Love Rules Read Online Free PDF Page A

holding his breath for her answer.
    “I don’t have one. I’m a squatter.” She watched his face for reaction. “Most folks in this area are. The real homesteaders moved off mostly when the soldiers came.”
    Jesse tried not to give her the satisfaction of knowing he was relieved.
    However, her admission that she was a squatter surprised him. “Most squatters don’t admit it.”
    “Lieutenant, there’s a war on. Many people have had their homes burned, or destroyed. There are a lot of squatters. People gotta live. Are you hungry?”
    “Yeah, a little.”
    Watching her move, he disliked the way his body responded to her swaying hips. The dress bounced with her walk. It wasn’t an intentional thing she did.
    He’d watched her intently at the creek that morning. Her hips had captured his full attention, such womanly curves. She filled his thoughts. His mind fought the attraction.
    “I got a stew on. If you can sit up, I’ll feed you.” She went to the fire and stirred the stew in the pot. “It ain’t the best. I don’t have a real garden or anything, so I make do, but it will nourish you.”
    He smelled it, and his belly growled. She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. He tried to sit up and finally managed with a groan.
     

    She turned to watch him. “I dug the bullet out of your shoulder two days ago.
    It was a clean wound. How’d you manage to get yourself so close to the barrel of a gun? Looks like someone just walked right up and shot you.”
    “I don’t remember. All I remember is hitting the ground.”
    “The Federals were through a few days ago. I didn’t hear any skirmish, and yet there were several with you. You’re a strong one. You showed signs of losing a lot of blood. You were quite pale when I found you and there was blood everywhere.
    I’m surprised you can get up and move around so quickly.” She studied him a moment.
    She was obviously as curious about him as he was her. “Forgive me, for being so skeptical, miss, but you seem very adept at fixing a wound, carrying a soldier, even identifying my rank. That puzzles me.” He tried a smile again. “It strikes me a bit odd that a woman would know so much.”
    She glanced away. “Better watch out, Lieutenant. I might be dangerous. Maybe I’m some kind of spy? Is that what you’re thinking?”
    Honesty was always the best. “Well, yes, it’s possible.” She came closer with the bowl of stew. His mouth began to water. “And you can cook, too!” He laughed.
    She stared a long moment. “Can you manage or do you want me to feed you?”
    She pursed her lips.
    He relaxed a bit. “I could do it, but it would be more fun if you did. Besides, I don’t want to redo the damage you managed to clean up.”
    She nodded and sat beside him on the bed, her hip next to his. He inhaled her scent and closed his eyes, enjoying it. The woman had few frills to her life, yet she smelled of lilacs.
    She stirred the stew and blew on it to cool, then gave him a spoonful. He took it, his eyes meeting hers. She was even lovelier up close, and her youth seemed an odd combination with spying. The woman was barely full-grown, barely past eighteen by the look of her. How did a woman so young, so beautiful, get to be a spy?
    Her hair fell over her shoulders and down her back in waves. His fingers itched to touch it. It shone like black silk, cascading about her, not hidden in a scarf like

    many Negro women, but flowing and untamed. As she offered him a bite, her mouth fell open. Mesmerized, he stared long and hard trying to temper his urges.
    He reminded himself that she was a spy, a very dangerous one.
    “Lieutenant, we won’t get much down you if you keep staring.”
    “Sorry, I been at war too long, lost my manners. It’s just, I haven’t seen a woman like you before.” He meant that.
    “Like me?” she questioned, her brows knitting in a mock frown. “What do you mean…like me? I’m no different than any other.”
    “Your color. You