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hand, the caress of his thumb in the hollow of her bosom. "And this was all for my benefit," Ben said
softly. "I had no idea it would be such an enjoyable morning. Tell me, how far in advance did you plan
this? Or have I been treated to a spontaneous performance?" One part of her mind demanded that she
struggle away from him in outrage, but she was confused and strangely weak. Not a sound escaped her
lips. Her heart was thrashing in her chest, her breathing shallow. His thumb stroked the undercurve of her
breast as she sat there facing away from him, and Addie was tormented by shame and pleasure as she
felt her nipples harden. What am I doing? she wondered frantically. Stop him!
Ben was silent, but Addie could feel his chest rising and falling at a slightly faster rate. With horror, she
felt his hand begin to move upward, and she grabbed his wrist, making a strangled sound of protest. His
arm dropped away from her, and he dismounted lei-surely. Then he turned around to face her, bracing
his hands on either side of the saddle.
They stared at each other in silent fascination. Addie waited for him to jeer at her for the way she had let
him touch her. It had been disrespectful and insolent, something she should have demanded an apology
for. Ben's eyes raked over her, and he swallowed hard, the only indication that he'd been affected by her.
For dif-ferent reasons, they each chose to pretend it hadn't happened.
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"All right now?" Ben asked quietly. For once, there was no mockery in his gaze.
"Yes," she answered, nearly inaudible. "I think I can ride her now."
"Sure?" he pressed, and for the first time his tone was gentle.
"Yes. "
Almost reluctantly he pulled away and strode to his horse. Addie watched him with wide eyes. She
actu-ally missed the presence of him at her back, the hard arm around her, his voice close by her ear. He
had meant to taunt her, had taken liberties in order to teach her a lesson, but his closeness had had a
different effeet than either of them expected. Something was ter-ribly wrong with her, to find a man she
knew to be a murderer so attractive.
She tried to find excuses for herself. It's all because of the men I'm used to. He's different from
them. He has things they'll never have. The men she'd dated had been preoccupied with the defeat
that faced them daily, the unemployment, the scarcity, the lack of control. Their lives had been robbed of
the security their par-ents and grandparents had enjoyed, Sooner or later they were forced to move to
the city for work. Their women were hard and sophisticated, scornful of love, eager for excitement.
And here was Ben Hunter, the exact opposite of those weary young men. Arrogantly he had made his
own place in a rough world. Life was his to tame, or at least he thought so. It had been a long time since
she had met a man with Ben's confidence, his vitality. He would never be bullied by a woman, never be
crushed by her scorn. He's not used to a woman who'll stand up to him, she thought, and that
realization made her more than a little intrigued. It would be soul-satisfying to force his respect for her, to
make him acknowledge that he couldn't dominate her.
His face was inscrutable again as he mounted his horse. To look at him, she would never have guessed
anything out of the ordinary had happened. Self- consciously she did what she could to fix her clothes,
knowing she was disheveled.
"Let's go," Ben said dryly. "I think we've kept Jeff waiting long enough, don't you?"
She nodded and applied her heels lightly to Jessie's perspiring sides. When she was assured that the
mare was going to give her no more trouble, Addie cleared her throat and tried to appear as unruffled as
her com-panion.
"Why are you going to the Double Bar?" she asked.
"Business."
"Concerning what?"
"That unbranded calf we recently acquired."
Addie couldn't hold back a triumphant smile. "The one we branded that you said was fair game? The
one we stole in order to teach them to keep their strays off our land?"
"Yeah, that one. And while you're looking so self- satisfied, you should know they moved their boundary
line into our territory yesterday to pay us back for it. Ripped our fence clear out of the ground. "
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"You're joking!"
"No, ma'am. In some territories, that's enough of an excuse to reach for a shotgun."
"What are you going to do?"
"Work out some kind of compromise with Big George. It won't be difficult. Sunrise and the Double Bar
are big enough outfits to handle a few range dis-putes. Besides, everyone's got their eyes on this little
romance between you and Jeff. The only one who likes the idea of a possible marriage more than your
father is George." Ben smiled sardonically. "Neither one of the doting papas is going to do anything to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]