Her Montana Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

this encounter had only been another menacing nightmare.
    “Don’t be so priggish, Eliza Jane. You’re no unblemished paragon of virtue.” She started at the touch of
    his finger as he ran it along her jaw. “I expect you’ll be quite an enthusiastic partner once you’ve resigned
    yourself to the next phase of our relationship.”
    “We don’t have a relationship.”
    “Ah, but we will.” His hand circled her wrist, and she spun away from him then, escaping from the heat
    of the oven behind her and his menacing overtures.
    She darted to the opposite side of the table and stood with her hands on the spindles of the chair back,
    bile rising in her throat. “You disgust me.”
    “I find the chase quite titillating, actually.” With a swagger, he moved to a chair and seated himself before
    the place setting she’d prepared. He adjusted the cutlery in precise alignment before leveling a warning
    gaze on her.
    “Don’t get carried away, however. There’s a time and a place for everything, and soon your time for
    coy resistance will run out. Once Jenny Lee is gone and we’ve served a respectable mourning period,
    you will become my wife.”
    Eliza stood with her heart in her throat, trapped in this house and under this man’s rule for the time being.
    She couldn’t leave Jenny Lee or Tyler. They needed her. He knew it. And he used her love for them to
    his advantage.
    “It’s the natural course of things in anyone’s eyes,” he added.
    A hundred nights she’d lain awake into the wee hours of morning, listening for him, dreading his next
    move, imagining endless scenarios of telling Jenny Lee the ugly truth, of going to the marshal, yet always
    coming to the same hopeless conclusion: she could not break Jenny Lee’s heart. She would never let her
    sister know that Royce had married her for a percent of the brickyard…and that he was awaiting her
    death to amass the final ownership.
    Once that happened, he would have control. All Eliza could do was bide her time and endure. Shelter
    her sister. Protect Tyler. And avoid this deplorable excuse for a human being until—until their situation
    changed.
    She moved to the oven, took out the hot plate and set it in front of him while guardedly keeping her
    distance. Sometimes she was so angry with her father for allowing this to happen that she didn’t know
    what to do with those feelings.
    “You’re quite transparent, Eliza Jane,” he said. “But resenting me isn’t going to do any good.” He
    picked up his fork and knife and sliced the roast. “We both know why you’ll comply.” He took a bite
    and chewed before looking up at her again. “But you’ve already figured that out, haven’t you?”
    Her heart skipped a beat.
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    Anger distorted her vision for seconds and she clenched her teeth, unable to speak.
    “You have no legal rights to Tyler unless you marry me.”
    “You aren’t human,” she finally replied, venom lacing her tone.
    “And you will marry me. Because I have knowledge that will hurt both of you. And you don’t want me
    to tell.”
    “I could kill you in your sleep,” she said. And God help her, she’d already thought of it. But she was too
    much of a coward. What if she went to jail and left Tyler here alone?
    Royce actually smiled, something he did rarely, and she suspected it was because one of his front teeth
    overlapped the other. “I shall remember to sleep lightly.”
    Why should he sleep any better than she?
    Once Jenny Lee was gone, Eliza would be forced to put her plan into action, take Tyler and escape.
    This house her father had built, the town she called home, all the precious memories, none of it mattered
    as much as protecting Tyler.
    The bell on the front door screeched as a visitor twisted the handle. Relieved at the interruption, Eliza
    tossed down the towel and hurried to answer the call.
    A young man in a flannel jacket and mended