Page 37 of The Recluse & the Fugitive

“I want to take good care of you,” he said, “and I will do whatever you need me to do, but it is not a good idea for us to sleep in the same room.”

“Why not?” She folded her trim arms across her chest.

“I promised myself and heaven above that I would stay pure before marriage.”

“Are you intoning if we slept in the same room, you would not stay pure?”

He was in hot water now. “I would pray I’d have the self-control to keep my distance, but I believe it’s safer and smarter to stay out of situations that would test that self-control to the limit. If I knew I’d become an alcoholic with one drink, I wouldn’t hang out in the local bar.”

She pushed out a surprised laugh at that, but then she threatened to undo him when she walked across the hallway and stopped half a foot away. The pillow and blanket were the only defenses he had between them.

He’d sensed a purity about Jacey. What was she doing trying to push his limits? She might think she knew him well and trusted him, but truth be told, she’d known him less than twenty-four hours and she was the vulnerable one—injured, in danger, alone in an unknown man’s house, far away from civilization.

“Are you intoning I am a temptation to you, Cade Miller?”

He snorted at that. “Sweetheart. I’m saying I’ve never been around a woman so enticing in my thirty plus years, and if you don’t march back across the hallway, slam that door, and lock it, maybe shove a dresser in front of it, we’re both going to regret it.”

He clamped his mouth shut. That reveal had been a huge mistake.

Her eyes lit up like he’d given her a puppy for Christmas. “That is the difference between you and me, cowboy,” she drawled. “I would have no regrets if you kissed me for an immeasurably long time.”

Cade’s eyes went wide, and his heart slammed against his rib cage over and over again. He clung to his pillow and blanket and only stayed straight because he feared if he leaned against the wall, he’d reveal how weak he was for her.

“I might not have my memories, but I know what I want,” she said, her blue eyes bewitching him.

“Jacey,” he all but moaned. “Can you please have pity on me?”

“Pity?” She shook her head. “On you? The toughest, bravest man on earth? Who would pity you?”

Loads of people when Sheryl broke him and he made a fool of himself in front of the whole town. He didn’t like pity and he was tough, but he was weak for Jacey.

“Your brother is trusting me to take care of you. If I kiss you, when you’re under my protection and you don’t even know your past or what you want in the future…” He shook his head. “That would be taking advantage of you, the situation, your trust, and your brother and the Colevilles’ trust. Please don’t ask me to do that.”

He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but it wasn’t right. Not like this.

She studied him, and he hated the spot he was in. He longed to kiss her, but there were so many reasons to stay strong.

“Forgive me,” she said softly.

Then she spun and hurried into the room, closing the door behind her.

Cade deflated against the wall. He studied that door and clung to his bedding and toiletries for a very long time.

One day with the most beautiful and intriguing woman in the world. A woman who was damaged and in danger. Jacey brought out every protective and longing instinct he’d buried after Sheryl.

He didn’t know how he’d get through another day alone with her. And at the same time, he could hardly wait to see what she said and did and looked like tomorrow. How many times she made him laugh and smile. How she made him long for her to never leave.

Maybe her memories would come back tomorrow and she’d realize how far beneath her he was.

That made his chest tighten with panic. He wanted to burst into his own bedroom, lift her out of his bed, and kiss her. Would a life-altering kiss between them somehow convince her not to walk away?

He shook his head in disgust at himself. He’d just told her how wrong it would be of him to kiss her under these circumstances.

She wasn’t his Jacey, his sweetheart. She was Jacqueline Oliver. She would never fit in his remote valley as some cowgirl. No matter how she captured him with her blue eyes, how she made him feel needed, how he needed her, and how incredible she looked on Annie’s back.

He wouldn’t get any sleep tonight.

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