Free Maverick Heart by Joan Johnston Page B

there was no escape.
    But he had heard of animals so desperate to be free that they chewed off their own limbs. Was Verity like that? Would she destroy herself and her son rather than surrender to him? Could he let her go if it came to that?
    He had tried to stop loving her. Tried desperately. But he would have had to destroy a part of himself to completely eradicate her. So he had built a protective wall around the heart she had broken and kept it safe from assault for over twenty years.
    But the mere sight of her took his breath away. The feel of her skin beneath his fingertips hadmade his heart pound erratically. His loins ached with wanting her.
    He should have left well enough alone. He should have been satisfied with destroying Chester. That should have been vengeance enough for the death of his brother and the theft of the woman he loved. He had gone a step farther and manipulated things in an attempt to recapture a fleeting instant in time when he had been happy as he never had been before or since.
    She was right. It was impossible. But he still felt too much resentment, too much rage, too much pain to forgive and forget. There was too much of her locked up inside of him, and he didn’t know how to free himself from that bondage. So, in a moment of madness, he had decided to take her captive, as well.
    He reached out a hand to her. “You’re mine, Verity. At long last, you’re mine.”
    She rose abruptly and backed along the edge of the sofa out of his reach. “Don’t do this, Miles. We’ll both be sorry for it.”
    “Marry me, Verity.”
    She sobbed, a desperate, hopeless sound. “If I thought you loved me …”
    He could feel her resistance. He was afraid, suddenly, that she was going to refuse him. He said the one thing he could think of that might force her acceptance. “Marry me, or you can get somebody else to help you find your son.”
    “What?”
    “You heard me.”
    He watched the stupendous effort it took for her to control her temper. In the end, she lost the battle.
    “That’s blackmail!” she said between gritted teeth. “You know I don’t have the money to hire someone else!”
    “What’s your answer, Verity?”
    “Damn you, Miles!”
    “Is that a yes?”
    “Yes,” she hissed. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I don’t know what pleasure you’ll get from having me in your bed when you obviously despise me. Just remember that every time you force yourself on me, I’ll be cringing.”
    His hand started up toward the scar on his face. He caught himself and dropped it to his side, where it curled into a determined fist. “You can close your eyes if you find the sight of me offensive. But I will have you.”
    “Even if I’m unwilling?”
    “You wanted me once. You were on fire for me,” he reminded her. He had never forgotten how she had clung to him, how she had cried out in pain when he took her virginity, her fingernails digging into his skin and leaving bloodred crescents on his shoulders, how he had kissed away her tears, how she had given him fevered kisses and forgiven him for leaving her unsatisfied. He had promised her the next time he would show her what ecstasy was.
    But there had been no next time.
    “What happened between us happened a long time ago,” she said.
    “It seems like yesterday to me.” He could have bitten off his tongue for revealing so much. “There’s an army chaplain here at the fort. I’ve made arrangements for him to marry us before we leave.”
    Her eyes widened. “You mean right now?”
    “The longer we delay, the longer it will be until we can start hunting for your son.”
    “But … right now?”
    “I can send for the chaplain as soon as you’ve combed your hair. But personally, I find that tousled look quite delectable.”
    He saw the anger and disbelief in her eyes. He thought for a moment she would make some retort, or at least reach up and tuck at a few wayward strands of hair. She did neither. Instead, her eyes narrowed, and her