Free Take My Heart (Heroic Rogues Series) by Marie Higgins Page B

across his face.
    Without being able to control his actions, he touched his finger to her chin, stroking it across her delicate, smooth skin and down her neck until it rested on the high collar of her jacket. Her beauty and the softness of her creamy skin turned his mind to mush. He was helpless to stop the burning sensations ripping through him. He waited for her to swat his hand like she’d done before whenever he touched her in a personal way. She didn’t, and his heart picked up rhythm.
    He arched his brow. “Kat, why are you doing this?”
    “Doing what?”
    “Why are you trying to act like somebody you are not? Your words are confusing and I have grown weary of your game.” Although his words were harsh, he kept his tone soft.
    The corners of her lips lifted. “I am confusing you?”
    “Yes, and I do not like it one bit.” He slid his finger from her chin upward to touch her delicate earlobe.
    “But, William, can you not see? I have changed.”
    “Nobody can make such a drastic change.”
    “I have.” She touched the lapel of his coat. “I am not the same woman you first met.” Her shy smile widened. “And you need not worry about your children. I have come to care for them.”
    A powerful jolt shot through him as if he’d been scorched. Between the heat from her hand touching him and her unbelievable words, his confusion grew by leaps and bounds. Dare he believe his children might get a mother after all?
    No, he mustn’t let her weaken him. He dropped his hand and stepped away. “I do not want you to care for them, Kat.” He scowled. “I do not want my children to like you, because soon enough you will go back to your old ways and break their hearts.”
    “William.” She stepped closer. “Will you not give me another chance?”
    Aha, her game was out now. She wanted to charm him like she did to other men. Obviously, she wanted something from him. Well, he wasn’t like other men, and he wouldn’t let her succeed.
    She stretched her hand out to touch him again, but he clasped onto it.
    “Stop, Kat. I am warning you, your charm will not work with me. You forget, my dear, I can read you well.”
    “William, please—”
    “And stop calling me William.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I do not like the way it sounds when it comes from your deceiving mouth.” He dropped his focus to her enticing delicate raspberry lips, imagining what her kiss would taste like. Honeysuckle? Whatever the taste, he was quite certain it would be heavenly.
    “What...do you want...me to call you then?” she said hesitantly. “Mr. Braxton is too formal. I am your wife and should address you with some kind of endearment.”
    “You are my wife in name only and I plan on keeping it that way.”
    She swallowed and his gaze dropped further to the slender column of her throat. Once again, the urge to press his lips to that location overwhelmed him. His grip loosened, but she didn’t pull her hand away. In fact, she moved closer.
    “William.” Her voice softened. “I will not give up.”
    Between her intoxicating scent and her alluring mouth, he was a drowning man. How could he resist? But he had to. He stared at her lips, and an invisible force pulled him toward her. He tried to remember how she’d deceived him since they were first married, hoping it would cool his ardor, but her sweet charm made him weaker.
    “I deserve a second chance,” she whispered.
    Confused by mixed emotions, he growled in anger, then stepped away. “You are wrong, Kat. Women like you deserve no second chances.”
    He turned and stalked back to the house, resisting the urge to look at her. He couldn’t risk a glance. He didn’t want to be reminded of what he could have wrapped in his arms and kissed just moments ago. And he especially didn’t want to think he was attracted to her! Especially now when he’d never been before.
    * * * *
    Mercedes rode the horse hard toward the next town, not stopping to give the animal a breath or even take a