Page 97 of Texas Honor

He shook all over with the effort to control it. She was a siren, lying there with her eyes daring him, her body yielded, promising heaven. Becky. Becky would be back any minute.

He eased his grip on her wrists. “Becky,” he whispered. “She’ll see.”

She blinked, as if she hadn’t really been lucid. Then she caught her breath as she stared up at him with slowly dawning comprehension. “Oh.”

“Oh, indeed.” Gabe sat up, drawing her with him, faintly amused even through his own frustrations at the look on her face. “I wasn’t the only one who got carried away,” he insinuated devilishly. “What did you want me to do, for God’s sake? Take you right here with the door wide open?”

She went beet red. He made it sound like a quick tumble in the hay, and she hated him for it. She didn’t consider that he was frustrated and eaten up with desire. She only knew that he was hurting her.

“Sorry,” she said, trying to sound unaffected by it. “I guess I forgot. I’d better get dressed.”

He let her go with reluctance and watched her tug up the shoulder strap of her gown. The light had gone out of her, even before she went to her closet and started pulling out jeans and a green print blouse.

He got to his feet slowly and went to stand just behind her, not touching. “Don’t draw into a shell,” he said gently. “I told you, I’m rusty at this. It...surprised me. That’s all.”

It had surprised her, too, but she’d only just realized that she was in love with him. And how could she admit that, when he was only marrying her for Becky’s sake? He’d said so. The physical magic was a fringe benefit. He didn’t love her. He didn’t want to love anybody.

She forced herself to act casual and turned with a smile. “It surprised me, too,” she confessed, her tone light and superficial. “No harm done.”

He searched her eyes. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“You didn’t,” she said quickly. Too quickly. “I’ll get my clothes on. Where are we going?”

“Down on the pond,” he replied. “I keep it stocked with game fish.”

“You’ll have to bait the hook if you use spring lizards,” she murmured. “I don’t mind worms, but I don’t like lizards.”

“Okay.”

She turned, holding her clothes, and stared at him.

He got the message, belatedly. “I’ll go see about the gear.” He paused at the door and looked back with steady blue eyes. “I won’t leave the room after we’re married. I don’t think married people should be embarrassed to undress in front of each other.”

“Neither do I,” she agreed calmly. “But we’re not married yet.”

“We will be by Friday,” he told her, and went out the door without another word. And that was the first she’d heard of her wedding date.

She was surprised to learn after breakfast that they were going to fish with cane poles instead of rods and reels.

“What?” she exclaimed, staring at the old, enormously long pole he extended toward her. “You want me to catch a fish withthat? Where’s the safety? Where’s the spool? Where’s the—”

“It’s all one unit, see?” he said reasonably. “Hook, sinker, float, thirty-pound test line and a box of worms. Here.”

She took the worms and the pole and gaped at him. “This ranch is worth a fortune, and you can’t afford a spinning reel?”

“I’m not doing it to be cheap,” Gabe began.

“A spinning wheel is how you make cotton thread,” Becky said importantly, looking up at them. “We learned about that in school.”

“No, no, darling, a spinning reel,” Maggie told her. “It’s a kind of rod and reel that doesn’t backlash.”

“City slicker.” Gabe glowered at Maggie. “What’s the matter, can’t you catch anything without expensive equipment? I guess you’re used to that scented bait, too, and the electronic gadgets that attract the poor old fish—”

“I am not!” she shot back. “I can so catch fish with a cane pole!”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Prove it.”

“All right. I will!”