Free A Daring Proposal by Sandra S. Kerns

grumbled or been difficult when she was passed from one man to another dancing with them all. Well, except Smitty. He, being her father’s oldest employee probably felt she had betrayed h er father.
    Chaney hadn’t let that thought ruin the evening then and she wasn’t now. Her mind quickly returned to mulling over the evening’s festivities.
    At first, Chaney had been a bit miffed that Jed didn’t at least pretend to be jealous. Then she had noticed that his eyes were always on her. He never let her out of his line of sight. The realization had sent heat coursing through her body bringing with it an expectation of the night ahead.
    Now that night was upon them. How would she truly react when they were alone in her bedroom? How was he going to react when he found out they would have a real marriage? Doubts assailed her as he strode toward the porch. His body had only gotten better with age. Hers? A shiver ran from her head to her toes.
    Chaney didn’t kid herself. Men didn ’t drool over a body like hers. She was in shape but she wasn’t womanly soft. Her muscles were hard, her hands roughened from working on the ranch. Then there were the scars. Even without mentioning the hum-dinger on her leg from surgery, her arms and hands had scars from barbed wire and tree branches. She definitely wasn’t the pretty, delicate female of men’s dreams.
    Like Belle?
    “So, where should I put these?” Jed asked standing on the other side of the screen door. “Should I make up a chair out here or are you going to let me at least stay in the guest room?”
    Chaney snapped out of her reverie. “Sorry,” she said pushing the door open and holding it for him. “Upstairs, first door on the right.”
    Jed crossed to the stairs and Chaney followed him up. He stopped abruptly in the doorway to the room. So abruptly, she bumped into him, making him stumble inside.
    “This is your room.”
    “Yep.” Very smooth, she thought rolling her eyes. I’m sure my witty repartee has impressed him.
    “I’m staying in your room.”
    Chaney could hear the question in his words though he’d said it as a statement. “It would look pretty strange to Martha if you were sleeping somewhere else.”
    She stepped around him and opened the closet and a couple of drawers in the bureau.
    “I thought you said Martha knew about this.”
    “She knows my father said I had to marry before my thirtieth birthday. She doesn’t know it’s temporary. I didn’t tell her that part. She still believes marriages last forever no matter how they start out.”
    Chaney watched Jed’s eyes scan the room. They stopped on the bed. He stared at it for a long minute still holding his suitcase and garment bag. When his gaze left the bed, it zoomed in on where she stood.
    “We’ll be sharing a bed.”
    “Looks that way.”
    His intent gaze never left her face. Chaney started to feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. Very, very hot. “Look if you don’t want to sleep with me --”
    “That’s not the problem,” he said. His voice sounded as rough as the gravel under the truck’s tires in the driveway.
    “I don’t understand,” she told him. The moon cast a soft glow through the sheer curtains on her window. She hadn’t thought to flip the light switch when she stepped around Jed. Now with everything lit by a silvery shimmer Chaney had the feeling she was in a dream.
    Jed set down his suitcase and bag and walked to stand only inches away from her. The surreal quality only heightened with his nearness. Chaney’s heart rate skyrocketed.
    “Honey, there is no way I can sleep in that tiny double bed with you and not make love to you. I am just a man.”
    His breath was warm as it whispered across her face. She had to fight to keep her eyes from closing as a shiver ran over her body. The intensity of his gaze grew hotter. “I-I didn’t expect you to.”
    Jed lifted his hand to her cheek. His fingers brushed back the hair at her temple. He leaned forward and