Free Rexanne Becnel by Thief of My Heart Page B

of the situation. But how in heaven’s name was she to defend herself against such unfair tactics?
    “A different cloth entirely,” she managed to get out, ignoring his other taunts. “Frederick never demanded—he asked. He never forced himself on me like—like some beast might. He was gentle with his kisses.” It was all pure fabrication. She knew it as she said it. Yet she could think of no other way to put him off.
    But he only laughed, as if he saw right through her. “Such a little liar. Did no one ever warn you that in the end your lies will trip you up? Yours already have.”
    At those infuriating words, Lacie turned abruptly from him and began quickly to march toward the house. She would not bandy words with this insufferable man a second longer. He had insulted her. He had kissed her—
    “May I have that bucket? My horse needs grain.”
    In an instant she whirled around and heaved the bucket at him with all her might, wishing more than anything that it would hit him on the head. She didn’t know whether to be chagrined because she had missed him entirely, or because she had succumbed to such unladylike behavior. But when he began to laugh she let out a frustrated oath. Then she turned and ran as fast as she could back to the house.
    Dillon remained next to the fence, staring after Lacie until she had disappeared around a tall clump of pink and white oleander bushes. Then, with a thoughtful expression on his face, he picked up the much-abused bucket and made his way slowly into the barn.
    Leatrice Eugenia Montgomery—Kimbell—was hardly what he had expected.
    Granted, she’d looked exactly the part yesterday when he’d arrived during her little social. Prim. Grim. Laced up tighter than a drum with those ridiculous spectacles sliding off her nose. Her chilly reception would have been enough to freeze any man’s blood.
    Yet his own blood was hardly chilled right now. When she was Lacie, she was another creature altogether. Softer, volatile. It took very little to trigger that temper of hers, and it was his profound pleasure to set her off. Actually, to do so was a good idea, for when angry, people often revealed far more than they intended. Eventually he would provoke her into saying something that would unravel her deception once and for all.
    But why had he kissed her? he asked himself.
    Dillon scooped a goodly measure of grain into the bucket, then closed the feed-room door behind him. He entered his big stallion’s stall and gave the horse a friendly rub between his ears. As the magnificent animal dug eagerly into the meal, Dillon leaned back against the plank walls of the stall, his mind still on Lacie.
    He had kissed her because—because her lips had been too inviting to resist.
    No, that wasn’t it, he decided abruptly. He had only done it to infuriate her, just as he’d referred to how she’d looked at her bath in order to infuriate her. He’d wanted to keep her off balance and unsettled, and he’d succeeded.
    For a moment, though, before she’d remembered to be angry and insulted, for that moment she’d responded to him.
    Dillon grinned ruefully as he recalled the sweet feel of her body going soft against his. Where would things have gone if she’d not gotten so up in arms? For all that she was not really his type, she had felt damned good in his arms. And her lips…
    A slow heat suffused him as he recalled the feel and taste of her rose-pink lips. They had been warm and soft, giving the lie to the cold, hard facade she tried to assume.
    He should have pressed his advantage a little further, he told himself.
    Then he straightened up and frowned. He had obviously been far too long without a woman if he was mooning after one Lacie Montgomery. She was either a liar and a thief, or else a cold-hearted witch who’d taken complete advantage of the ailing Frederick. In either event, she was trying to cheat him out of what belonged to him. Added to that, her pose of affronted innocence seemed