Page 71 of Texas Honor

“I got tired of being slapped down,” she replied. “He got his revenge...in bed.”

“Oh, God,” he breathed roughly.

She looked up, searching his eyes. “You’d never be cruel that way,” she said, knowing it. “You might cut a woman with words, but you’d never be physically cruel. Even that day, in the backyard, you didn’t really hurt me.”

“Didn’t I?” he said curtly. “I cut your mouth.”

It seemed to bother him that he had. She put a finger to his lower lip, where her own teeth had bitten into it in her passion minutes before. He stiffened at the light contact.

“I cut yours,” she whispered.

His jaw clenched and his breathing was audible. “In passion,” he whispered back. “Not in anger.”

She withdrew her hand with a small laugh. “I never suspected that I was capable of passion.”

She turned away, oblivious to the blinding hunger in the pale eyes of the man behind her. “Good night—Oh!”

He’d pulled her around. “Say my name, saucy girl,” he whispered, teasing her. “Come on.”

“I won’t,” she said, feeling a rising new excitement.

His lip tugged up. “Say it,” he challenged, pulling her body against his, “or I’ll kiss you blind.”

He could have, too. She drew in a jerky breath. “Gabriel,” she said.

He let her go with a faint smile. “Good night.” And he walked away without another word.

Enigma,she thought confusedly.Enigma.She’d never known anyone like him. And her body was sending out smoke signals, begging for him. She’d never expected complications like this. And now she didn’t know what to do.

At precisely nine o’clock the next morning, when Maggie came downstairs dressed in a neat gray suit, Gabe was waiting for her at the front door. He was wearing gray, too, a vested suit that made him look debonair, sophisticated, almost handsome—and every inch a very male man. He smelled of spicy cologne and soap, and Maggie wondered why she couldn’t seem to stop staring at him. She gripped her purse as Janet came out to say goodbye.

“I’d go with you,” she told Maggie, “but it’s less crowded this way. Have a safe trip.”

“I’ll take care of her,” Gabe said carelessly. He spared his mother a glance and walked off without even a smile.

Maggie didn’t say a lot on the way to the airstrip. She was curious about him, in so many ways. She wanted to ask questions, to learn new things. And that was dangerous.

“Nervous?” Gabe asked after a minute, glancing at her wickedly as he lifted his cigarette to his lips.

“Not really. I’m not afraid of flying,” she murmured evasively.

“And that wasn’t what I meant, either.” He pulled off the main ranch road onto a dirt track with deep ruts that led toward the airstrip and the big hangar where he kept his twin-engine planes. He had two, he explained: one for work, for herding cattle; the other for business trips.

“Don’t you ever fly for pleasure?” she asked.

Gabe glanced at her. “I have women for pleasure, when I can’t stand the ache any longer. That’s about the extent of my recreational activities these days.”

She stared out the window, embarrassed despite her age and experience. “You’re very blunt.”

“I don’t pull my punches—about anything,” he replied. “I believe in total honesty. I’ve never yet found a woman who did.”

“Your mother told me that you...” She stopped when she realized what she was betraying.

His icy-blue eyes cut at her. “Did she tell you all of it, or aren’t you that privileged?” he asked with bitter sarcasm.

“I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

He took a deep draw from the ever-present cigarette and drove faster. “My God, is nothing sacred these days?”