The Lawman's Agreement (Entangled Scandalous) Read Online Free PDF Page B

better be going,” he said. “We’ve both got an early morning.”
    “Thank you again for a lovely dinner,” Suzanne said, as Zack laid her cloak across her shoulders.
    “It was our pleasure,” Felicity told them. “You two be careful driving back into town.”
    …
    “How do you think they took to the idea?” Zack asked, once he turned the buggy onto the road leading to town.
    “Felicity and Miri seemed quite amused. I’m not so certain about your Aunt Virginia.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You have to remember, your aunt is from a different generation. When she was our age women married either for love or for convenience, or even by pre-arrangement. Either way, there was no subterfuge, no lengthy engagement, just marriage.”
    “Jake and Matt seemed to be onboard with the whole plan.”
    “Well, of course they are. I’m sure they see this as a grand solution, just as you do. Men think about courting with their heads, women with their hearts.”
    “So, does that mean you’re in this agreement with your heart, cher ?”
    “I’m not your typical woman, Marshal.”
    Zack slapped the reins down, urging the horse to a faster pace before agreeing with her self-assessment. “You can say that again.”
    He dropped Suzanne off twenty minutes later, seeing her to the door. With nobody else in sight, he had no excuse to press a kiss to her cheek and, quite truthfully, was disappointed at the lost opportunity. Zack returned the horse and carriage to the livery and then walked the short distance to Miss Purdy’s boarding house. Withdrawing the room key from his pocket, he opened the door and slipped quietly inside.He removed his boots, fancy dress shirt and trousers and lay down on his bed. Immediately, Suzanne’s image popped into his head. She’d looked even lovelier than usual tonight, out of her neatly starched dresses with their functional pockets, and into a beautiful evening dress of palest blue. She’d even loosened the tight knot of her upswept hairdo and let wisps of spun gold hang loosely across her shoulders.
    More than once, he’d caught himself reaching out to lift the silky strands and run them through his fingers, stopping short of actually following through with the unconscious desire. On one such occasion, he could have sworn he caught Felicity watching him, a demure smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
    He’d have to be careful where his family was concerned. If there was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was to draw them any farther into their ruse than necessary. His and Suzanne’s agreement was between them and the townspeople they were doing their best to discourage. No one else need be involved.
    Zack began to drift off to sleep. Behind his closed eyelids, he pictured himself releasing the pins holding Suzanne’s blond tresses in place. He’d draw his hands through the curls and set them loose against the creamy soft skin of her bare shoulders. She’d look up at him and smile just before he took her mouth in a deep and thoroughly enticing kiss. The image did little to aid his quest for sleep, but rather had him stirring restlessly on the narrow bed. He punched the feather pillow into submission and turned onto his side.
    His deputy’s words ten days earlier came back to him in a rush.
    “You know what you need, Zack. You need a wife.”
    Zack didn’t want a wife. What he wanted was an agreement, a fake fiancée, and Suzanne Martindale fit the bill quite well. If only this ache in his body would go away and leave them to their ruse.
    …
    “Where are we going for this pretend picnic you were so adamant in planning?” Suzanne asked, once Zack set the buggy in motion.
    “The picnic is not pretend, there’s real food in this basket.”
    “Sorry,” she teased, amused by his hurt tone. “Where are we going for our real picnic, but fake courtship?”
    “I thought we’d head just south of town. There’s some nice waterfront land there where we can sit along the