The Rawhide Man (17 page)
Authors: Diana Palmer
“I kind of hoped the same thing,” she confessed. “But I wasn’t sure of you. I knew you didn’t want to get married. I thought if I let you see how much I cared you’d use it against me. And, too, I was furious about Crystal.”
He kissed her forehead gently. “Bess, I did hate the idea of marriage when you first came here. But after the first few weeks, it got to the point that I couldn’t think of anything but you.” He smiled. “I put up trees I didn’t want, I went to unbelievable lengths to get my hands on a painting you’d said you liked, I let you set limits for Katy and watched you get her interested in dresses and parties—all the things I swore I wouldn’t do. I saw you with her, how you laughed and played. And I wanted to play, too, but it had been too long, and I didn’t know how anymore.”
She bit gently at his shoulder. “Katy and I can teach you.”
“I tried so hard to make you care,” he said, and it all showed in his face, all the pain and hunger and frustration that he’d kept her from seeing. “But I couldn’t get near you. And that night when you said you didn’t want me…”
She touched his mouth. “I wanted you very much, I always have. I wanted you when I was fifteen years old, Jude,” she confessed fervently. “I don’t even know when it became love. But I know one thing. I couldn’t survive away from you.”
He traced her lips with a long finger. “That goes double for me, Mrs. Langston. I don’t much like sleeping alone, either. Do you suppose you might sleep with me from now on?”
“We’d like that,” she said.
“We?” He lifted an eyebrow.
She snuggled close with a smile. “Your son and I. Katy’s ecstatic, did you notice?”
“Yes, and I’m glad.” He drew her closer.
She looked up. “Don’t you think I’m sexy?”
“God, yes!” he said, laughing. “I’ll still love you when you look like a pumpkin. I just hope my arms are going to be long enough to reach around you.”
She laughed delightedly. “What stories we’ll be able to tell our grandchildren,” she murmured. “I can just see their faces when I tell them about how you carried me bodily out of Oakgrove and flew me to Texas to get married.”
“If you do,” he warned, “I’ll tell them how you seduced me on the bridle path.”
“Blackmailer.”
He grinned, rubbing his nose against hers. “We’ll keep our secrets, then. Just for the two of us. And when I’m old, I’ll whisper memories into your ear in front of them and watch you blush. And I’ll be young, and so will you, all over again.”
She brushed her fingers over his stubbled cheek lovingly, searching his eyes. “I’ll love you all my life.”
He kissed her softly. “I’ll love you all of mine. Every minute.” He sat up, stretching. “How about breakfast? Then we could go into San Antonio and have lunch at that restaurant on the river walk.”
“Only if you promise not to stand up and start insulting me.”
“Would I do that to a pregnant lady?” he asked. His eyes wandered slowly over her as he got to his feet and he smiled slowly, seductively. “You’re pretty like that, in bed. I could lose my head over you.”
She lay back on the pillows with a soft sigh, and moved her legs. “Could you? How exciting. Lie down and let’s discuss it.”
“You witch,” he murmured.
She held out her arms. “It’s so lonely here in this enormous bed.”
“I’ve got phone calls to make….”
Her back arched softly. “I have this terrible ache, darling….”
He threw himself down beside her. “To hell with the phone calls. I’ve got an ache of my own.”
Her lips parted and his moved onto them. She smiled, feeling as if there were champagne in her veins, bubbling and bursting with life and joy and delicious flavor. Her hands ran over the smooth, powerful muscles of his back with sweet abandon. Somehow, he didn’t feel at all like rawhide anymore.
New York Times
and
USA TODAY
Bestselling Author
Diana Palmer
The Essential Collection
Long, Tall Texans…and More!
AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2011
Calhoun
Tyler
Ethan
Connal
Harden
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Emmett
Regan’s Pride
That Burke Man
Circle of Gold
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The Princess Bride
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A Man of Means
Lionhearted
Maggie’s Dad
Rage of Passion
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Beloved
Love with a Long, Tall Texan
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Heart of Ice
Noelle
Fit for a King
The Rawhide Man
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Nora
Dream’s End
Champagne Girl
Friends and Lovers
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Heather’s Song
Snow Kisses
To Love and Cherish
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Enamored
After the Music
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The Case of the Mesmerizing Boss
The Case of the Confirmed Bachelor
The Case of the Missing Secretary
September Morning
Diamond Girl
Eye of the Tiger
DIANA PALMER
The prolific author of more than a hundred books, Diana Palmer got her start as a newspaper reporter. A
multi–New York Times
bestselling author and one of the top ten romance writers in America, she has a gift for telling the most sensual tales with charm and humor. Diana lives with her family in Cornelia, Georgia.
Visit her website at
www.DianaPalmer.com
.
ISBN-13: 9781460375532
THE RAWHIDE MAN
Copyright © 1984 by Diana Palmer
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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