother!”

He blinked. “You want to meet my mother?”

“No! Yes! Tristan, that’s not the point.”

“What is the point? Is there a point?”

He was glaring at her now, which was just ducky, because she was glaring right back. “Oh, there’s a point all right. It’s just on the top of your head.”

“What? What does that mean? Is it some kind of British insult?”

“Ooh. You make me so angry sometimes!”

He took a step back. “I’ve never seen you angry.” He leaned in and whispered, “It’s kinda hot.”

She smacked him. Not hard, just a fist to his rock-hard shoulder, but she smacked him. She couldn’t help it. Besides, he deserved it. “If you are too bloody ashamed of me to introduce me to your friends—”

“Levin’s not my friend. He’s Adam’s. Don’t you see? That’s why—”

“I don’t even know Levin. I’ve never met the man. He wouldn’t know me from Adam.”

Tristan smiled. “He’d know you from Adam.”

It was a joke. A bad one. “Stop it! Just stop it!”

“Come on, Shannon. Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

Wrong thing to say. Heat crawled up her cheeks. “Oh shut up.”

“Shannon…”

“No. I mean it. Shut up and listen. It’s over.”

He paled. “No. Don’t say that.”

“It is. O-ver.”

“Shannon, baby…”

She froze. Everything inside her froze, her muscles, her blood, her breath. “Don’t you ever call me baby.”

“What? Why?”

“Never. Do you hear me?”

“Shannon, honey, calm down. Let’s talk about this.”

“No. I’m done talking. I’m done hiding. I’m done,” she waved her hand at the Mexican hat stand, “skulking in the shadows.”

“We weren’t skulking.”

“Oh. We were. We were skulking. We’ve been skulking all along. And I am done with it. Finished.” She began to flounce away but stopped and spun around to face him once more. “And when we get back home, I’m leaving Trillo–Maris.”