Free In Your Arms by Rebecca Goings

cheek, Melissa walked past him lost in deep thought, pulling the edges of her shawl about her shoulders. She shivered again, but it had nothing to do with the slight chill in the evening air.

Ten

    With every step down the boardwalk of the Gulch, Melissa’s thoughts returned to the sexy gunslinger who’d held her in his arms a little while before. He’d told her again and again that he wasn’t the marrying kind. But was she?
    In all her years, only two men had ever given her the time of day--Dr. Newcomb and now Marcus. Did that mean she wasn’t the marrying kind? Just the thought made her quiver with uncertainty. If she had to choose between the two men, she’d choose Marcus in a heartbeat, but he didn’t want a wife. Did she have to marry him? Was marriage really the answer for her? Did she really want to save herself for marriage when there were no other viable options on the horizon?
    Turning back up the road, she headed for Maude’s Inn instead of her father’s store. Her body still ached from Marcus’s consuming kisses, and she yearned for his mouth on her skin again. With each step she questioned her decision, but she already knew the answer. She wanted Marcus and wanted him badly. So badly, in fact, that she was willing to make a fool of herself by asking him--no, begging him--to make love to her. Tonight.
    Blushing to her roots, Melissa asked the plump woman behind the service counter at the inn which room he was in.
    “He’s in room seven, dearie. Upstairs.” The woman gave her an exaggerated wink and turned away with a cackle, making Melissa flee as fast as she could up the steps near the back of the lobby.
    As soon as she was in the long hallway, she looked at the numbered doors. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath as she finally stood before his door. Her palms were sweating, and her skin crawled with anticipation. Could she do this?
    Taking another deep breath, she poised her hand up to knock, but before she could, the door flew open and she was caught by the wrist in an iron grasp then pulled into the room and thrust against the back of the door that slammed shut behind her. The cold barrel of a gun pressed into the tender flesh under her jaw, and she heard the hammer click.
    Her frightened cry reverberated through the room, then Marcus cursed foully as he uncocked the gun, tossing it onto a nearby table.
    “What are you doing, woman? Trying to get yourself killed?” He hadn’t let her go from her position against the door.
    It was dark in his room except for one candle that burned on a small shelf near the bed. She gasped at her first sight of him when she realized he was wearing nothing but his jeans. His bare chest was only inches away from her, and she could feel his warmth. Light brown hair sprinkled across the skin of his chest and disappeared in a line down his belly. His muscles bulged under his bronzed skin as he held her against the door.
    He was beautiful.
    “Marcus…”
    “You better have a damn good reason for coming here, Lissa,” he snarled.
    “I… um, I…” She lost her nerve looking into those amazing eyes. “I shouldn’t be in your room.”
    “No you shouldn’t, but now you’re here, and you’re going to tell me why.”
    He leaned in closer, and she could see water droplets in his hair. Had he been washing up? The clean scent of him assaulted her senses, making her groan as she closed her eyes.
    “Lissa?” There was a warning note in his voice, and his eyes looked as hard as granite.
    Melissa’s breaths came in shallow gasps as she trembled violently. “I came because… because…” She couldn’t think with him standing so close, and she decided to just blurt it out. “I came to ask you to make love to me!”
    A long, uncomfortable silence stretched out between them.
    “I… you see,” she stammered, “you’ve said you’re not the marrying kind, and I’ve only just realized that… that I’m not either. So I figured, who exactly am I saving