A Good Man for Katie by Marie Patrick Read Free Book Online Page B

felt earlier whispered through him.
    The sound of a window opening and closing in the next room made him pull away, though with a great deal of reluctance. He’d rather stay here, with her, than follow whoever had been in his room. Duty called, however.
    “Lock your door, Katie. Don’t let anyone in.” He adjusted her glasses, which were crooked on her face, the lenses foggy, caressed her cheek with the side of his thumb then crawled over the windowsill.
    He grasped her hand, leaned in through the open window and kissed her once more, his lips brushing against hers with the lightest of touches.
    “Close and lock the window.” He waited until she followed orders then crept along the porch roof. Before he jumped to the street in pursuit, he gave her a salute and a grin.
    ****
    Kathryne closed the window but didn’t move away. She watched him until he disappeared into the darkness behind the town hall. The quarter moon didn’t offer much light but she caught a glimpse of a man running up the mountainside toward the schoolhouse before the night swallowed him.
    Focused on the first man, her nose pressed against the window, she almost missed Chase as he darted between the trees before the night swallowed him as well.
    Excitement rippled through her and collided with anxiety, which made her stomach tighten. If anyone knew Chase Hunter had been in her room, she would be ostracized by the town. Her chances of becoming Crystal Springs’ schoolteacher would disappear. The knowledge only doubled the excitement of his kiss.
    Her lips still tingled and her hands were warm simply because she had rested them on his chest. His pure, masculine essence filled her nose and the warmth of his body seemed slow to leave. She turned away from the window, only to stop short in the middle of the room.
    This is not the way to avoid scandal, Kate. Don’t you ever learn?
    And yet, she couldn’t stop thinking of him, of the way his mouth had touched hers with so much tenderness, so much longing. His soft gray eyes had darkened to almost pewter and in their depths, she’d seen desire. And something else she couldn’t quite define.
    And I just fell into his arms, didn’t I?
    The book she’d been reading, another tawdry escapade about bandits and stagecoach robberies, lay on the floor where she’d dropped it, the cover bent, the pages creased. Kathryne picked up the novel without looking at it and tossed it on the bed. She’d never be able to concentrate on the story now.
    The bed beckoned, but she wouldn’t be able to sleep, either, not with her blood sizzling through her veins. Kathryne glanced around. The tidy, little room seemed so much larger without his presence. And lonelier.
    He’d left his saddlebags where he dropped them. Kathryne studied the leather pouches and fought the compulsion to search them as someone had searched his room.
    “What are you thinking, Kate?” she asked aloud, her voice loud in the stillness. “You can’t rifle through someone else’s possessions.”
    With the intention of removing the temptation from her sight, she picked them up. Old and worn, the soft leather felt like butter beneath her fingers. She touched the clasp…
    The breath whooshed out of her with a startled cry. Her body stiffened. An overwhelming sense of sadness and loneliness rushed through her with such staggering clarity, tears pricked her eyes and her chest hurt. Her knees buckled and she reached for the bureau to steady herself, but the force of those emotions almost crushed her.
    Kathryne hadn’t felt a sensation this intense since Emeline had lost her parents and come to live with them. She remembered holding Emeline’s silver handled mirror, a gift from her mother, Evangeline, and suffering through the same emotions Emeline experienced. Pain. Loss. Confusion. Fear.
    At six years old, Kathryne hadn’t understood. She remembered being afraid—afraid to tell anyone what happened, afraid to touch the mirror again and feel such