Free Wildfire by Billie Green

next we would probably want to get naked and jump in bed for a couple of days."
    Several seconds ticked by before the words sank in, and she grasped what he said. Then she was on her feet, shaking with fury as she stood before him.
    He had done it to her again.
    "You—I should have known!" She scooped up a magazine from the floor and threw it at him, then another and another. "Dammit, I should have known! You are the most—Every time I—Oh, go screw yourself \n
    She was out the door and halfway across the yard when she heard his belated response.
    "By George, I think we're making progress."
    ❧
    Rae had flipped through all the television channels twice before she realized what she was doing. Punching the buttons for the PBS station, she drew her legs up beside her and tucked the edges of the pink-striped nightshirt around her bare legs.
    She wasn't in the mood for the dining habits of the little brown desert lizard. But then she wasn't in the mood for television, period, so it didn't really matter what was on the screen.
    Exhaling a heavy sigh, she reluctantly admitted that the fiasco at Tanner's house two nights earlier had left her stuck in some awkward, purgatorial stage. She couldn't go back to being satisfied with the way things were, yet she couldn't move forward without his help.
    And hell would freeze over before she'd give Tanner West another chance to make a fool of her.
    If she had once stopped to think, she would have known she couldn't trust him. He was the town outlaw. Dicton's dark desperado. He had spent his whole life breaking the rules, along with a few noses and more than a few hearts. Only an idiot would have gone to him for help.
    There had to be some other way, she told herself now. Maybe she could find out what committees Drew was on and sign up. With a little prolonged contact, she could impress him with her . .. what? Her civic-mindedness?
    Brilliant.
    She would be better off studying the fashion magazines, making a few subtle changes to match her new hairstyle. She wouldn't do anything blatant. That would make her feel self-conscious, and everyone would know she was pretending to be something she wasn't. Tanner had been right about that. But a little store-bought sex appeal couldn't hurt anything. She would drive to Dallas for a weekend of shopping and—
    At that moment a noise from her bedroom reached her, putting an end to all thought. It was a sliding sound, the kind a window makes when it's being closed. Or opened.
    As her heart began beating a rapid tattoo, she glanced around in panic, then slipped off the couch and crept toward the hearth. Picking up the bronze cat that had been a wedding present from Johnny's great-aunt Flora, she tiptoed down the hall to the bedroom door and silently eased it open.
    She held the cat by its long, slender neck, raised it slowly above her head, and reached in to flick on the overhead light.
    "The police are on the way, so you'd better not—" Breaking off abruptly, she stood and stared, her eyes slowly widening in disbelief.
    Tanner was kneeling on the window seat, his back turned to her as he closed her bedroom window.
    "I don't believe it." The words were a blend of anger and relief. "You really are incredible. Is there some reason why you can't use the front door like ordinary people? Are the old criminal tendencies catching up with you again?"
    "Rae, Rae." He shook his head in a slow, regretful movement. "I'm surprised at you. I thought you were too morally upright to listen to gossip spread around by—"
    He broke off and raised one brow as he examined her. Slowly, giving consideration to each detail. Starting at her feet, moving up her long legs, lingering at her high breasts before going on to her disheveled hair. '
    "I have just revised my opinion of candy-striped cotton nightshirts." The hoarse, gravelly sound of his voice sounded even more provocative than usual.
    Resisting the urge to pull at the hem of her nightshirt, she placed the bronze cat on