Beyond The Horizon Read Online Free PDF

leave, but found her way blocked by the hard wall of dive’s chest. Short and stocky, Clive was an immovable force before Shannon’s meager strength. “Are you trying to frighten me, Mr. Bailey?”
    “The name is Clive and the last thing I want is to frighten you, Shannon. I just want us to be friends—good friends,” he hinted. He raised a thick hand and stroked her shoulder in an awkward attempt to smooth her ruffled feathers. Evidently he had gone about this all wrong, he reflected wryly. The girl was as skittish as a young colt and required patience and gentling if he intended to seduce her.
    “Then I bid you good-night, Mr.—Clive,” Shannon said coolly, shrugging off his offending hand. Before he could stop her she whirled and fled to the safety of the shadows.
    Shannon was panting when she reached the line of wagons, not only from being out of breath but from incredible anger. How could she have thought Clive Bailey a nice man? she wondered bleakly. What made him think he could insult her in such a vile manner? She prided herself on her ability to judge character, but this time she’d been wrong. Clive Bailey was a slimy worm and she vowed to steer clear of him in the future.
    Just before she reached the Johnson wagon, Shannon felt a hand curl around her waist and froze, preparing to vent her Irish temper at Clive Bailey, certain he had followed her. She found herself staring into Blade’s stormy features. “What do you want?” she spat, suddenly weary of confrontations. Clive Bailey had been more than enough to deal with for one night.
    “Stay away from that man,” Blade warned, his tone implacable. “You are too young and inexperienced to know what he’s after. Set your sights elsewhere.”
    “If you are referring to Mr. Bailey, I assure you I have no designs on his person.”
    “Then quit enticing him,” Blade advised bluntly.
    “Entice him. Entice him!” she repeated, numb with disbelief. “Whyever would I do that?”
    “Don’t try to deny you lured Bailey out here tonight to meet you. You are even dressed for a midnight tryst,” Blade observed dryly.
    Shannon sucked her breath in sharply, stunned by Blade’s cruel taunts. She didn’t deserve his contempt, nor would she stand for it. “You were spying on me! How dare you!” she exploded.
    Shannon raised her hand to strike him, but to her dismay she found her wrist suspended behind her in a viselike grip as Blade caught her to him, molding her unfettered body to his. He shuddered in suppressed delight when the firm peaks of her breasts stabbed into the muscular wall of his chest. Something inside Blade erupted, and before he knew it he was kissing Shannon, discovering the soft shape of her lips, tasting the sweet essence of her. She gasped in shock, affording him the opportunity to slip his tongue into her open mouth.
    Blade’s superior strength easily conquered Shannon’s valiant struggles as shock rendered her nearly witless. At first Blade meant only to teach Shannon a lesson, to demonstrate what could happen to innocents who became involved with men they couldn’t handle or things they didn’t understand. But to his everlasting regret, what he accomplished instead was to prove to himself how susceptible he was to the Southern belle’s fatal charm.
    The kiss went on—and on—driving the breath from Shannon’s lungs and turning her legs to jelly. Never had she been kissed in such a manner—or felt so utterly transported by an act she felt certain was meant to degrade.
    Perhaps punishment had been Blade’s original intent, but it was soon forgotten as the sweetness of Shannon’s first timid response warmed his heart. It was that tentative stirring of passion that jolted Blade abruptly to his senses. What in the hell was he doing?
    Just as Shannon felt herself on the brink of a great discovery, Blade broke off the kiss, steadying her as he backed away. “Play with fire and you are likely to get burned, Miss Branigan,” he