Running Wild Read Online Free PDF Page A

enjoying the horse breaking?”
    Horse breaking? What horses? Oh, the ones on the other side
of the fence. Where Nick was now turning to look, watching Harley bucking
around on the dun again, managing to stay aboard longer this time.
    “It is—it’s exhilarating,” she answered.
    His mouth twitched. “I suspect it is. If you would be so
obliging as to accompany me, however, we have some arrangements to make
concerning tomorrow’s journey.”
    She nodded. “Of course. Nicholas, I shall see you later,
then?”
    He turned back to her. A curtain had fallen over his face,
making his thoughts impossible to read. “No, ma’am, pro’bly not ’til morning. I
have some business in town this afternoon that’ll keep me into the night.”
    Her father hooked his arm in hers. “Why then, we shall see
you first thing in the morning, Nick. Come along now, my dear.”
    “Oh,” she said and ran her eyes over Nicholas’s long, tough
body one more time before allowing Father to lead her back to the ranch house.
Once out of earshot, Father said in a low, gently mocking voice, “You ought not
to tease the wildlife, my dear. These are not the tame creatures you are
accustomed to in Boston and New York.”
    “I was viewing, not teasing. Although I must confess, he
is—” She paused, searching for a word, while endeavoring to slow the pounding
in her chest and quiet the desire sparkling in her veins. “He is eye-catching.
I think. . . . Yes, I do believe,” she said, forcing lightness into her voice,
“that I might wish to have one of my own.” She turned to smile into her
father’s eyes.
    His smile spread, his infrequent dimple popping out. “Aye,
daughter, I am not surprised.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “Are you not? As Port would gladly
point out, he’s hardly urbane.”
    “True, but Nick is well-mannered enough, and what is more,
he is a man.”
    She laughed, which helped to calm her nerves. “Of course he
is, Father! Why else would I want him?”
    He patted her elbow as they approached the house. “You
misunderstand me, Virginia. I meant in character. You’ve met few real men; most
of the ones you know are mere caricatures of men. Have a care with McGraw. He
is not one of your playthings.”
    Father was right in that. Nicholas McGraw was not at all
like the men she knew. Most of the men of their set reacted to the twin
challenges of her spirit and intelligence by smugly lauding their
societally-bestowed superiority over her, an infuriating game they knew full
well she could not win. In defense, she’d learned to hide both under the façade
of the flirt, and fought that superiority on a wider scale, in newsprint and
speeches.
    But not Nicholas. Nicholas had met those challenges
squarely. Somehow, it not only inspired desire, but also soothed her too-often
abraded pride.
    She tilted her head and gave her father the little-girl
smile that had charmed him so often in the past. “Do you think, sir, that I
might not be able to manage him?”
    “It’s merely a warning, imp.”
    “It’s a dare, and now I must insist we return to the Bar M
after rescuing Lee, so that we may discover who is correct.”
    Father shook his head as they climbed the steps. “People who
play with fire, my dear, get burned.”
    “True, but often the fire’s beauty makes the pain worth it.”
    ***
    Nick followed Miz Montgomery, arm linked with her father’s,
as she strolled across the yard to the waiting coach. Every swing of her
well-rounded hips sent a fresh wave of lust through his blood. When he recalled
their conversation the previous day, that lust turned to rough, driving hunger.
His hand itched to slide over the lush curves of those swinging hips, to her
waist, over her breasts, and then down toward her belly, while watching those
wildcat eyes darken in excitement.
    Damn.
    Damn, what had gotten into him? When he recollected his part
in that conversation, he just about winced. He knew better than to talk to a
lady like that. A good