Free The Texan and the Lady by JODI THOMAS

wolf spider crawling across her bare toes.
    He set her back on her feet and fought to keep anger from exploding in his words. “Why didn’t you push me away if my kiss was so unpleasant?” The light from the kitchen reflected in her eyes and showed curiosity, but no passion, and her cold look wounded him dearly. “Hell, Jennie, I thought you were just standing there waiting to be kissed. Now you look at me like I did something terrible by taking you up on your offer.”
    “I’ve never been kissed before.” Her voice shook slightly, but her eyes stared hard at him.
    “I find that hard to believe. If ever I’ve met a woman with a mouth meant to be tasted, it’s you, Jennie.” He didn’t know why she was lying, but he hated her for it. “You must come from a town long on idiots and short on passion, or you’re lying to me again. I’m afraid I’ll have to believe you’re lying.”
    She didn’t want to explain why she’d never been kissed. She wanted kindness, not a cross-examination. Since he was the only man who’d ever tried, she tended to believe he was the shortsighted one, not every other man in the world.
    “What made you think you had a right to kiss me, Marshal? I don’t understand. Have I done or said anything that made you think I would welcome such an advance?” She tried to pull away from his grip. “I’d like to know so that I can be careful not to repeat the behavior.”
    Austin lowered his hands from around her waist. “No, ma’am. I guess I was out of line. Would you like to slap me, or shall I slap myself, Miss Munday?” In truth he felt like a fool. Her words had already hit him harder than her hand ever could. The passion he thought he’d seen banked in those emerald eyes was false. Jennie apparently had no more warmth in her than a tumbleweed in January. Oh, she’d tasted good, all right, but Austin decided it would be a cold day in hell before he came back for another sampling.
    “Good night,” he blurted, suddenly in a hurry to be out of her sight.
    “Good night.” Jennie turned and climbed the stairs. She made it all the way to the landing before tears started falling.
    “My family would have been proud of me,” she whispered. “I showed no emotion.” Fighting down the sobs, she straightened. “Then why do I feel so empty inside?” she wondered. “Why couldn’t I have kissed him back?”
    “Jennie!” someone shouted from the back staircase landing. “Jennie, is that you?”
    “Yes.” Jennie forgot her troubles and ran toward the sound of Audrey’s voice. “Is something wrong? Is Delta worse?”
    “No,” Audrey answered as Jennie reached the top of the stairs. “It’s True.”
    “Did Mrs. Gray find him? Is he sick?”
    “No.” Audrey pulled Jennie into their room. “I cut his hair and went down the hall to get the water for his bath. When I came back, he was gone.”
    “But where?”
    “I don’t know. It’s been hours and I’ve looked everywhere.”
    Jennie pulled the marshal’s jacket tighter around her shoulders. “We have to find the boy.”
    Audrey shook her head. “I’ve seen kids like him before. They know how to take care of themselves. If he doesn’t want us to find him, we might as well not waste the energy looking.”
    “But …”
    “But I’ve already been to town and back looking and it’s too late to walk the road again.”
    Jennie knew Audrey was right. “He’ll come back.” She tried to make herself believe her words.
    “Of course,” Audrey agreed. “He’ll be back when he gets hungry.”
     

Chapter 8
    A s he walked the back alleys of Florence, Austin cursed himself for kissing Jennie good night. He’d told Sheriff Morris that he’d make a late check of the town. From the way he was feeling, he figured he’d have time to circle the little settlement ten times before his anger settled down enough for him even to trust himself around anything but a grizzly bear.
    She was driving him mad, he decided as he crossed