Read Online Poppy: Bride of Alaska (American Mail-Order Bride 49) by Cassie Hayes - Free Book Online

swift move, Matthew dragged her upright into his arms, pulling her body tight against his, and took her lips with his own. Her small frame stiffened in his arms, and he fully expected her to start beating at him with her tiny fists, as he probably deserved. It was quite a shock when she relaxed into him, her fingers splayed against his chest, and responded to his kiss.
    The air sucked out of the room and heat seeped up from his toes all the way to the top of his head. He couldn’t help marveling at the softness of her lips. They felt as soft as he’d imagined. Did she use a special ointment to make them so supple? The light scent of rose water judiciously applied wafted up to him as their kiss softened and lengthened. He’d never noticed her wearing any perfume before, but this suited her. A few hair pins must have come loose because a stray curl escaped the tight bun and tickled the hand cupping her cheek.  
    Pulling back from her welcoming mouth was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Gazing into her soft blue eyes, he loosened his hold on her, giving himself a little space so he wouldn’t be embarrassed by the way his body reacted to her. The smile she gave him was intoxicating, until her whole body jerked and pain shot up from his foot through his body.
    “Ouch!” He hopped back from her on one foot, while clutching the other. “Why did you stomp on my foot like that?”
    Her once-beautiful eyes narrowed into a fiery glare.  
    “I don’t recall giving you permission to lay your hands on me, much less kiss me. You’re just lucky I didn’t make good on my promise at the train station.”
    Matthew thought back and had to agree. At least she kept her attack to his foot, as painful as it was. He winced at the idea of the damage she might have done.
    “I’m sorry, okay? I just wanted you to stop laughing at me and it was the only thing I could think to do.”
    At her silence, he pulled his attention from his throbbing foot to her blinking gaze. Her lower lip was firmly clamped in her teeth.
    “What?”
    “Nothing,” she said, moving to put the width of the bed between them.  
    That hurt more than his foot. For a moment, he thought she was responding to his kiss, and the excitement that washed over him had confused him. But her message was loud and clear. Stay away.
    “I apologize for laughing,” she finally conceded. “I wasn’t really laughing at you, though. It was just such a relief to discover that you aren’t out to kill the man.”
    “Kill…? What kind of animal do you think I am?!”  
    He couldn’t deny the thought had crossed his mind in his greatest fits of pique but, even then, he knew deep down that there was no way he could sink to such a level. But that she, of all people, even considered that might be a possibility…well, it was more proof that their very different worlds would never mix.
    “I just want to get my family’s money back,” he groused, slumping into the chair and rubbing his foot. It hardly hurt anymore but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook so quickly.
    “Well, then, let’s go get it. You said you found him? He must have been that shopkeeper in town, right?” Poppy inched back around the bed as she spoke, a rosy glow in her cheeks as she once again mysteriously figured things out long before he was ready to tell her.
    “How do you do that?” At her exasperated sigh, he answered, “Yes, that was him.”
    “Are you sure it was this Vinchenko person?”  
    “Absolutely.”
    Her face squinched up in thought. “So why would a man who stole a fortune, a man who doesn’t need money, pretend to be a shopkeeper in Sitka, Alaska, of all places?”
    Good question. After recognizing Vinchenko, Matthew could only think about confronting him and somehow reclaiming his family’s wealth. Why the man would be impersonating a shopkeeper, which Matthew was certain he was doing, never entered his thoughts.  
    Poppy stared at him, waiting for an answer. The only