Page 66 of Wild Horses

She stilled her hand, closing her eyes as she thought back to all those fights and realized in that moment, that all those fights were one-sided. Not once did she ever remember him hitting her. He’d just laughed and held up his arms to deflect her blows.

Releasing a breath, she leaned her head against the horse’s side. Years worth of regret flooded her body and left her so fatigued it felt as if she hadn’t slept in weeks.

All those years of thinking he hated her when he actually liked her, just as her pa used to say. All the teasing she’d suffered from her aunts and uncle was because they knew. They knew why Jesse picked so many fights. And she’d been clueless. She still was, apparently.

She turned and searched him out, finding him near a cluster of men coming from the river. He was smiling about something, then turned his head her way as if he knew she was looking at him.

Their pretend wedding night came back to her in a flash of images. The things he’d done to her made her cheeks heat and caused her heart to do that funny little dance in her chest again.

Had he enjoyed doing those things to her? She’d not touched him but he’d been aroused. She’d felt the evidence pressed against her hip when he’d pulled her to lay on top of him.

Thoughts of what would have happened had she’d been brave enough to touch him in return filled her mind. Her face heated again as wicked images flashed through her head.

She’d never seen a naked man but she’d seen illustrations in the medical books her old teacher Mr. Colby had in his office. Those drawings seemed to take on a new life when the man etched onto those pages morphed into Jesse.

Did she want Jesse in that way? Did she love him as he claimed?

Her train of thought was broken when Owen came running toward the horses, laughing while slinging water from his wet head. He grinned as he tossed a wad of wet clothing down before picking up each garment and giving it a toss to try and straighten it, then slinging it over a tree limb. “I do believe I could have stayed in there for another hour.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“The sun is almost down,” he said, nodding his head toward the horizon. The sky was once again lit in every color of the rainbow and looked like a painting. Owen hung the last of his newly washed clothes up to dry and bent down to straighten out his bedroll. “Jesse ordered everyone to be out of the river and at camp, or watching the herd, by the time the moon rose.” He flicked a quick glance at her. “He said it was so you could have some privacy when you bathed.”

Something in that quick little look he gave her spoke volumes. Jesse had told her he’d stand guard so she could bathe but she wondered if he’d really meant to do that or was he planning on joining her.

For reasons she didn’t want to examine at the moment, thoughts of him joining her in the river made her stomach clench tight and caused her pulse to leap.

Memories of their so-called wedding night surfaced, those tingles he’d made race through her body with nothing more than his fingers and lips caused her heart to start racing and that throbbing beat between her legs to return.

She bit her lip, watching Jesse head back to the chuck wagon, her gaze lingering over every inch of his swaggering form.

When he looked her way and stopped, his hand raising as one crooked finger beckoned her forward, she started his way with little hesitation.

Reaching his side, the look in his eyes answered the questions she’d been wondering about. If she had to guess, she’d say he had every intention of joining her in that river. The only question now was, did she stick to her plan of calling off this sham of a marriage or was she finally willing to embrace it?

Twenty-One

Something wasdifferent with her and it unnerved him. Jesse repositioned his hat and shamelessly watched Alex’s hips swing as she led the way to the river.

Catching her staring at him—twice—was strange enough but ever since he’d told her he’d found a secluded little spot on the river for her to bathe in, she seemed downright—giddy.

She’d smiled at him as if she meant it and if he didn’t know any better, he’d think those coy looks she kept throwing his way were her attempts at flirting.

But—this was Alex. The girl who loved to hate him. She’d eat bugs before casting flirty looks his way.

He quickened his step and motioned her toward a cluster of reeds and grasses that grew tall along the riverbank. “This is far enough away that no one should see you.” She didn’t respond, just dropped a pile of dirty clothing on the bank. “There’s a place right over there you can get in. It’s a bit rocky but at least you won’t have to climb back up the bank.”

She inspected the rocky shoal he’d shown her then kicked off her boots and socks, tossing them to the grass. She turned to face him, her fingers on the buttons of her shirt, one eyebrow raised. “Are you going to watch?”

His cock twitched at the thought. “Are you going to let me?”

She shrugged her shoulder and popped the first button loose. “I don’t suppose it matters,” she said, unhooking another button. “It’s not like you haven’t seen them before.”

Jesse swallowed the lump forming in his throat and scratched one eyebrow with his thumbnail. “True, but it was pretty dark under that wagon so I didn’t see as much as you think I did.”

She was unbuttoned to the navel, the lovely curve of both breasts seen as the edges of the shirt gaped open more with every move she made.

The traitorous voice in the back of his head told him to turn around, to not stand there and gape like a school boy about to see his first naked lady but hell’s fire, he couldn’t look away.

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