Free Rocky Mountain Rogue (Rocky Mountain Bride Series Book 5) by Lee Savino Page A

Boston, and ride up to Denver to send your bags on later."
    "I can't believe this. What am I to wear?"
    Jesse shrugged. "You like the dress you've got on? Wear that."
    "I can't just—"
    "Susannah, most women out here would be lucky to own one dress half as fine as that one. You're a frontier gal now. Besides, a little dirt might do you good." He turned back to his bags with a grin, laying out flint and a small frying pan.
    "I hate you," she said.
    "I know." He winked at her. Taking up his rifle, he started striding into the brush.
    "Wait. Where are you going?"
    "Get us some food before it gets too dark. Do me a favor, and start a fire."
    Muttering under her breath, she started looking for bits of sticks and wood, poking gingerly into the brush to check for snakes first. She'd never started a fire in her life; that's what servants were for. But how hard could it be?
    Piling brush into the center of their camp, she cried out at a sharp pain on her finger. Her nail had broken.
    She moaned. Who was she kidding? This was ridiculous. She'd wanted romance and adventure, a handsome husband who would redeem her from past romantic pain. And what did she get?
    Her backside throbbed where Jesse had imparted her "lesson." Her inner thighs burned from gripping the horse. Her face was sure to be red and dirty from the journey, her hair an awful mess, and her nice purple taffeta a disgrace. She looked like a naughty child playing in the mud. She could almost hear her aunt scolding her, telling her to be a lady.
    A shot rang out in the distance, and she sank down, quivering. She was still huddled in the dirt, praying Doyle's men hadn't caught up with them, when her outlaw husband returned with rifle and dead game in hand.
    "We've got a nice rabbit for dinner," he said, holding up the long, furry body. "Where's the fire?"
    Feeling relief, she rose, her lower lip trembling. "I didn't know how to do it."
    He didn't mock her, just knelt and motioned her to come and watch. As the sun faded behind the mountains, Jesse showed her how to collect bracken and strike the flint. He was a patient teacher. She broke another nail, but hardly noticed it when the blaze caught and took, flaring up before her eyes.
    "We did it!"
    "Yep." He grinned. "Now we skin the rabbit."
    Susannah declined that lesson, so Jesse pulled the saddle up for her to sit on while he made the meal. She fed the curling flames with larger and larger pieces until a nice fire crackled under the logs while Jesse spitted the rabbit and roasted it.
    "Here." Pulling hot bits off the meat, he offered them to her. She reached for it, but he held it up to her mouth until she craned her neck and opened her mouth like a baby bird. There was a little quiver of humiliation in her chest as he fed her, but she was too hungry to care. The meat was lean, a little stringy, but hot.
    "Good?"
    She nodded, and he licked his fingers, a suggestive smile on his stubbled face. Pulling his makeshift spit away from the fire, he used his knife to pick off more meat until the rabbit cooled. She sat close to him, opening her mouth for him to place morsels in. It kept her hands clean so she kept on, and he seemed amused to treat her like a little pet.
    It was the best meal she'd ever had.
    When the carcass was picked clean, Jesse pulled a flask out of his bags. "Something to wash it down?"
    After a moment, she took the flask, and tipped it up. The juice burned down her throat and she handed the flask back, coughing.
    Jesse drank, too, and smacked his lips. "That's good varnish. Put hair on your chest."
    She looked at him in horror and he chuckled.
    "Don't worry, baggage. It'll just wash out your mouth." He took another pull, and it struck Susannah how at home he seemed, relaxing in the light of the fire.
    "Do you do this often? Sleep outside, hunt for your food?"
    He shrugged. "I've lived on the frontier more than half my life. It comes with the territory."
    "You said you wanted to settle down in your letters."
    "So