The Lone Rancher by Carol Finch Read Free Book Online Page B

could form reasonable answers to those befuddling questions, his brain broke down. He devouredher dewy lips. Damn, she tasted good and she felt like the devil’s own temptation in his arms. He could feel the imprint of her hips against his groin, feel her breasts meshed against his heaving chest. He went on kissing her as if his very life depended on it…until he was forced to come up for air.
    They stared at each other wide-eyed, gasping to draw air into their starved lungs. Quin took a step back and was surprised that his knees buckled slightly. He was not surprised, however, to realize that the ache south of his belt buckle was pulsing in rhythm with his pounding heartbeat.
    â€œThat was uncalled for!” she spouted off, breasts heaving, face flushed.
    â€œYou started it,” he countered—and realized he sounded ridiculously childish. But damn it, this woman made him loco.
    â€œMe?” She glared pitchforks at him. “I’d rather kiss my horse. Do not ever do that again or I will have the city marshal bring assault charges against you.”
    â€œNot before I file charges against you for trying to entice me into letting you keep my foreman.”
    She reared back a doubled fist but Quin grabbed hold of it before she socked him in the jaw. “Do us both a favor and go home, Boston. Clear out of Texas. I’ll pay you exactly what you paid for this floundering ranch.”
    â€œYou can rot in Hades, Cahill,” she spewed furiously. “Furthermore, I cannot believe my cousin calls you friend. You are an infuriating beast of a man!”
    â€œYour cousin? ” He stared stupidly at her.
    â€œRosalie Greer Burnett,” she said in a huff. Then she wrested her fist from his grasp. “Her mother and myfather were brother and sister. I thought Rosa had better taste.”
    â€œThat’s why you moved here?” he asked, dumb-founded.
    â€œPartly.” She rearranged the blouse that had somehow become twisted when she kissed him half to death. “I told you, I’m making a new life for myself in a place that is supposed to be more accepting of women who want more than to become a wife to a man who thinks he’s entitled to boss her around. As if she doesn’t have a brain in her head and needs a man’s permission to do the slightest thing. You, I suspect, are nothing like Lucas. He treats Rosa as his equal partner, not his chattel.”
    â€œYou don’t know me well enough to know how I’d treat my wife,” he pointed out. “ If I decide I want one. Which I don’t .”
    â€œNor do I care to know you any better than I do now.” She made another stabbing gesture with the same forefinger she had poked into his chest earlier. “Now get off my property. And do not come back unless you send advanced notice so I can gird up for battle before you arrive.”
    He smirked sarcastically. “Boston, you don’t need advanced warning. You’re pricklier than my horse Cactus.”
    â€œI can see why your horse might be contrary,” she shot back. “Having you ride him is barely tolerable, I suspect.”
    He smiled devilishly when she clamped those kissable lips shut and looked as if she wished she could retract that reckless remark. “Cactus has no complaints. It might be more enjoyable than you think, Boston.”
    She puffed up like an offended cobra. “I have work to do and I have no time to listen to your rude, suggestive comments,” she all but shouted at him, her bosom heaving in outrage. “Good day, Cahill, and good riddance!”
    Quin swooped down to pluck up the Stetson she had knocked off his head while she practically climbed all over him to get closer so she could kiss him senseless. Moreover, she was not pinning that hot, breathless embrace on him. He hadn’t started it…had he? It was all her fault.
    On that righteous thought, he crammed the hat on his head and veered