Free The Outlaw and the Lady by Lorraine Heath Page B

want to be near you. I want to go home . I’ll take my chances with the other man.”
    He dismounted. She expected his hands to come around her waist. Instead she heard hisboots thundering over the ground and his spurs jangling as he paced, his anger evident with every stride.
    Carefully, she swung her leg over the horse and worked her way to the ground. Never had she despised the darkness more because she could not judge his mood. Intense, angry, she knew. But was his anger directed at her or himself? She didn’t know how to play the hand. How to win what she so dearly wanted.
    “Please,” she pleaded softly. “Please leave me here.”
    The pacing came to an abrupt halt, the silence almost deafening.
    “If I give you one of my guns, will you shoot at this man the way you shot at me?” he asked quietly, no emotion reflected in his voice.
    Hope spiraled through her that freedom was imminent. “Yes, if he threatens me in any way, I won’t hesitate to squeeze the trigger.”
    She heard the haunting hiss as his gun cleared the leather holster. When he took her hand, she realized that she was trembling. He folded her fingers around the handle of his gun.
    “Aren’t you afraid I’ll shoot you again?” she joked pitifully, so afraid she’d lose this opportunity if he realized how terrified she was to be left alone.
    “I prefer a bullet to a hangman’s noose.”
    “I won’t shoot you.”
    “I know. Once was enough. Keep the gun hidden within the folds of your skirt until you know you can trust him. If you think you can’t, raise thegun quickly…this high.” He lifted her hand. “And shoot. You’ll hit him in the chest. He is not a tall man.”
    She nodded, her mouth suddenly as dry as the air in west Texas where Kit Montgomery lived. Raven slowly released her hand. She dropped the gun to her side, hiding it within the material of her skirt.
    “If he tries to harm you, I will be too far away to hear your scream.” Regret laced his voice.
    Until this moment, she hadn’t fully realized that it truly was concern for her welfare that had prevented him from leaving her behind earlier. She knew only the outer man and very little of the inner one. She was intimately familiar with his chest, his stomach, the inside of his thighs, and the arm that held her as she slept. She didn’t know what to make of this outlaw whose reputation seemed so inconsistent with his behavior. “He won’t hurt me. I’m sure of it.”
    “Then remember me, querida .”
    His mouth captured hers. Snaking one arm around her waist, he drew her up against his firm body while he plowed his other hand through the tangled mess of her hair, angling her head to better accommodate his desires. And she had no doubt that he desired her or that she should be afraid, afraid of all the incredible sensations and misgivings he stirred to life within her.
    Never had she been kissed with such rapacious hunger. Never had a man’s mouth possessed hers as though he owned it. Never had a man poured so much molten passion into a kiss that shethought she might melt at his feet. He plunged his tongue deeply, exploring intimately as though it was his undeniable right to do so.
    Her mouth betraying her, she returned his kiss with a fervor that frightened her. She could blame it on the intimate moments when she’d slept within his arms or the long hours of riding when their bodies were pressed so close as to be almost one. But her yearning for his kiss went beyond the physical, to a heart as lonely as hers, to a soul as battered and bruised.
    Abruptly, he drew away. She staggered backward, breathless and trembling. She heard his footsteps as he stomped to the horse, the creaking of the saddle as he mounted, the horse’s hooves pounding the earth as he rode off…
    The silent echo of her heart calling him back…

Chapter 7
    S till trembling with the lingering passion of Raven’s departure, Angela heard the horse and rider arrive. Had an hour passed