Free Cupid, Texas [1] Love at First Sight by Lori Wilde

he could do not to rush ahead, scoop her into his arms, and carry her into the house. Don’t, Vega. Don’t go there. Not even in your mind.
    Still, he couldn’t deny that her vulnerability cut through him as sharp as a bayonet. She possessed a gentle beauty, round and soft and kind. A certain tranquillity that said she led an unblemished life in this safe little town surrounded by extended family.
    But the limp belied all that.
    The limp—and the labored way she toiled up the hill—told him she’d suffered. Continued to suffer. Under those circumstances, how had she managed to hold on to her simple elegance?
    In that moment, he felt something totally unexpected.
    Jealousy.
    He was jealous of the way she’d navigated the pain, and while her body had not come out of it unscathed, she’d kept her soul pure. If he’d thought himself unworthy of her before, in the face of her injury, he knew for certain he wasn’t good enough to wipe the mud from her resilient feet.

Chapter 5
    Love at first sight requires a total leap of faith.
    —MILLIE GREENWOOD
    N atalie couldn’t have felt more exposed if she’d been stripped buck-naked. Dade stared at her brazenly, lustily, audaciously, as if she was naked. His stare set her on fire. No man had ever looked at her in quite the same way.
    Her scalp tingled from where Dade’s fingers had skimmed through her hair, and her heart was thumping as loud as an orchestra, a rapidly rising crescendo of saxophones, trumpets, bassoons, and trombones. If he were music, he’d be big band swing—bold, lively, and fast-paced. Looking into his eyes, she had an overwhelming urge to sing, to hop, to dance.
    Dance.
    He made her want to dance.
    She hadn’t danced since ballet class, the year before the plane crash, and she would never dance again. Not with her handicap. She would never foxtrot, jitterbug, or do the Lindy hop, and she felt the loss deep within her bones for something she could not have.
    It was crazy, this mixed-up jumble of need, longing, fear, hope, and euphoria.
    “May I see the room?” His eyes glittered darkly and he looked dead sexy in the morning light. This man had done his share of living.
    She wanted to say no. She should have said no, but two things kept her from it. One, she needed the thousand dollars he promised, and two; she couldn’t seem to make her mouth form the word. She nodded. “This way.”
    Her dress was plastered snugly to her body. She turned and, without waiting for him to follow, headed toward the fence separating her yard from the park, moving with precise steps to minimize her limp, fully aware that his intense eyes were gobbling up the sight of her.
    She felt him behind her, big and strong. Her pulse skipped through her veins, light and heavy at the same time. She put her tongue to the tip of her upper lip. This is it. Love at first sight. He’s The One.
    Calm down, calm down.
    He went ahead of her to open the gate. A gentlemanly gesture. Courtly, but at the same time threatening because it was something she could grow very accustomed to. A man looking out for her. This man looking out for her.
    She was headed off the deep end.
    Truth was, she’d never felt anything like this and he scared the living daylights out of her. Her true love.
    Could the legend be true? Did she dare hope it was true? Could she trust it? On the surface, having faith in him was so stupid, but it was too late. No putting that genie back into the bottle. She felt it in every part of her. Magic. Dreams. What if she gave herself over to the fantasy and it turned to dust in her hands? Oh God, what was happening to her?
    She stuck her hands in her pockets as she stepped past him with her head down, avoiding his gaze. Her fingers closed over Shot Through the Heart’s soggy letter. Dammit. She’d forgotten the letter was in her pocket.
    Dade closed the gate behind them, touched her shoulder. His big hand was unexpectedly warm and comforting. She almost jumped out of her