Angel Creek Read online

  “I don’t reckon I have to explain,” he drawled. He was the boss. He could wear a shirt or not, as he damn well pleased.

  She was still looking at his bare torso with helpless fascination. “Look at me,” he said, putting a finger under her chin and tilting it upward. Her lashes swept open, and those deep green eyes fastened on him. He moved closer, bent down, and closed his mouth over hers, forcing her lips to part and using his tongue. He didn’t trust himself and quickly released her, stepping away from the enticement of her firm body beneath the thin shirt, but the kiss was enough to make her eyes go dark with shock.

  “You’re safe for now,” he said. “But when you’re healed, things will change. I’ll be coming after you, and it won’t take me long to get you.”

  6

  DEE FELT MUCH BETTER THE NEXT DAY, THOUGH STILL not able to lift her arms more than a few inches. Lucas showed up again shortly past dawn, and they went through the same routine, with him cooking for her and taking care of her chores. Afterward he insisted that she soak in hot water again, and this time was far more embarrassing than it had been before. She wasn’t in as much pain and therefore was even more acutely aware of her nakedness. So was Lucas. She could see it in his clenched jaw and the sweat glistening on his brow.

  She had lain awake a good bit of the night, going over and over what he had said. As accustomed as she was to defending her virtue with a shotgun, it had still rattled her to find that Lucas had the same intentions as all those others who had come slipping around. What made him far more dangerous to her was the fact that knowing it didn’t rouse her to contemptuous anger, as was the case with the others, but rather made her heart beat a little faster. It frightened her to admit that she wanted Lucas to want her, but it was the truth.

  So what was she going to do about it? Let a man into her life after fighting so hard to achieve independence? Have an affair with him, when it would destroy her respectability if anyone found out about it? Betray Olivia?

  Nor could she ignore the possibility that what he really wanted was Angel Creek. He no doubt planned to exploit her vulnerability to him to convince her to sell out. After all, buying the land had been the reason he had first sought her out.

  What she knew about sex was only what she had seen in the barnyard, when the bull mounted one of the cows. She knew what happened but had had no idea of the fierce physical attraction between a man and a woman until Lucas had come riding up. His kiss, as brief and hard as it had been, had shown her that there was a great deal more to mating than she had suspected. She had foolishly thought she would be able to keep him from kissing her, but she had not only let him, she had wanted more. She had felt the burn of physical desire for the first time, and it tormented her, for her body had felt out of her control.

  If Lucas wanted the land, he also wanted her. She wasn’t so naive that she didn’t realize the significance of the bulge in the crotch of his pants, even if he hadn’t so bluntly admitted his intentions. It weakened her to know that the torment was mutual.

  After he had dried her and clothed her in another of his shirts, brought specifically for that purpose, he silently put her back in bed and left the cabin, his boot heels thudding on the porch. When he returned half an hour later he was back in control of himself, but his blue eyes still held signs of his bad temper.

  “I don’t think you should come by tomorrow,” Dee said, pulling the sheet to her chin. “I’m much better today, and the soreness will leave faster if I work it out.”

  “Trying to get rid of me?” he asked. “It won’t work.”

  She turned her face away from him. “What about Olivia?” she asked quietly. “She’s my friend.”

  She couldn’t see him, but she could feel his fierce gaze fasten on her. He didn’t show surprise at her words. He just said, “What about her?”

  “The talk is that you’re going to marry her.”

  “I’d thought about it,” he admitted, his temper fraying. Did she think he would be there if he had committed himself to another woman? “But not lately. We certainly as hell don’t have any sort of understanding between us. I’m a free man.”

  She plucked at the sheet, still not looking at him. “It would probably be better if you didn’t come by tomorrow anyway.”

  “If you weren’t such a damn idiot, you wouldn’t need for me to come by,” he growled, glad that she had provided him with an excuse to release his temper. Being around her, with her either naked or only partly clothed, had strained his control to the limit. He felt half-mad with the need to have her.

  “I know,” she said, readily accepting the blame, which only made him angrier. “I try to be so careful, but that time I wasn’t.”

  “You shouldn’t be pitching down hay in the beginning!” he yelled. “You shouldn’t be working this farm by yourself! Why can’t you move to town and be a normal woman, instead of trying to prove that you can make it all on your own when it’s pure insanity that you’d even want to?”

  Dee looked at him then, her eyes narrowing in a dangerous, catlike way. It wasn’t in her to simply take his attack in silence, so she didn’t. “What I want to know is why you think it’s any of your business,” she said in an even tone. “I appreciate your help, but that doesn’t give you the right to tell me how to live.”

  “You know what gives me the right.” He walked over to stand by the bed, glaring down at her. “You know it’s going to end only one way.”

  “I believe that’s still my decision.”

  “When the time comes, you’re going to lie down and open your legs for me,” he said savagely. “Don’t try to fool yourself.”

  She tried to lift herself up on an elbow, but her shoulders and arms were still too sore, and she fell back with a stifled moan. This further evidence of her own physical helplessness, however, didn’t mean that she thought he was right. “Then I see only one solution: Don’t come back here, because you aren’t welcome.”

  “Are you going to use the shotgun on me?” he taunted, leaning down so close that she could see the glittering depths of his eyes. “Then take your best shot, sweetheart, because I’ll be back.”

  She lashed out in retaliation. “You overestimate your charm. I’d always wonder what you really wanted, me or Angel Creek.”

  “Both, sweetheart,” he said, and he crashed his mouth down onto hers. It was a rough kiss, and she tried to bite him, but he jerked his head back, then returned to kiss her even harder. His fingers clamped on her chin and held it down so he could enter her mouth with his tongue. Dee clawed at his arms, but with her limited range of movement it was a wasted effort. He held her down and ruthlessly kissed her until she felt the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. He tasted it, too, and the pressure eased. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and stroked it with his tongue, soothing the hurt.

  He unbuttoned the shirt she wore and opened it, baring her breasts. Her breath caught in her throat as his hard, warm hand closed over one of the soft mounds.

  “This is what it would be like between us,” he muttered. “Hot and wild. Think about it, damn you.” His thumb rubbed her nipple into a tight peak, and her entire body clenched from the pleasure and pain of it. He cupped both breasts, holding them high and together, and buried his face against them. His hot breath washed over her, then he took one nipple between his teeth, drawing it into his mouth with a strong sucking motion. Incredible heat shot through her, and she whimpered, her hips writhing a little.

  As if that were a signal he released her breast and stood, his face dark and taut with both anger and physical need. “I can make you go wild,” he said. “Remember that when you think about using the shotgun on me.”

  He walked out, leaving her lying on the bed with her shirt unbuttoned and spread open, her bare breasts heaving with the violence of the response he had stirred in her. A moment later she heard him ride away. “Damn you,” she whispered, and she would have shouted it if she thought he might hear her. She was shaking with anger—or was it from