Read Online Cattleman's Choice by Diana Palmer - Free Book Online Page A

little lady?”
    He didn’t say it in an insulting way. She searched his hard face. “Does it bother you, my background?”
    â€œNo,” he said firmly. “If you want to know, I think a lot of you. Until you came along, I’d never met a real lady.”
    â€œYou wouldn’t think I was one at times, though,” she murmured, smiling at him as she followed him into the kitchen.
    â€œYou’re a firecracker sometimes, all right,” he agreed. He caught her by the waist after he’d put down the string of fish, and jerked her against his body. “But I like you that way, Mandy. A woman with a temper,” he murmured, bending, “is usually pretty passionate….”
    His mouth crushed down against hers and she moaned, the sound unusually loud in the confines of the room as she savored his strength, the urgency of his hard kiss.
    He lifted his head, his eyes glittering with some new emotion. “Why did you moan?” he asked roughly. “Fear or pleasure?”
    Her lips trembled and, embarrassed, she pulled away. “I’ll get started on the fish.”
    He watched her for a minute speculatively and then he smiled. “I’ll get some potatoes to fry.”
    It was a quiet supper. She enjoyed her crisp fish, but Carson seemed preoccupied.
    â€œWant to call it off?” she asked.
    His head came up. “What?”
    â€œTomorrow night.”
    He shook his head. “No. I want to learn to dance.” His eyes dropped to her soft mouth. “With you,” he added softly.
    Her chest felt tight. He was doing it again, using that wicked charm that she hadn’t known he possessed.
    â€œI have to practice on somebody, don’t I?” he asked when he saw her hesitation. “I thought teaching me how to make love went part and parcel with teaching me to court a woman,” he added with a wicked smile.
    She flushed. “You don’t need teaching in that department, and well you know it,” she said.
    His eyebrows arched. “I don’t?”
    She looked up. Her wide eyes pleaded with him. “Don’t take advantage, will you?” she asked softly. “I’m afraid of you, a little.”
    â€œYes, I know you are,” he replied, his voice deep and quiet in the stillness of the room. He reached across the table and took her small hand in his, rubbing his thumb over the silky skin. “Haven’t you ever wanted a man, or was it that exclusive upbringing that kept you innocent?”
    â€œThat exclusive upbringing is the downfall of a lot of girls,” she murmured drily. “Most of the others were quite experienced.”
    â€œDidn’t you date?”
    That brought back painful memories, and she didn’t want to face them. She shrugged. “I was terribly shy in those days. It was hard for me to talk to men at all.”
    â€œNot when you got out here,” he chuckled. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw you.”
    â€œI slapped you,” she recalled with a wicked smile. “I didn’t know at the time how dangerous that was.”
    â€œI would never hit you back,” he said. “I’d cut off my arm first.”
    â€œThat’s what Jake knows, that’s why I always get rousted out of bed to come and save the world from you,” she laughed.
    He studied her hand. “Jake isn’t as blind as you are, I guess.”
    â€œBlind?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter.” He let go of her fingers and lit a cigarette. His eyes searched hers. “Getting dark. You’d better go home, before somebody makes a remark about your being here alone with me after dark.”
    â€œWould that bother you?”
    â€œYes,” he said simply. “I don’t want any blemish on your reputation. I’d fire any one of my men who suggested that anything improper went on here.”
    â€œIt did this afternoon,” she blurted out and then