From This Day Forward by Deborah Cox Read Free Book Online

same time, he reached over and jerked the reins from Caroline's hands, forcing her mount to a stop beside his and moving so that their legs were sandwiched between the bodies of the horses. They were so close she could feel the heat and unrelenting power of his body.
    "You are a very daring woman!" he said, a hint of disbelief in his voice. His hard, unyielding eyes pierced her self-control, and she glanced away uncomfortably, irrationally afraid that he would see through to her very soul if she didn't break the gaze.
    "I—I'm sure I don't know what you..." she stammered, hating herself for allowing him to bully her.
    "Don't play games with me." The menacing tone in his voice sent a shiver up her spine. "I won't be toyed with. You would do well not to challenge me."
    "Know my place, is that what you're saying?" Perhaps he wasn't so different from the men she'd come into contact with in New Orleans and at medical school. All her life she'd been confronted by ignorance and narrow-mindedness. Why had she thought Jason Sinclair would be different?
    He drew himself up to his full height and gazed down at her with eyes that glared a warning. "That's exactly what I'm saying."
    "And what if I refuse?" she asked, quelling the fear that threatened her composure.
    "It would not be wise. No one defies me or intentionally provokes me here, and certainly not a—"
    "A woman? Is that what you were going to say? A woman?"
    He grabbed her so quickly she didn't have time to react. He pulled her out of her saddle, halfway across his lap. His hard chest crushed her breasts as his mouth found hers in a kiss that sent currents of heat down her torso, scorching a path to her belly.
    He had expected her to fight him, and that he could have dealt with, but not this surrender that strangely made her the victor. He had meant to punish her, not to gratify her, not to become caught up in this irresistible spiral of desire.
    He had to stop, even though her mouth tasted as sweet as nectar and her body incited him to satisfy the building torment within him. She'd bewitched him, robbed him of his will. By her very submission, she had become the aggressor, and he sensed that he would lose much more than he would gain if he didn't stop this now.
    He set her back in her saddle ungently and disentangled himself from her arms that had been locked around him. His chest still burned from the feel of the pinpoints of her nipples, and his breath rasped painfully in his lungs.
    He wanted her with a fierceness that nearly consumed him. He wanted to make love to her right here and right now. She'd returned his kisses with a fervor of her own that told him she would not deny him should he pull her from her horse and carry her to the beneficio.
    It was still early enough that his men would be in the orchards for at least another hour. No one would disturb them should he lay her gently on the empty patio and make love to her.
    They were married. By the laws of God and man, he had every right to take her, but he could not, not now. Yes, they were bound by law, but he wasn't ready to make that final commitment, not yet. There were too many things unsettled between them.
    When he did take her, it would not be because she'd seduced him or goaded him. It would be on his terms—when and where he chose.
    She lifted a hand to smooth a lock of hair that had come loose from her chignon, and he noticed with some satisfaction that her fingers trembled slightly. Her gaze dropped away from his as if she couldn't bear to look at him.
    "I think I've seen enough," she whispered in a voice that trembled ever so slightly. "Please, take me back to the house."
    As he watched her move slowly up the path toward the house, he experienced none of the gratification he'd expected over his victory. Was this what he had wanted? To make her loathe him? To kill the glimmer of admiration he saw in her eyes whenever she looked at him?
    The taste of regret bitter in his mouth, he turned his own horse and