Baby, It's You by Jane Graves Read Free Book Online Page A

they were sweet and virginal, only to wear dresses that made men picture them naked. And that was exactly what he was doing right then. He knew he should be ashamed of himself for that. Rescue a damsel in distress, then fantasize about ravishing her? What kind of man did that?
    One who hadn’t seen a naked woman in so long he barely remembered what one looked like.
    “Oh, no,” she said. “Look at your shirt. It must have gotten muddy when you helped me up the stairs. I’m sorry.”
    She touched her fingertips to his chest, tracing the muddy blotches. Marc had been so preoccupied by having a near-naked woman standing in front of him that he hadn’t even thought about his muddy shirt. And now all he could think about was her soft, soft hand on his muddy shirt. Then she flattened her palm against him, and when he felt the warmth of it, his nerves went haywire. Her hand against his chest was actually making him hard, so hard he was sure not an ounce of blood was getting to his brain. She flexed her fingers against his chest, and fireworks exploded inside his head.
    Then it dawned on him. Good God. Was she actually coming on to him?
    He wasn’t sure. But if she was, it was wrong. So wrong. She was a marginally crazy woman who’d left her fiancé at the altar not five hours before, standing in front of him wearing a muddy dress with her hair in a wet blob on the side of her head. So why did none of that seem to matter to him? Why could he think of nothing else but tossing her down on that bed and having his way with her?
    Suddenly he heard footsteps in the hall. He jerked around just in time to see Gus push the door open—the one Marc realized now that he’d left ajar.
    Gus stopped short, looking back and forth between them. Kari was standing with her back to the door. That dress was unbuttoned below her waist. And those damned pink panties…
    He had definitely gotten an eyeful.
    “I was just bringing you sheets and whatnot,” he told Kari, holding them up. “Tell you what. Why don’t I just leave them right here on the dresser?” As he set them down, he had the nerve to smile. “You kids have a good time now.”
    With that, he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
    “Well, crap ,” Marc muttered.
    “What’s wrong?” Kari asked.
    “I have to go.”
    “Uh…okay,” she said, and he swore she sounded disappointed. Wishful thinking?
    It didn’t matter. He had to get out of there. It didn’t bother him for somebody to know he was with a woman. But it did bother him for somebody to think he was ravishing a helpless woman he didn’t even know an hour after she was in an accident. He would have liked to have said he didn’t care about any of that, but in a town the size of Rainbow Valley, gossip took on a life of its own.
    He headed for the door, calling back over his shoulder, “Like I said before, I’ll talk to Rick in the morning to tell him where to pick up your car. Gus will tell you how to get to his place.”
    “Okay.”
    He started out of the room only to turn back. “And the next time you think about doing something like leaving your wedding and driving two hundred miles, check the weather report.”
    “I will.”
    “And for God’s sake, take the dress off first.”
    She nodded. He left the room, then stuck his head back inside again, pointing his finger at her. “And don’t you ever— ever —let a man you don’t know undress you again.”
    “Even a nondangerous one?”
    “You know what I mean. You lucked out tonight. Never forget that.”
    Marc left her standing in the middle of the room, still clutching that dress to her breasts, and trotted down the stairs. He went straight to the bench near the front door to put his boots back on. Gus had settled into an overstuffed chair nearby, wearing a smirk that said he thought the whole thing was just a little too funny.
    “That wasn’t what you think,” Marc said, grabbing one of his boots.
    “Hey, no business of mine,”