Free Wild Texas Rose by Christina Dodd Page B

Just as he’d tried to forget her.
    Obviously, that had proved impossible for both of them.
    “It was my patriotic duty to join. We fought Kiowas and Comanches and Apaches until we herded them to Oklahoma in ‘77. Then we chased thieves and killers on the frontier.” He couldn’t keep the pride from his tone. “Caught ‘em, too.”
    “Yes.” Turning away, she presented him with a view of her long, strong legs, rounded buttocks, and straight, too-straight, spine as she returned to the campsite. “The Texas Rangers are famous for taming the frontier.”
    He followed, but kept a wary distance. “I’m a captain.” That would impress her.
    But all she asked was, “What brought you back here?” She laid the carbine down on the ground by the bed.
    He chose to take that as a tacit surrender. He’d been keeping the frontier safe for her, so she could raise horses or whatever she wished. By God, he’d been one of the heroes of Texas, and she should be honored that he’d taken the time from his life to do that.
    Of course, she didn’t look honored. She looked mean enough to go bear hunting with a switch.
    Feeling much like the bear, he said, “Major Jones died last year, and I was going to resign, anyway. The law is in place, for the most part, and it’s getting damn dull policing a territory that doesn’t need policing. When your letter came in, asking for a Ranger, they called me in because they knew I … knew you. I’d, uh, talked about you some.”
    She looked over her shoulder. Just a look, but it spoke volumes, and he hastened to explain, “Not in an ugly way. Merely mentioned that I had a girl back home who … “ He trailed off. What should he say? A girl who was his life? A girl who had turned him in to the law? A girl he’d given up because he thirsted for adventure and she hungered for stability?
    Profiled against the stone, she opened the wallet and gazed again at the badge. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    The clean outline of her body chased the last lingering bit of reason from his mind. “When?”
    Her slashing glance told him what she thought of him.
    “You mean last night at the party?” Bringing his attention back to the conversation, he shrugged, trying to project suave indifference. “I’m here on a mission — to discover who stole your horses. It’s easier to nose around if no one knows I’m interested.”
    “You’ve been in the county for weeks. Isn’t that right? Why couldn’t you have come to the ranch and told me before?”
    Funny. He hadn’t thought he might have trouble explaining why he’d pulled the wool over her eyes. The men of the Rangers were known for their honesty and for their contempt of deviousness. Yet he had been devious with her, and for no good reason.
    At least — it had seemed a good reason at the time, but faced with a naked, outraged woman, it was obvious that any reason that kept him from her bed, even temporarily, was stupid.
    Impatient with his silence, she demanded, “Why didn’t you tell me last night in my bedroom? Or later, when I pulled the gun on you? Or after we— ?” She gestured furiously at the boulder.
    He could have sworn he discerned burn marks on that rock. It had been the night he’d dreamed of for years. She had given herself to him wholly, without reservations, and it had been, for him, their wedding night. For her, too, he supposed. He hoped. And if last night was their wedding night, today was the first day of their marriage, and he owed her honesty for now and forever.
    Mustering his courage — more courage than it took to face her carbine — he said, “I didn’t tell you because I wanted a little bit of revenge.”
     
     
     
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
     
    Rose repeated the word with a clipped enunciation. “Revenge?”
    “For sending me to prison.”
    “I thought you were stealing my horses for revenge.”
    “No.” Thorn was shocked and righteous. “That would be dishonest.”
    She muttered … something. Had she