Free Joshua and the Cowgirl by Sherryl Woods Page A

differences.”
    Uncertainty seemed to replace rock-solid conviction. The wistful expression in her eyes made his heart ache.
    “I’ll prove it to you, Garrett. Give me time and I will prove it to you.”
    “There are not enough years in a lifetime for you to prove that to me,” she said, her tone utterly bleak.
    This defeated attitude threw him. Where was the woman who was certain she could conquer the world and do it alone if she had to? Or was that the problem? he thought with sudden insight. Was she convinced that she had to go it alone? He tangled his fingers in her hair and pressed kisses to her cheeks, her bare shoulders, stopping just short of the temptation of her breasts.
    “Who made it impossible for you to believe in love? Was it Casey’s father?”
    Her eyes closed, but not before he’d seen the pain. “He didn’t help,” she admitted finally.
    “Then who?”
    “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I don’t like remembering.”
    “Sometimes that’s the only way to banish the memories once and for all.”
    “My God, now the man thinks he’s Dr. Joyce Brothers,” she said with forced levity, rolling her eyes heavenward. “Where did you get your degree in psychology, Dr. Ames? Did it come with your business degree? Or was it in a cereal box?”
    “Your sarcasm only proves I’m right.”
    Glaring at him, she jumped out of the bed and grabbed for her shirt. Holding it protectively in front of her with one hand, she reached for a blanket with the other.
    “Where are you going?”
    “To the sofa to sleep. It’s what I should have done hours ago.”
    Joshua snagged a corner of the blanket and reeled her back, tumbling her down on top of him. She sat up fighting mad. “I am not sleeping in this bed with you.”
    His gaze pinned her. “Why not? Sleeping with me seems pretty innocuous compared with what we were doing in this bed a few minutes ago.”
    “A gentleman would not remind a lady of indiscretions she’d rather forget.”
    “I told you long ago that I’m no gentleman.”
    “I can see that.”
    Her irritation amused him. Taming her would be a delightful challenge. Capturing her heart would require all of his ingenuity and charm. Understanding her might be the most complicated—and rewarding—test of all.
    With one final glare in his direction she lay down on the bed, turned her back to him and pulled the blankets up to her chin. Defiantly, Joshua lifted the blankets, fit himself to the curve of her, lowered the covers and draped an arm over her waist. He waited, then, for the inevitable explosion. Instead she merely sighed, a tiny whisper of sound that could have been resignation or exhaustion. And then she was asleep.
    “Round one,” he murmured victoriously, then wondered what the hell he was going to do if he actually won the fight.

Chapter Six
    G arrett couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t move. Irritably she kicked at the blankets and felt them give, but only slightly. She tried again to roll over and realized she was pinned between the wall and some equally immovable object. A warm, breathing object. An object that seemed to draw her like a magnet.
    Joshua!
    Oh, Lord, she thought with a muffled moan. She really had done it this time. She had violated the single rule that had guided her life for the last thirteen years. With her hormones whizzing like an adolescent’s, she had tumbled into bed with a virtual stranger. Why? Why after all this time? Why this man? It must have been the fear, the dangerous night they had survived. Surely it had been no more than a desperate need to reaffirm life. Wasn’t that exactly what she’d told him as dawn had stolen into the cabin?
    Unfortunately she seemed to be the one who didn’t quite buy that. Garrett knew deep inside that she had responded to some inner yearning for the promised comfort of his arms. That need she’d felt last night for the first time in years was ultimately far more dangerous than the