Read Online Capture The Night by Geralyn Dawson - Free Book Online Page B

Brazos resorted to a defense he seldom used. He lied. “Honey, you’re a perfect example. You fell for my story last night like deadwood in a gale.” Shoulders squared, a cocky expression in place, Brazos said, “I thought to get in out of the cold for a bit last night, that’s all,” he said with a shrug. “I figured I’d best do something peculiar so that you’d leave me the hell alone. That’s why I put on that little act of being crazy.”
    He swept her with a contemptuous gaze. “And I was right, wasn’t I? Soon as my eyes are shut, you up and bare your breasts, hoping to catch me unaware.”
    Her mouth rounded in a silent “Oh.” Then she crossed her arms and glared at him. “I did not. When I went to sleep, my gown was securely fastened. You’re the one with wandering fingers.”
    “Yeah, sure.” He scooped his shirt from the floor. “You almost pulled off your scheme, didn’t you?” Shoving his arms through the shirtsleeves, he added, “Thank God I didn’t let my pecker do my thinking for me, or you’d have well me and truly leg-shackled this minute. For the last time, Maddie, my dear, I’m not gonna be your stud.”
    She waited a moment, then said softly, “You’ve a nasty mouth on you, Brazos Sinclair.”
    Lord, he knew it was true. Never in his life had he talked to a woman the way he’d spoken to Madeline. He lifted his gaze toward heaven and asked, Dear God, what am I becoming ?
    That’s when he noticed the ceiling—the very low ceiling. Against his will, his stare slowly traveled the wooden planks to the wall and then to the floorboards. The room shrank. Anxiety replaced all emotion, and he muttered hoarsely, “I’ve gotta get out of here.”
    “Don’t you dare leave now, you contemptible cur. I’m not through…”
    But Brazos fled the cabin, barefoot and embarrassed. He was halfway up the companionway stairs when the door to Madeline’s room flew open and his boots came sailing out to thump against the opposite wall.
    Inside the cabin, Madeline started to slam the door shut, but then remembered the babies asleep in the next room. So with deliberate movements, she grasped the handle and quietly closed the door. Emotion threatened to choke her, and she blinked her eyes rapidly as her gaze wandered aimlessly around the room. Then she noticed his hat hanging on a hook on the wall.
    Madeline’s imagination ran wild as she used bare feet to stomp the hat into an unrecognizable form, heedless of the tears that coursed down her cheeks. Then she crawled back into her bunk and curled into a ball beneath the sheets.
    Brazos was right, she was a fool. How else could she explain allowing him the liberties he’d taken this morning? “Hah,” she scoffed. “At least be honest with yourself, Madeline. Liberties you offered.”
    Madeline was baffled by her own behavior. Never had she acted so free with a man before. It wasn’t like her at all! She replayed the morning’s events in her mind. Still, answers eluded her. She was thinking of men in general, Brazos specifically, when she murmured, “Why do I allow them to hurt me?”
    It wasn’t as if Brazos was the man of her dreams. Far from it. The man Madeline fantasized sharing her life with would recognize and respect her intelligence and abilities. He’d understand the reasons behind her more unsavory actions, and if not approve of them, he’d at least forgive her for having committed the deeds.
    Most of all, he’d love her.
    Never in her life had Madeline known a man’s love—not a true, abiding love, anyway. She’d never known her father, and Gentleman Jack, the man who’d taught her how to steal, had rejected her once her developing body proved her a girl, not the boy he’d believed.
    Madeline threw back the covers, leaned over the bunk, and yanked open a drawer of the chest built beneath the bed. She fumbled through her clothes for a handkerchief. “I’ll find my man,” she said, tugging a cloth from the drawer and