Free Marriage at the Cowboy's Command by Ann Major Page A

weren’t such a Goody Two-shoes. A time when you liked to live dangerously.”
    â€œI’m no Goody Two-shoes now,” she snapped.
    â€œAnd that is the gist of our problem.” He stepped closer to her, so close she could smell the whiskey with the cologne, so close she could feel the heat of his body, fierce despite the cool night air.
    Her nipples tightened against her thin cotton nightgown in reaction to him. Instead of backing away, fool that she was, she stood her ground, shivering a little, and not from the chill air.
    â€œI know just how wild you are, sweetheart, and justhow good you still taste. That’s what’s torturing the hell out of me. Being in the house with you, knowing you were right down the hall…was getting to me. So, I came out here. But being out here with the smell of grass and hay and dust in the air brings it all back—especially memories of you. Being here makes me feel almost like I never left. Why is that? What are you doing to me?”
    â€œBut you did leave. And you wouldn’t have come back now of your own accord.”
    â€œYou know why I left!”
    She glared at him, remembering that her mother had said cash was missing from the truck when she’d explained why she’d had to let Luke go.
    Still, he should have said goodbye.
    â€œBut I don’t want to talk about all the bitter stuff. Not when this whiskey is so good. Not when you’re standing out here looking so damn beautiful you make a grown man want to cry.”
    â€œAs if you ever cry.”
    He laughed. “So why did you come out here on the porch? What do you want?” he demanded. “Are you chasing me, girl, like you used to? Because this time I don’t aim to run.”
    â€œOf course not!” When he laughed again, she caught her lower lip in her teeth and stared at him uncertainly. Was he right? Had she been chasing him? Just a little?
    No! But he did look uncompromisingly masculine and devastatingly attractive.
    â€œI’d better go back inside,” she whispered raggedly.
    â€œToo late, sweetheart. You should have thought about that before you came out here to tempt me.”
    â€œI did not come out here for that reason!”
    â€œI think you did. And I think I know exactly whatyou want. I’ll give it to you, sweetheart, anytime. Just say the word.”
    â€œNot in this lifetime.”
    â€œReally?” He laughed again. “This is only our first night. We’re both exhausted, and you’re injured. Even so, neither of us can sleep because we know what we want. Because we know how good it would be.”
    Afraid of him, and the feelings and memories he aroused, she turned to go, but he seized her by the arm. His hands gripped her waist, snugging her against his long, lean body. At such close range she could see the curve of his thick black lashes and the tiny lines fanning beneath his glittering eyes. His sensual mouth was full and much too kissable.
    He frowned down at her, staring at her in a fierce way that made her blood fire and her willpower dissolve.
    â€œYou shouldn’t have come back,” she said. “Hassan should have sent someone else.”
    â€œIf it weren’t for Daniel, I’d agree. But we have a son, and Hassan suspected Daniel was mine right from the first.”
    â€œHow do you know that?”
    â€œHe told me. On the phone. Right after I saw Daniel. So I came back. And discovered we still have this…”
    â€œThis…this what?” A wild, tender sweetness filled her. For a second she was in the past, when she was in love with him. Back then he’d made it easy to believe that his feelings for her had run as deep as hers for him.
    She wanted him to kiss her again, to feel his tongue in her mouth. She wanted his large hands on her body, their fingertips blistering her through her thin nightgown.
    â€œDon’t pretend you don’t feel it, too. This insane,