Page 27 of The Rough Rider

Hethought he was hilarious. Clearly.

“Gus McCloud, if you punch me because you see a VW Bug, I will bite you.”

“I’d like to see that.”

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said.

She’d meant it as a joke, but it settled between them, sort of strange and long.

“You never have been, have you?” he asked her, sounding vaguely mystified.

“No,” she said. “But then, you’ve never been all that scary around me.”

She thought back to when he had picked her up and carried her over the goal line on Game Day. Her and the ball. And the point had counted too.

The bastard.

His hold had been strong. He’d lifted her like she was nothing. But he was gentle with it too. She had always seen that in him. He would lead with what was right. He could crush someone. But he could hold someone gently too.

“Well, I’d better up my game then,” he said.

“I mean, or not. Since we’re getting married. You could just be nice to me.”

“I could.” He sounded like he was considering it. As ifnotbeing nice had been on the table.

They kept on driving, the scenery flying by. She leaned back, resting her head on the seat. The seat belt was scratchy against her neck. “People are going to wonder where we went.”

“Wearenewly engaged.”

She wrinkled her nose. “It’s almost funny. Because it seems so weird.”

“Yeah. So I’ll tell you, Hunter didn’t believe it. Not even for a second.”

She sat up. “Didn’t believe what?”

“That I got you pregnant.”

She feltwretchedagain. What was it about the McClouds that made them think she was utterly unremarkable, and completely unbeddable?

She slumped and crossed her arms. “This is all harming my self-esteem hugely.”

“Why?”

“You laughed at me when I mentioned sex. And apparently Hunter also thinks it’s unbelievable that you would ever touch me.”

“Alaina,” Gus said, like she was a silly child. “Hunter didn’t think thatyouwould ever come nearme.” He snorted. “Well, he also didn’t think I’d touch you, but for different reasons. Mostly because I read him the riot act over Elsie.”

That sparked her interest. She turned toward him. “You did?”

“Yeah. I didn’t like him messing around with her. I don’t care about him marrying her obviously. But I just wanted him to be careful.”

“I see.”

She shifted uncomfortably, because she also knew that Gus had known about her crush on Hunter. She didn’t want to mention it, and she really hoped that he didn’t...

“Also, I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

Oof. And ouch.

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