LaceysWay Read Online Free PDF Page A

his.
    Matt swore softly. He had not had a woman in a long time.
Claire had been a lady of quality, and he had never touched her other than to
give her a lingering kiss in the moonlight. Since Claire, he had occasionally
found relief for his masculine urges in the arms of women whose morals would
not bear close scrutiny.
    Cautiously he raised his shackled hands and stroked the
girl’s cheek. Her skin was warm and smooth beneath his fingertips, soft and
undeniably feminine.
    His touch jolted Lacey awake. For a moment, they gazed into
each other’s eyes. Lacey felt a peculiar shiver deep in the core of her being
as his midnight blue eyes held her own. They seemed to be asking questions she
was afraid to answer, yet she could not draw her gaze away from his. She noted
that his lashes were short and thick and sooty black, that his eyes were the
darkest blue she had ever seen. They seemed to be probing the depths of her
heart, stealing her soul…
    With a wordless cry, Lacey scrambled to her feet, her face
flushing bright crimson as she realized she had been practically lying in his
arms.
    Matt grinned up at her, his eyes glinting with mirth until
he saw she was genuinely upset. “Sorry,” he said soberly. “I didn’t mean to
alarm you.”
    “You didn’t,” Lacey lied, not quite meeting his steady gaze.
“I…it was time to get up anyway. I…how are you feeling?”
    “Better, thanks to you.”
    “It was nothing.”
    “You probably saved my life. That’s something. To me,
anyway. I’m in your debt.”
    Lacey shrugged. She did not want this man indebted to her.
He was a convict, and the less she had to do with him, the better. Besides, she
did not like the way he was looking at her, or the way her insides turned to
soft mush whenever his eyes met hers.
    “How about finding the key to these cuffs?” Matt asked,
holding up his shackled hands.
    Lacey took a wary step backward. “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I…because.”
    Matt sat up, his head cocked to one side. “You’re not afraid
of me, are you?” he challenged.
    “Of course not,” Lacey replied quickly. Too quickly.
    Before he could argue further, she went to start breakfast.
She was afraid of him, she admitted to herself, but not in the way he
thought. She didn’t think he would harm her physically, but there was something
about him that disturbed her deeply. He aroused feelings within her that she
was not certain she cared for, feelings she could not put a name to. Feelings
she was afraid to examine too closely. She felt her cheeks redden as she
recalled the way he had gazed into her eyes, his own eyes dark and turbulent
with some emotion Lacey could not identify.
    Breakfast was a silent meal. Lacey’s thoughts were centered
on her father. Was he still alive? How could she ever find him now? What would
she do without him? She had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. For the first
time, it occurred to her that she was all alone in the world. It was a scary
thought, knowing there was no one to care if she lived or died, no one who
would mourn her, no one to cherish her memory.
    She stole a furtive glance at the man sitting across the
fire from her. How much longer would she have to stay with him before he was
well enough to make it on his own? Did she dare just ride off and leave him out
here, alone and on foot? He was in no fit condition to make the long trek back
to Salt Creek. Of course, when the prison wagon didn’t arrive at the
penitentiary at the scheduled time, someone would likely come looking for it.
Would he be able to survive out here alone until then? Probably not.
    Darn her soft heart! She could not bring herself to leave
him out here alone. But then, she had always had a tender spot in her heart for
orphans and wounded things. Stray dogs and cats, birds with broken wings,
injured rabbits and squirrels—she had always taken them home to nurse until
they were well enough to return to the wild. Maybe her father had been right.
Maybe she