Wyoming Tough - Diana Palmer [37]
“It wasn’t like that.” She faltered, flushing even more.
He gave her a long and very insulting look. “Sure.” He picked up his hat from where he’d tossed it, dusted it off, slanted it over his eyes and went to find his horse, which had wandered off to eat green grass. He mounted and turned the horse. He stared at her, but she didn’t look at him, or answer him. She went to get back on her own mount and rode away without another word.
She was going to have to leave. She knew it certainly. Mallory had made his opinion of her quite clear. What was unclear was why he’d suddenly started kissing her like that. She hadn’t asked for it. Or had she? Her obvious attraction to him was going to be disastrous. He was already suspicious of her, thanks to his girlfriend. She’d blurted out that embarrassing comment and now he was surely going to think she was some gold digger.
Her subconscious must be working overtime, she decided, because she had no conscious thought of starting a family. But to have a child, with a man like Mallory, who was so masculine and attractive…
And bullheaded and suspicious-minded and unkind, she added hotly to herself. Of course she wanted a child from a man like that!
Actually, in her young life, she’d never known passion or such hunger; she’d never thought of marrying and having children. She’d thought herself in love with the persistent accountant until she found out his true motives for courting her. But now she knew there had been nothing at all to that relationship. And he’d pressed her to sleep with him. He’d even said they had no need for birth control, because he wanted children with her. Somehow, she’d had the sense to deny him.
Mallory was thinking the exact same thing about her that she’d thought about her would-be lover. The accountant, she still couldn’t bring herself to say his name even silently, had wanted to trap her into marriage. Mallory thought Morie was up to the same underhanded game. It was humiliating.
She should have had more control of herself. It was just that he was heaven to kiss. And kissing had so quickly not been enough to satisfy either of them. If she hadn’t opened her mouth to say something so shocking, if he hadn’t pulled back in time…
She flushed, remembering how sweet it had been. She couldn’t allow that to happen again. Not that she’d be around long enough. She’d started trouble with the brothers, innocently, setting one against the other. Her presence here was causing problems. She should leave. Now. Today.
Yes. She should. She got back on her horse and started to turn him toward the ranch. But at the last minute, she couldn’t force herself to do it. Just a little longer, she promised herself. Just a few more days to look at Mallory from a distance and talk to him and dream of him. What would it hurt?
She started back to the fence line.
SEVERAL DAYS PASSED with no other incidents. Mallory, however, said hardly two words to Morie. He relayed instructions through Darby, who seemed uncomfortable for some reason.
Cane found Morie at the line cabin, where she was spending the day watching for calves to drop. He got off his horse with some little effort and walked up on the porch. Morie was drinking coffee from her thermos and eating a cold, buttered biscuit.
“Hi,” she greeted cheerily. “Want to share lunch?” She held out the half-eaten biscuit.
He shook his head. “No, thanks. I just had a thick roast-beef sandwich with homemade French fries.”
She groaned and looked at the biscuit. “I knew I wasn’t living right.”
He smiled. He pushed his wide-brimmed hat back on his head and his dark eyes narrowed. “What’s going on between you and Mal?” he asked unexpectedly.
She fumbled and spilled coffee on her jeans. Well, they were dirty anyway. “What…what do you mean?” She faltered, and ruined her poise by flushing.
He pursed his lips. “I see.”
“No, you don’t,” she shot back. “You don’t see. There’s nothing. Nothing at all!”
“Why, because he’s the boss