The Rawhide Man by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online

wouldn’t presume that far.”
    “I don’t have much respect for women, if that’s what you meant,” he said, bending his head to light a cigarette. “Katy’s mother taught me a lot about them.”
    “All the bad things and none of the good,” Bess argued. “And how could you tell Katy that her mother was a…” She cleared her throat.
    “Can’t you say the word? Would it soil your elitist tongue to say it?” he taunted.
    “Anyway, it was cruel to say it in front of Katy. A girl needs at least the illusion of a mother, and you’ve robbed her of hers,” she returned. “She’s dead, after all. She can’t harm Katy.”
    “Her memory could,” he said flatly, his eyes glittering. “I won’t discuss Elise with you.”
    “I’m not asking you to,” she said, avoiding his gaze. “But it would be kind if you could stop saying horrible things about her to Katy.”
    “I can’t talk to you,” he ground out. “Everything I say winds up being defensive.”
    “Pardon me for breathing,” she said calmly.
    “Damn you…!”
    She jerked at the hot whip of his deep voice, and pushed herself back into the cushions, crushing the list she was following in one hand.
    He took a deep drag from the cigarette. “You make my blood run hot,” he said savagely. “I’ve never in my life wanted to hit a woman as much as I’d like to hit you, so don’t press your luck!”
    She didn’t say a word. In that white-hot anger, he was more frightening than ever. She sat, stiff-backed, and tried not to back down.
    He studied her pale face for a long time. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” he asked suddenly. His eyes narrowed. “Yes, I think you are. That’s why you’re so much on the offensive with me. Offense is the best defense, is that how you see it?”
    He saw altogether too much. He rattled her. She put the list aside and stood up, moving quickly out of his reach. “I need to help Aggie,” she said nervously.
    “No, you don’t. You just need to run off and hide.”
    Her lower lip trembled betrayingly as she looked at him from the safety of the door. “I’ll be careful to keep my thoughts to myself from now on,” she said with dignity. “Will that satisfy you?”
    He frowned and studied her. “You are afraid,” he said, as if it shocked him.
    She turned and ran out the door, slamming it quickly behind her.
    After that, he was strangely quiet around her. But watchful, and faintly calculating. It made her more nervous than ever.
    Meanwhile, she was reacquainting herself with the ranch and loving every mile of its awesome spread. Katy had told her that wildflowers bloomed profusely in the spring—Bess had never been there at that time of year—bluebells and Indian paintbrush and Indian blanket, prickly poppies on the cactus, and maypop and lantana. There would be beautiful yellow black-eyed Susans with black centers, and Mexican hats with their festive yellow-fringed red petals around tall black centers.
    Right now, though, it was winter and nothing was blooming except Bess’s growing but reluctant attraction to Jude. She found herself staring at him when he didn’t see her, her eyes glued to his tall, powerful figure as he walked around the ranch and the house. It was growing increasingly harder not to stare at him over the dinner table. And all the time, he looked at her with that strange, calculating expression.
    On their wedding day, she dressed in the white gown, but with all her uncertainties showing in her eyes. Was she doing the right thing? Was it sane to let him force her into a marriage that might destroy her? She was afraid of him, all right, but not for the reasons he thought. She was afraid because she wanted him. That wild encounter in the hall had shown her just how much she wanted him. But he didn’t want anything from her except her shares. He’d made that perfectly clear. Could she risk living in such close proximity to him and go from day to day without letting everything she