The Rancher's Marriage Pact by Kristi Gold Read Free Book Online

world. He could propose a marriage pact to a woman.
    Probably best to sleep on it for now and decide in the morning—if he actually got any sleep at all.

Three
    S haking off the fog of sleep, Paris came into consciousness slowly in reaction to a ribbon of light landing on her face. She opened her eyes and squinted at first, until she spotted the man with an open chambray shirt sitting in the chair in the corner, putting on his boots. Her eyes went wide when she remembered her current location—a stranger’s bed.
    Then it all came back to her, one frame at a time, like a mortifying slide show. Dinner with Dallas Calloway. Two drinks. Getting drunk. Getting into his bed. And that kiss she’d instigated.
    Paris resisted the urge to pull the covers over her head and hide away until he left. Or she could choose the mature path and apologize again for her stupid behavior.
    After scooting up against the tufted leather headboard, Paris pushed her hair away from her face and cleared her throat to garner his attention. “What time is it?”
    He glanced at her, rose to his feet and began buttoning his shirt, but not before she caught a good glimpse of his toned chest, ridged abdomen and the thin happy trail leading to his open fly. “It’s after nine,” he said. “I thought for a minute there you might sleep until lunchtime.”
    She thought for a minute there she might swallow her tongue due to his sheer male perfection. “You should have woken me sooner.”
    â€œI tried.”
    â€œApparently not very hard.”
    â€œI nearly shook your shoulder off, but you didn’t budge.” He cracked a crooked smile. “How’s your head?”
    â€œFuzzy.” But not so fuzzy that she couldn’t recall what a fool she’d made of herself.
    â€œNeed an aspirin?” he asked as he tucked his shirt into the jeans’ waistband.
    She needed an escape route when she noticed her skirt and top hanging on the end of the bedpost. “No, I’m fine,” she said as she clutched the covers tighter. “I do need to get dressed and go home.”
    He barked out a laugh. “That’s usually my morning line.”
    It suddenly occurred to her she might not remember everything about their evening, although she couldn’t imagine forgetting that . “Uh, we didn’t do anything...you know.”
    He buckled his belt and approached the side of the bed. “Unfortunately ‘you know’ wasn’t involved. You did strip down to your underwear, but I didn’t look.”
    â€œI’ve definitely heard that before.” She determined an amendment would be best before he assumed she slept around. “From my ex-husband, and he was telling the truth. He rarely looked at me the last few years of our wedded non-bliss.”
    â€œYour husband sounds like an idiot. No offense.”
    â€œNo offense taken. You’ve pegged him right, although my actions last evening would probably qualify as idiotic. I’m so sorry I subjected you to that.”
    He grabbed an off-white straw cowboy hat hanging from a hook near the door. “Look, you had a little too much to drink. It happens.”
    â€œNot to me,” she muttered. “I can’t recall ever drinking so much that I took off my clothes and climbed into a stranger’s bed.”
    â€œDarlin’, since all you did was climb into my bed, I think you can stop worrying about your actions.”
    â€œBut I kissed you. Or at least I think I did.”
    His grin expanded. “Oh, yeah, you did. And you won’t hear me complainin’ about that at all.”
    At least that was reassuring. “I want to be clear I have never done anything like this before.”
    â€œKissed someone?”
    â€œKissed someone I just met.”
    â€œI kind of like knowing I was your first.”
    â€œI like knowing you’re not completely disgusted with me.”
    â€œNothing