Free The Wedding Ransom by Geralyn Dawson

here?”
    “You were about as quiet as a running buffalo. Bet it comes in handy that all your grandfathers are hard of hearing.” Malone clicked his tongue and added, “Hold still, Maggie. You’re gonna get yourself tangled even worse.”
    His shadow blocked the sun as he moved close. The scent of sandalwood soap made her want to lean forward.
    When he touched her, she froze. His fingers worked gently, slowly freeing her hair strand by strand. As the seconds dragged by, Maggie felt a fluttering in the pit of her stomach. To her dismay, she realized it wasn’t fear or apprehension causing the reaction, but rather something just as elemental.
    Rafe spoke in a low, husky drawl. “This calls to mind a story a friend of mine tells about helping untangle a lady from a bramble patch a few years back. The incident caused him no end of trouble. I gotta say being with you like this makes me appreciate the tale in a whole new light.”
    He massaged her scalp where a tangle had pulled, and Maggie’s eyelids grew heavy. She wanted to purr. She cleared her throat instead. “What happened?”
    Malone chuckled. “To Katie and Branch? Shoot, a person could write a book about those two. I guess the shortest way to tell the story is that he married her.”
    Maggie opened her eyes and immediately snapped them shut. Rafe Malone’s bare chest was mere inches away.
    He continued. “You remind me a bit of Katie Kincaid, actually. You’re both strong, outspoken women. You both have a temper.” He paused a moment, the pitch of his voice deepening as he added, “And you, Maggie St. John, are heartstoppingly beautiful all dressed up in briars.”
    His compliment stole into her heart and warmed her like the Caribbean sun. Strong. What a wonderful word.
    He freed the last tangled strand from the thorns and smoothed it back away from her face. His fingers lingered in her hair. “Spun silk. Gold with a hint of red, just like a west Texas sunset. You be more careful with it, Miss Maggie. It’s too pretty to leave behind on brambles.”
    Placing his hand beneath her elbow, he helped her move out and away from the bushes, but he didn’t release her. Awareness stretched between them, and Maggie fought to remember all the reasons why she didn’t trust this man. He was a rascal. A seducer. A thief.
    My word is my most valuable possession.
    “You lied.”
    “No, ma’am.” His voice wrapped around her like a velvet ribbon. “West Texas sunsets are oftentimes gold as your pirates’ doubloons with a hint of red for excitement. And if your hair isn’t silky, then I’m not the most talented thief in Texas.”
    And Rafe Malone was the most talented thief in Texas. She wondered if his talents extended to stealing women’s hearts.
    The thought was enough to break the hold he had on her. She scooted past him and stepped back to the boulder. “I wasn’t talking about me. I heard what you said about your father to Papa Gus, yet when you spoke to me this morning you claimed to me to be an orphan.”
    He shrugged. “Now there’s a lesson for you, Miss Maggie. Eavesdropping has its place. The problem is sometimes you hear things you’d rather not have heard. Gotta be prepared to take the bad along with the good.”
    He was right and Maggie knew it, and that riled her anger. “Put your shirt on, Malone,” she groused. “I’ve seen more of you naked than I have clothed.”
    “A few minutes earlier and you’d have seen even more of me naked,” he fired back with a wicked grin. “Your Gus had me diving for the bottom of Lake Bliss searching for something one of the others lost a while back.”
    Maggie nodded, grateful to have something to think about other than Malone’s bare chest. “Papa Lucky’s lucky dagger. He was using it to cut line last year and dropped it into the lake.” While she spoke, Rafe grabbed his shirt off a nearby bush and slipped it on. Maggie doggedly crushed a quiver of disappointment that he’d honored her request