Free Merline Lovelace by The Horse Soldier

counterpoint to the music floating on the night air.
    Andrew matched his stride to hers. With every step, his charged mix of anger, disgust and desire multiplied. Just the sight of the damp tendrils that curled on the back of her neck stirred a lust that irritated him intensely. When his gaze shifted to the breasts rising and falling beneath the black lace, his muscles knotted even more. Swearing under his breath, he fought the memories that pulled at him like hot pincers.
    Despite his determined effort, the vivid images filled his head. Julia laughing up at him from behind her fan. Julia whirling around a ballroom in his arms. Julia damp and flushed and panting the night they’d consummated their hurried, secret marriage.
    His groin tightened as the memories of that night rose up to taunt him. He tried not to think of how she’d sprawled across the bed at his hotel. How he’d peeled away her underclothing slowly, feasting his eyes on the luscious flesh beneath. How she’d soon overcome her initial shyness and writhed slick and hot on the tangled sheets.
    He’d forced himself to hold back, to prime her with his mouth and hands and a hard, rocking knee untilshe gushed wet and ready. Only then had Andrew parted her thighs and penetrated her virgin’s shield with a single thrust.
    She’d cried out in surprise, he remembered, sweating now beneath his uniform jacket. She’d tried to wiggle away. But he’d held her and kissed her and slipped into the rhythm that, far sooner than either of them expected, ripped another cry from her throat.
    Andrew had never bedded a woman like Julia, before or since. The thought of another man, another husband, plunging into her hot, silken depths had him reaching up to hook a finger in his collar. Viciously, he tugged at the blasted thing. He couldn’t breathe without drawing in her musky scent. Couldn’t see for the image of her sleek, slick body under his.
    Damn the woman!
    He didn’t realize he’d muttered the words aloud until she spun around, one foot on the first step of the porch fronting the McKinney’s quarters. A quick step up brought her angry face level with his.
    “Don’t think I’m any happier about this situation than you, you arrogant bastard. As soon as we hear from Philip, Suzanne and I will be gone from here.”
    “ If you hear from him at all.”
    “Why wouldn’t I?” She sucked in a swift breath. “Have you received something back already? A telegram or dispatch?”
    The anxiety that rushed in to replace her anger took the rough edge from Andrew’s voice.
    “No. I would have told you if I had.”
    Crossing her arms, she tucked her hands inside her elbows. The movement wasn’t quite quick enough to hide the sudden tremble in her fingers.
    “Why do you doubt my husband will contact me?”
    “Word is you haven’t heard from him in more than a year.”
    “I have Victoria McKinney to thank for that bit of gossip, I imagine.”
    “Is it true?”
    She didn’t want to answer. He could see pride warring with the inbred reserve she’d always hidden beneath her teasing smile.
    “Yes, it’s true,” she admitted at last.
    Despite the contradictory feelings she roused in him, Andrew didn’t want to add to her burdens. Yet neither of them could deny the truth.
    “A lot can happen in a year in the rough and tumble mining towns of Montana,” he said quietly.
    She turned away to stare across the treeless plains awash in silvery moonlight. He studied the profile she presented, searching again for the girl he’d once known in this woman’s shadowed eyes and sculpted cheekbones. She didn’t speak, but the desperation she tried so valiantly to mask ripped at his conscience.
    He’d loved her once. Married her despite every dictate of common sense. Risked his life and his honor to slip back through enemy lines and return for her as he’d promised.
    Curling a knuckle under her chin, he brought her face around and tipped it to the moonlight. “If he’salive,