The Temptress by Jude Deveraux Read Free Book Online Page A

alone?”
    â€œAlways. Are you going to look at my feet and get this over with? I need to check the trail ahead to see what’s happened to it over the years.”
    Reluctantly, Chris removed her hands from his skin as he turned and sat up. For a moment their eyes locked and held. Chris never wanted to look away but Ty broke the gaze.
    â€œI was safer in jail,” he mumbled. “Here! Take a look at my feet. That should keep you busy for a while.”
    With a sigh, Chris turned away from his face to look at his feet—then gasped. There were blisters, and blisters that had been worn away to bloody patches and what wasn’t actually blistered was about to. “New boots and no socks,” she said, taking one foot in her hand. “Did you just put them on and wear them without breaking them in first?”
    â€œI had to. I’d ruined my dancing slippers the night before,” he said solemnly.
    She laughed. “I’ll bandage these places and then I’ll see if Mr. Prescott has an extra pair of socks.”
    â€œNo!” Ty said quickly. “I don’t take charity.”
    Chris looked at him in astonishment. “All right,” she said after a moment. “No charity. But the first town we come to, we buy you socks. My father did pay you for rescuing me, didn’t he?”
    â€œYes,” he said, watching her as she began to bandage his foot. She ran her hands over his ankles which were as raw as his wrists. “Chains?” she asked.
    He acted as if she hadn’t asked. “What made you go after Lanier anyway?”
    â€œI don’t know. Somebody has to. John Anderson will have that story in print by now. People hate the Indians even more than they already do whenever they hear of them killing missionaries. This time they didn’t do it, Hugh Lanier did, and I didn’t think it was fair for the Indians to get the blame.”
    â€œEven though it meant that a white man, a man you knew, would probably lose everything?”
    â€œThe missionaries lost everything,” she said softly.
    â€œI’ve never seen a woman who handled being shot at as well as you did yesterday. Had some practice?”
    â€œSome,” she answered.
    â€œI thought women like you wanted to stay home and raise babies.”
    â€œWhat does that mean, women like me? Besides, I’ve never been in love. Have you?” She held his ankle in her hands and had no idea how her fingers were tightening.
    â€œA few times. Hey! Your little nails are sharp.”
    â€œSorry,” she mumbled, her head down.
    â€œWhat does it matter to you if I’ve ever been in love?”
    â€œIt doesn’t, of course,” she said stiffly, easing the pressure on his foot. “I ask questions of everyone.”
    â€œLook, Miss Mathison, believe me when I say I’m not your type. I’m a drifter and if there isn’t any trouble I seem to make it. You ought to learn something from Elsie. She turned me in because she can’t stand me.”
    Chris smiled at him. “You probably didn’t pay enough attention to her.”
    Ty leaned back on his elbows and watched a bird overhead. “A man can’t spend two years in jail and then not give something like Elsie every ounce of his attention.”
    She yanked on the bandage she was wrapping around his foot. “If you like women like her, that is. I doubt if you’ve seen a woman like her without her corsets.”
    Ty looked back at her, his eyes dancing with laughter. “Fat, are they?”
    â€œTwenty-seven-inch waists at least and maybe they do have a lot on top but by the time they’re twenty-two, they’ll all be sagging and—” Chris stopped, aghast at what she was saying. “Put your boots on,” she said rigidly. “Maybe you can get a fat woman to change the bandages in a day or two since you obviously like well padded women and I’m sure I’m too