Free Lone Star Loving by Martha Hix Page A

glad.”
    â€œMeaning?”
    â€œIt means I ought to keep my hands off you.”
    â€œOught to? Are you forgetting last night? I asked you to respect my virtue.”
    She thought about her actions. A lady wouldn’t have given him so much as a kiss, much less liberties over her flesh. Her kinswomen had advised as much. Well, no one had ever called Charity a lady, but . . . “You will treat me like a lady.”
    â€œCharity, has anyone ever gotten the last word with you?”
    â€œDon’t criticize me.” Good gravy, why did she take this opportunity to gaze upon male perfection limned in the moonlight? Mmm, she liked what she saw. “I don’t like you criticizing me.”
    â€œSweetness, I–”
    â€œHellcats aren’t sweet.”
    â€œSometimes you are.” He turned his head toward her; her breath stopped at the starlit sight of brown eyes and a hawkish yet soft expression. Before he stared at the sky again, he said, “Such as a few minutes ago, when we were kissing.”
    â€œWe’re getting off the subject of respect.” Had her wrists been free, she would have gotten to her feet and parked her hands on her hips. “I want to know something. Since you seem to have no intention of honoring my request for respect, exactly when are you planning to ravish me?”
    â€œThat sounds like an invitation.”
    â€œIt’s rude to twist words.” She sighed and maneuvered to face him. “Please tell me what your plans are.”
    â€œThere may be ravishing, though I don’t think much of the term. Lovemaking, I’d call it.”
    â€œOne doesn’t make love to someone whom one plans to k-kill ... does one?”
    â€œKill?” He chuckled, the motion crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Charity, it never was, and never will be, my intention to take your life.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œReally.” He punched the rolled blanket that served as a pillow. “Now go to sleep.”
    She grinned. What a relief! He wasn’t going to divest her of her scalp. Actually, she’d pretty much come to that conclusion during dinner. All he wanted was loot, and lovemaking. Of course he would be foiled in both cases.
    Be that as it may, this kidnapping had turned out nicely; his absconding with her, a blessing in disguise. Laredo was at least two days in the distance. And each day put more miles between herself and her crime–not to mention Ian Blyer. Plus, she would have time to consider exactly how she would avoid Papa, and how she’d get out of the legal mess she was in.
    She had been in worse situations.
    But what would she do, once she was free of this one? Paris seemed a good choice. She had always loved the City of Lights. And there was Madrid. Charity had fallen in love with Spain on a trip to visit Olga and Leonardo. Paris or Madrid, she could make a new start.
    She chose not to fret about how she would get passage across the Atlantic, or about how she would make a living once there. Those were problems better settled another time—such as when she got her freedom.
    Life, all of a sudden, appeared rosy.
    Benevolence coursed through her. “Hawk . . . I’m changing my mind about you. You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I like you. There’s something infinitely strong and trustworthy about you. Isn’t that peculiar, my thinking? You do hold me against my will, after all. But, isn’t it strange, I can’t imagine giving myself to anyone but you. That’s really very peculiar, I think. You see, I have an aversion to men interested in my papa’s money. I wish we could have met under different circumstances. Do you think me much too bold to admit such a thing?”
    No reply met her admissions. None except for... Why, of all the nerve! He was snoring to beat the band.

    Charity had been missing three days, and Ian Blyer was at his wit’s end. Perspiration slid down