Page 44 of Texas Honor

He felt himself weakening and hated it. She was under his skin, all right, and it was getting worse all the time. He wanted her until he ached, and it didn’t stop with his body. She stirred him inside, in ways no other woman ever had. Except Caroline. Caroline. Would he ever forget?

“Pretty words,” he said bitterly, searching her eyes.

“Pretty ideals,” she corrected. “I still believe in those old virtues. And someday I’ll find a man who believes in them, too.”

“In some graveyard, maybe.”

“You are so cynical!” she accused, exasperated.

“I had good teachers,” he retorted, slamming his Stetson down on his head to cock it arrogantly over one eye. “Are you ready?”

“I’m ready,” she muttered, sounding every bit as bad-tempered as he did.

He took her bag in one hand and opened the apartment door with the other. She followed him out, locked the door with a sigh and put the key in her purse. Her life was so unpredictable these days. Just like the man beside her.

The commercial flight seemed longer than it actually was. Mari had found a few magazines to read at the huge Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, and it was a good thing that she had because Ward pulled his hat over his eyes and folded his arms and he hadn’t said one word to her yet. The flight attendants were already serving their lunch, but Ward only glanced up, refusing food. Mari knew, as she nibbled at ham and cheese on a bun, that he had to be furious or sick. He never refused food for any other reason.

Mari was sorry that they’d quarreled. She shouldn’t have been because, if he was angry, at least he wouldn’t be making passes at her. But if he stayed angry, it was going to make working for him all that much harder, and she’d promised, God knew why, to do his secretarial work. Now she couldn’t imagine what had possessed her to agree. At the time it had seemed a wonderful idea. Of course, she’d had some crazy idea that he’d cared a little in order to come all that way to get her. Now it was beginning to seem as if he hated himself for the very thought. Mari was miserable. She should have said no. Then she remembered that she had, and that, ultimately, she had little choice in the matter.

She sighed over her food, glancing at him under the hat. “Aren’t you hungry?” she offered.

“If I was hungry, I’d be eating, wouldn’t I?” he muttered indistinctly.

She shrugged. “Then go right ahead and starve if you want to. I couldn’t care less.”

He lifted the brim of the hat and glared at her. “Like hell you couldn’t,” he retorted. “You and your pristine little conscience would sting for months.”

“Not on your account,” she assured him as she finished the ham. “After all, you’re starving yourself. I haven’t done anything.”

“You’ve ruined my appetite,” he said curtly.

Her eyebrows arched. “How did I do that, pray tell? By mentioning the word marriage? Some people don’t mind getting married. I expect to do it myself one of these days. You see, I don’t have your blighted outlook. I think you get out of a relationship what you put into it.”

His green eyes narrowed, glittering. “And just what would you plan to put into one?”

“Love, laughter and a lot of pillow talk,” she said without hesitation. “I expect to be everything my husband will ever want, in and out of bed. So you just go right ahead and have affairs, Mr. Jessup, until you’re too old to be capable of it, and then you can live alone and count your money. I’ll let my grandchildren come and visit you from time to time.”

He seemed to swell all over with indignation. “I can get married any time I want to,” he said shortly. “Women hound me to death to marry them!”

Her mouth made a soft whistle. “Do tell? And here you are pushing forty and still single...”

“I’m pushing thirty-six, not forty!”

“What’s the difference?” she asked reasonably.

He opened his mouth to answer, glared fiercely at her and then jerked his hat down over his eyes with a muttered curse. He didn’t speak to her again until the plane landed in Texas.

“Are you going to ignore me the rest of the way?” Mari said finally when they were in the Chrysler just a few minutes outside of Ravine.

“I can’t carry on a civilized conversation without having you blow up at me,” he said gruffly.

“I thought it was the other way around.” She picked a piece of lint off her sleeve. “You’re the one doing all the growling, not me. I just said that I wanted to get married and have babies.”

“Will you stop saying that?” He shifted angrily in the seat. “I’ll get hives just thinking about it.”

“I don’t see why. They’ll be my babies, not yours.”

He was grinding his teeth together. He’d just realized something that he hadn’t considered. Cousin Bud was young and personable and hungry to settle down. He’d take one look at this sweet innocent and be hanging by his heels, trying to marry her. Bud wasn’t like Ward; he was carefree and his emotions were mostly on the surface. He didn’t have scars from Caroline, and he wasn’t afraid of love. In fact, he seemed to walk around in a perpetual state of it. And here was Ward, bringing him the perfect victim. The only woman Ward had ever wanted and hadn’t got. Bud might be the one... Suddenly he slammed on the brakes.

---