Steel Heart (Historical Western Romance) (Longren Family series #2, Chloe and Matthew's story) Read Online Free PDF Page B

under his grasp, but he lowered his head and caught my mouth with his.
                  It started as fight but Matthew's mouth was hot, his lips winter-rough, his breath sweet, no trace of whisky.  Partway into the kiss, he reached down one hand and cupped my cheek.  Without thinking, I pressed my head into his palm, pressed my mouth harder against his. 
                  His other hand went away from the door, away from me, leaving one side of me suddenly cold and wanting him back.  I opened my eyes and pulled back, looking into his face.
                  Looking into the tiny circle of twisted metal he held up in front of me. 
                  I stared.  "What is that?"
                  Matthew grinned, looking a great deal like he must have when he was a little boy growing up, driving his older siblings crazy, tagging after Hutch, making Annie despair.
                  "Barbed wire."
                  That was about right.  I couldn't quite stop staring at it.  "Why?"
                  "Because I don't have a thimble.  Silly, of course.  Annie must have dozens at her dress shop.  But I didn't want to tell Annie before I told you."
                  My breath caught.  The day had been long, too full of events.  It was not every day someone tried to kill me.
                  It was not every day Matthew Longren proposed.
                  "Matthew?"
                  "Miss Chloe Anders, will you marry me?"
                 
                  He was going to have to ask my father and Gold Hill's Mayor wasn't going to be happy.  He was going to have to get past my mother, far more ferocious than my father, though she'd always thought eventually Matthew would come around.
                  I'd marry him, even if they said no.
     
                  Meeting his eyes, looking again at the ring, a twisted band of metal, something taken from the garden at the house he'd bought from Hutch, maybe.  Because he didn't want to tell Annie before he told me, he hadn't asked for a thimble.
                  Told me?
                  But the smile was taking over my face.  "Matthew Longren, I will marry you."
                  The barbed wire ring went flying.  I heard it hit the floor and roll.  He grabbed me around the waist, spun me in a circle that made my head start aching again, cheered so loudly, someone somewhere down the hall called to us to stop, spun me until we were dizzy and let me drop down the length of his body, mine pressed against his, my arms coming down around his neck, his hands pressing up my back, pulling me tight against him.
                  "I love you, Miss Chloe Anders."
                  "I love you, Mr. Matthew Longren."
                  Outside, the moonlight flared bright again as clouds shredded across the sky.  The curtains were open.  I closed them without conscious thought, leaning across the davenport to pull them together.  When I turned back, Matthew was there, close enough to catch me up in his arms and press tight against me.  Our mouths came together again, his hands pulled me tight.  I fumbled, dizzy, reached for the sofa under the window and we both sank down to it, Matthew pressing me back against it, our arms around each other, mouths connecting, breath coming fast and then his mouth moved, his lips trailed hot across my jaw, into my hair.  He breathed my name, traced the lines of my face with his fingers and all the while, I was pressing my fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth back to mine, saying his name, trying to remember the anger and hurt of only an hour ago, less. We were moving so fast; he'd asked me to marry him.
                  "You dropped the ring."
                  "I owe you a