Free The Loner by Genell Dellin

four rowdy boys, drunk or not, were way too many to keep such a secret. There was no hope of escaping some curious visitors before Cathleen was able to ride. He heaved a long sigh.
    Then he set his jaw in rebellion against his own resignation. He was still himself. He was still Black Fox Vann, whose life was the law. One quick kindling of desire for his captive didn’t change that and neither did her sleeping in his bed, no matter what anyone said about it.
    He reached for his boots, grabbed them both in one hand, and stood up.
    â€œBlack Fox?” she said, her voice soft as a mist in the warm air behind him.
    â€œHere,” he said.
    â€œThanks for not tying me.”
    The gratitude in her voice made him feel like a lowlife longrider for ever having done such a thing.
    â€œI…intended to stay awake,” he said, without turning around.
    â€œBut you slept?” she said drowsily.
    â€œI dozed.”
    Which was a big, fat lie. He’d slept so deeply he was rested.
    Eager to get away from her questions, he walked in his sock feet around the foot of the bed and headed for the door into the kitchen. But before he reached it, he glanced at her.
    She lay on her back, looking up into his face with her green eyes as soft as her voice. Her hair blazed against the white pillow.
    â€œDozed so hard you snored,” she drawled, her eyes twinkling and her luscious mouth curving into a faint smile.
    Even with his habitual dignity threatened, he couldn’t help himself. He felt a smile ghosting over his lips, too.
    â€œThat must’ve been the horses snuffling in the pasture that you heard,” he said.
    He’d meant it as a teasing reply, but his voice took on more warmth than he’d intended. A camaraderie.
    She laughed. The low, sweet chuckle reached out and wrapped around him.
    â€œYou can’t blame it on them,” she said. “That was enough noise for a whole herd of horses.”
    She scooted up against the pillow then, wincing from pain. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead.
    â€œDo you still hurt as bad as you did?” he asked.
    â€œNo, but I still feel like I’ve been bucked off andstomped,” she said. “You can quit watching me. Right now I couldn’t jump up and run away if you took after me with a gun.”
    â€œDon’t try to fool me, now,” he said lightly. “I know you’re a tricky one.”
    She smiled weakly, then the smile faded and for a long moment they looked at each other without saying a word. He wanted to go to her and wipe the sweat away from her brow. He wanted to say something else that would make her smile again.
    He wanted to lie back down beside her.
    Cathleen found herself looking up at Black Fox, wondering at the look in his eyes. It made her feel like another person, a girl without a care in the world, a girl who wished he would come closer. It made the other half of the bed feel hollow beside her. It made her wonder what he was thinking about her.
    Because he was thinking about her. That much was clear.
    It might be distrust, with him trying to see into her mind and find out if she planned an escape or not. It might be a trick to get her to say something.
    Yet it didn’t seem to be.
    It might destroy all her defenses if she didn’t watch herself every minute because right now it was making her realize how dismally lonely she was. How alone she had been for many, many months now.
    It was a friendly kind of look.
    She slammed that thought away and tried to pull her thoughts together. She wasn’t some other girl. She was The Cat, an outlaw, and this man was a Lighthorse. He was her enemy. He had captured her and he believed she’d killed a man. He was not going to turn her loose, no matter how he looked at her or how she felt when his eyes searched hers this way.
    She needed to make him go away.
    â€œI told you I’m not able to get out of this bed,” she snapped irritably.