Free Reckless Promise by Jenny Andersen Page B

swear his gaze burned her
backside. Self consciousness turned her walk stiff as she tried to
keep her hips from swaying.
    Maybe she had an over-active imagination.
Maybe he'd just set the traps and leave. Maybe—oh, God, what if he
pretended all that heat? What if he only wanted to keep her away
from Tom? The thought hurt more than it should, and she
concentrated on not letting it show.
    She climbed the three steps to her porch and
fumbled her key into the lock, trying to ignore Mac's closeness.
She stepped through the door with him right on her heels. When she
turned to close the door, she glanced at him, surprising an
expression of grim determination on his face. Surely one little,
imaginary mouse didn't warrant that. She took a closer look and saw
desire. Need. O-o-kay.
    She'd seen that before. He might be
protecting his sister's marriage, but he really did want her. He
was a hunter, and tonight the mythical mouse wasn't the only
quarry.
    The room seemed to shrink to half its size
when he followed her inside and closed the door. She crossed to the
kitchen and flipped on the light. "The mouse came out from under
the sink," she said, making it up as she went along. "When I opened
the cabinet, it ran over my foot into the bedroom." Wrong. She
shouldn't be saying bedroom.
    He crouched in front of the sink, opened the
cabinet, and reached for a trap.
    She shivered. It looked like a mouse version
of Madame Tussaud's torture chamber. On the bright side, there
wasn't really a mouse. At least she didn't have to worry about
hearing tiny death screams in the night.
    "He's probably long gone by now," Mac said.
He smeared peanut butter on the trap and shoved it into the rear
corner of the cabinet. "Watch your fingers if you reach under
there." He backed out from under the sink and stood to wash his
hands. Poppy handed him a towel. He took it and dried his hands,
his enigmatic gray gaze never leaving her face.
    She went breathless with anticipation. Her
temper sparked in a pathetic attempt to defuse the feeling. "You
didn't need me for that."
    "Sure I did." He edged closer.
    The expression in his eyes made her toes curl
inside her new moccasins. She swallowed hard.
    "Why don't we quit playing games?" he said.
The melted chocolate murmur poured over her and any words she might
have said died on her tongue. "You want this too, don't you?"
    She did. She didn't want to, but she did.
    If he'd grabbed at her, she might have run,
but he dropped the second trap and reached for her so slowly that
his hand seemed to float toward her shoulder. The slow approach
held her mesmerized, and when his fingers slid warm and gentle
across the thin cotton knit of her shirt to touch the bare skin of
her neck, her knees went rubbery.
    With one finger, he traced the neckline of
her shirt, dipping under the lacy edging. In her wildest dreams,
she couldn't have imagined the intimacy of that simple touch. Her
breasts throbbed and swelled, aching for his hand to go lower.
    His other hand came up to grip her shoulder.
His hands shook. Startled, she looked up into his eyes and saw the
raw need, the barely leashed violence. She should be afraid.
Instead, a matching flame began to burn deep inside her, spreading
until the world held only him.
    "Yes," she said over the roaring in her
ears.
    His answering smile, wicked as sin, set her
flesh pulsing. "I saw you today."
    "Saw—?" Oh, no. "Where—?"
    "Up at the stream. Pretty Poppy spread out on
that rock like a virgin sacrifice."
    Embarrassment burned through her, sending
heat to color her face. Embarrassment and a strange, hot desire,
part shame but mostly an excitement that surprised her. "I thought
no one could see me. Where were you?"
    "Up on the next hill. On a horse."
    "Oh, dear. I'm sorry. I was so hot and... I'm
sorry."
    "I'm not." Mac's voice had gone dark and
rich. "You were hot. I've never seen anything so hot in my life. Do
you have any idea what you did to me?"
    Knowing he'd watched her, had been turned