Big Sky Rancher Read Online Free PDF

dark?” he asked, his manner that of a man who knows he has the upper hand.
    â€œI don’t intend to fight with you,” she told him. “If you’ll tell me where the food is, I’ll concede that I’m obligated to fix a meal for you. That’s as far as I go.”
    â€œThat’ll do for now,” he murmured, his arms tightening around her waist. “At least, that’s almost enough for now.”
    She saw his head duck toward hers and felt her eyes open wide. Surely he wouldn’t. But he did. His mouth met hers forthe second time, this kiss a far cry from the sample of her mouth he’d taken in the parsonage. Now he nibbled and plucked at her lips, his teeth joining in the play as he explored the contours of her mouth and investigated the soft, vulnerable flesh just inside her lip line.
    She tried to clamp her lips together, but it was no use, for his hand touched her chin and she felt the pressure of his strength against her jaw as he forced her to open to him. “That’s a good girl,” he whispered, and she wanted to laugh. She felt about as far from being a good girl as any woman ever had, what with this man’s tongue touching hers, his mouth opening over hers, his laughter echoing in her ears as he took advantage of her lesser strength to invade her as might a man set on seduction.
    For surely that was where he was headed, if she knew anything at all about it. And very little did she know, in actuality. Only that a good girl could get in the family way by allowing a young man to kiss her in a familiar manner. Oh, not that the kissing itself would turn the trick, but what came afterward could get her in trouble.
    She’d heard her mother say, more than once, that a good girl never let a man touch her body without a wedding ring around her finger first. And that such goings-on led to perdition. As a growing child, Jennifer had heard much about that dreadful place, but never could figure out where it was.
    She knew now. Directly due west of the town of Thunder Canyon, perdition was staring her in the face, if she knew anything about it. It wasn’t a spot on the map, but a man…her husband, in fact. A man seeming to have no qualms about placing her in peril.
    He looked down into her face and she was swept up in the dark glow of eyes filled with dangerous lights. A faintly wolfish expression lit his features and he towered over her, making her feel insignificant. Then he moved one big hand to the front of her shirtwaist again and his long fingers cupped her breast.
    She shrieked, a noise fit to wake the dead, as her papa had told her more than once. He’d declared she had a voice that would carry a country mile and she remembered wondering if a country mile was longer than a city mile. No matter today, only that the volume of her cry had penetrated the absorbed expression of the man who held her. He blinked at her, his hand tightening in an automatic gesture, and then he smiled. That same, feral grin that told her he was set on hauling her up those stairs to his bed.
    â€œNo, Lucas,” she said, her voice hushed.
    â€œLucas, is it? Are we done with Mr. O’Reilly now?”
    â€œI don’t know about you, but I’m done with this whole misunderstanding,” she said, determined to escape his grasp, eager to move to the other side of the room, hopeful he would not follow her there.
    â€œYou’re the one with the misunderstanding, sweetheart. I’m dead certain of what I’m doing here. As soon as you figure it out, we’ll be in business.”
    â€œThat’s what I’m afraid of,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be in business, with you or any other man. I don’t know what I was thinking of, to come here like this. But I’ve made a dreadful mistake. I see that now.” She paused for breath and hastened on, hopeful of his cooperation.
    â€œPlease just put me on a stagecoach headed East.