The Texas Rancher's Vow. Cathy Thacker Gillen

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СКАЧАТЬ grim. “I was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to this.”

      His words had an ominous ring. Jen felt her stomach clench. For the first time since she had arrived at the ranch, she felt she was out of her league as she stared into his implacable blue eyes.

      Wordlessly, he handed over the file he held. “You have a very interesting past.”

      His statement delivered a punch a hundred times more powerful than she had anticipated. “You had me investigated?”

      He let out a breath. “I checked into the backgrounds of all the artists my father was interested in.” Moving closer, he looked at her for a long minute. “Curiously enough, you were the only one who had married for cash. I guess my dad really does have a radar for fortune hunters.”

      Jen’s temper rose. “I did not marry for money, Matt. I married for love.” Which, unfortunately, had turned out to be one-sided.

      His eyes dipped down to her mouth, then back up again. “His family says otherwise. They say you led their son down the garden path, and had they not intervened, you would have gone through his entire trust fund in a matter of years.”

      Jen knew how it looked. But how it looked and how it was were two entirely different things.

      Sensing Matt Briscoe wouldn’t believe her even if she did tell him everything that had transpired during the two unhappiest years of her life, she focused on the facts that would vindicate her. At least in Emmett Briscoe’s eyes. She tilted her head and murmured, “Then you also must have uncovered the fact that I left the marriage exactly as I entered it. With five hundred dollars in my savings account. The clothes on my back. An armful of possessions. And the same van I’m driving now.”

      He looked at her for a long moment. “A smart move, if you were looking for another rich man to bamboozle.”

      “But what if I wasn’t?” Jen swallowed hard. “What if, at the end of the day, all I wanted was my freedom? My self-respect intact?”

      A devastating silence fell.

      Matt didn’t believe her.

      He was never going to believe her.

      So Jen did the only thing she could do.

      She gave up trying to convince him of the truth and took another approach. One that a man like him would buy.

      Dropping all pretext of innocence, she threw up her hands and sashayed toward him like a hussy on the hunt. “You’re right.” Reaching behind him, she shut the bedroom door, then swung back around to face him. “Why deny it?” Her heart pounding, she glided even closer and lifted a hand to his hard chest. “I did come out here looking for another rich husband.” She splayed her fingers over his heart. “But it’s not your father I want, Matt,” she confessed, even more softly. “It’s you.”

      His eyes smoldered. He caught her wrist and held her away. “Very funny.”

      Her instinct was to fight his grip. Instead, she relaxed into it. Pretended she wanted him to touch her. Moved closer still.

      “Do I look like I’m joking?” Aware what a dangerous game she was playing, she brought her other hand up to trace his lower lip. “You’re a vibrant and sexy guy.” Surely, in another second or two he’d realize how ridiculous this all was.

      “Tall. Dark-haired. Handsome.” She continued her litany of his attributes. “What’s not to like?” She let her fingers sift through his dark, curly hair, stroke the shell of his ear, feel the pulse in his throat.

      “It’s not going to work.” He stared at her, daring her to get past his tough exterior.

      “Sure about that?” Jen prodded, her ego suddenly in play. She extricated her wrist from his hand. “Sure you don’t want to make a pass at me, just a little bit?”

      Again he refused to budge.

      “What if I want to make a pass at you?” With both hands free, she wreathed her arms around his neck.

      To her disappointment, he didn’t respond.

      “What if I want to kiss you…” She rose on tiptoe and, with lust pouring through her, brushed her lips ever so briefly across the scruff on his jaw. “Just like this…”

      Matt remained still as a statue. The only hint that he might be affected by her outrageous ploy was the heat emanating from his body, the thudding of his heart and lower, the unmistakable imprint of desire.

      “You really want to find out?” he asked hoarsely.

      Did she? Jen tilted her head and searched his eyes.

      Maybe not…

      She stepped back slightly, telling herself that she had made her point.

      Then, to her shock, Matt made his. His arms clamped around her, tugging her close again. Suddenly, she was anchored against him in a way that thoroughly outlined the challenge he presented to her.

      Aware that it was her turn to call his bluff, she narrowed her eyes and declared, “You. Wouldn’t. Dare.”

      Matt lifted an eyebrow, lowered his head and growled, “Yeah? Watch me.”

      Chapter Three

      Matt had not expected their confrontation to end with a kiss. But as he gave into instinct and flattened one hand against her spine and slid the other through the silk of her hair, he knew that was exactly where it was headed. Trouble was, one kiss wouldn’t begin to satisfy the desire pouring through him. Not when he brushed her mouth lightly with his; not when he responded to the slight opening of her lips and moved in to kiss her hard and deep. And

      especially not when he heard her make a soft, sexy sound that was part frustration, part need.

      And then, suddenly, she was surprising him again by meeting his demand. Going up on tiptoe. Wreathing her arms about his shoulders once again.

      Her breasts pressed against his chest. He felt the hardness of her nipples, the quick beating of her heart, the erratic rasp of her breath. And knew he had invited way more than should be happening….

      Jen knew Matt was only trying to prove a point.

      She was proving one, too. Not only could she handle a forbidden kiss. Or two. Or in this case, three… She could handle him.

      Yes, he was hard and sexy. Yes, he looked really hot, whether dressed up, as he’d been the first time they’d met, or in a simple chambray shirt and worn jeans, as he was now.

      Yes, he knew how to fit her against him for maximum contact, angle his head and kiss her breathless.

      He tasted good. A combination of cool spearmint, warm summer sun…and man.

      And he made her feel wonderful.

      All soft and willing and womanly.

      Even when she knew she was not going to let this go any further than it already had, for fear her knees would collapse under СКАЧАТЬ