To Love a Stranger by Connie Mason Read Free Book Online

continued to resist marriage to Cora Lee, he’d be hung before the circuit judge came through town. And he’d be damned before he’d play papa to Cora Lee’s bastard, if indeed she was in the family way. He spitout a curse. Women were all schemers, and Zoey was more clever than most. She wasn’t above usingblackmail to rope him into her harebrained plot.
    On the other hand, Pierce knew he was in no condition to flee. If he refused, Zoey threatened to call in the law. Was she capable of doing such a thing? He thought she was. Desperate women were capable of anything. His only hope was to bide his time and pray that his brothers found the man who beat Cora Lee, or convince Cora Lee to tell the truth. The truth would vindicate him.
    “Give me your answer,” Zoey pressed. God, she hated what she was doing, but she was under tremendous pressure. Her dream was to marry a man she loved, a man who wanted her. And obviously Pierce Delaney was dead set against marrying any woman.
    Pierce’s eyes turned hard and his lips pulled into a taut smile. “So you want to marry me.”
    Zoey didn’t like the sound of that. “Only for a short time. Until I can find the missing deed and prove Willoughby a liar.”
    “You want this to be a marriage in name only?” Pierce qualified. His gaze rested on her breasts.
    Heat suffused her. What was he getting at? “Of course, I’d have it no other way.”
    Without warning, Pierce grabbed her arm and pulled her down onto the bed. She fell atop him, but he ignored the pain. “Tell me, Miss Zoey Fuller, what will you do if I demand my husbandly right?”
    Zoey looked into the glittering depths of his green eyes and suddenly found it difficult to breathe. “You wouldn’t!”
    He nodded grimly.
    “Why? You don’t even know me.”
    Deliberately trying to frighten her into changing her mind, Pierce said, “I know all I need to know. You’re a woman, a damned attractive one, too.”
    Zoey felt the heat of his gaze searing her. “Let me up!”
    Looking deeply into the clear blue depths of her eyes, Pierce very deliberately placed a hand on her breast, squeezing gently, rubbing the unfettered nipple between his thumb and forefinger. With satisfaction, he watched her eyes widen in shock.
    “No!”
    “That’s only a taste of what we’ll do if you force me into this marriage.”
    “But …”
    Pierce couldn’t resist the temptation of those moist lips, slightly parted and ripely lush. Grabbing a handful of hair in his fist, he pulled her head back and tasted her. Her breath was sweetly scented, and against his will Pierce was drawn deeper into the magic of the kiss. He heard her whimper as his tongue thrust past her teeth into her mouth, but he couldn’t have stopped now if he wanted to. And he certainly didn’t want to. Surprisingly, he was enjoying the lesson he was teaching Zoey.
    Zoey resisted fiercely when Pierce’s tongue swept past her teeth into her mouth. Her body stiffened in his arms and she pulled away abruptly. Pierce groaned in frustration. He was enjoying this too much! When she backed away from him, his look of blunt sexual calculation brought heat rushing to her cheeks.
    “Are you willing to surrender to me as a wife should?” Pierce asked harshly. “Because if wemarry, I’ll damn sure demand my rights.”
    Scrambling off the bed, Zoey backed away, glaring at him in confusion. Her face was flushed, her chest rising and falling with each angry breath she took. A distinct sense of unreality engulfed her, as if this were all a bad dream. But she wasn’t stupid, she knew Pierce was trying to frighten her. Yet she couldn’t deny his kiss had sent her stomach into a wild whirl. The fact that she had responded to his kiss, even for a moment, stunned her. It wouldn’t happen again.
    Hands on hips, she challenged him boldly. “If you do anything like that again, I’ll bring the vigilantes here faster than you can say your name. I know what you’re doing and it won’t