Free Heart of Thunder by Johanna Lindsey

just as the others were getting ready to board. Adrien eyed them coldly. Ah, it had worked so well. He was jealous. But now she couldn’t continue the game. She couldn’t hurt Hank.
    Samantha left Hank’s side without a word and joined Adrien and Jeannette. She would have to appear cold and indifferent to Hank. It was the only way. Yet she felt so damned terrible about it.
    All that day, Samantha sat in the corner opposite Hank, rather than directly across from him, as she had been doing. And she didn’t speak to him or look his way even once. Adrien seemed in a better mood and even talked to her occasionally. He talked mostly with Hank, however.
    That night they stopped at a stage rest, and Samantha continued to ignore Hank. At dinner, she sat as close to Adrien as she could and forced him to talk to her. She did not leave his side until it was time for bed.
    She didn’t sleep that night. She was miserable. She had caught Hank watching her with a curious, almost pleading look. She cursed herself a hundred times for using Hank, as she lay awake all night. He didn’t deserve that. She was so sorry. But the damage had been done.
    The next morning she was so tired that she could hardly walk to the coach. She slept all day, jolted awake every so often, only to fall right back to sleep. That night, when they stopped at another town, she was wide awake. She would not go to a hotel. She would stayclose to Adrien. Hank waited to see if she would leave with him, and when she didn’t, he caught her arm and pulled her away from the others, forcing her to talk to him.
    “Why do you ignore me, Sammy?”
    “Ignore you? Whatever do you mean?”
    His eyes narrowed. “You stay close to your friend Adrien as if you were frightened of me.”
    “Adrien is more than just a friend,” she said pointedly, then walked away, tears stinging her eyes. She couldn’t have been more blunt. Now he would have to understand.
    A dark frown furrowed Hank’s brow as he watched her walk away. He wanted to grab her and shake her. What was she doing? Why did she suddenly ignore him and give her full attention to Adrien?
    And then the answer came to him, and he almost laughed aloud. The little fool! She was trying to make him jealous! Didn’t she know how unnecessary that was? He was already completely taken with her. She did not need to make him jealous.
    But he would let her play her game, he decided. For her he would have patience. For her he would do anything.
    The realization startled Hank. It was true. How could he have become enamored of this woman so soon? She had made him forget about Pat, forget about reaching Mexico. Everything flew from his mind except Samantha.
    It confused him. The closest he had ever come to loving a woman was Angela. And that was not so long ago, not so long that he couldn’t remember all too clearly the bitterness of losing her to another man. But all of that seemed unimportant now. Samantha was making him forget even that.
    He didn’t love her yet. He didn’t think it was love, not this soon. But he could love her. He could very wellgive his heart to her completely, if she would give hers to him in return.
    But he was certain of one thing already. He was aching with wanting her. There was no confusion there. He had only to look at her to feel his blood race. But she was a lady, so he had to move slowly. And it seemed, too, that she wanted to play her feminine games.
    Thinking about those games, Hank shook his head over the absurdity of it. Didn’t Samantha realize what kind of man Adrien Allston was? He could not be jealous over Adrien. He was an hombres puta . Hank could not understand such a man. Already Adrien had made two advances to Hank, the second of which Hank had ended by pulling his gun, making his disgust understood.
    Samantha was as safe with Adrien as she could be with any man, but obviously she didn’t think Hank knew that. He would let her get away with it this one time, wait until she tired of