Read Online Promises Keep (The Promise Series) by Sarah McCarty - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sarah McCarty
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around, even if he hadn’t managed to catch the breathy, “Go to Hell.”
He laughed as he very gently lifted her up. Her chin went up two degrees higher. He looked down and his laughter lingered. Delicate was not a word a body used to describe a chin like that. Pugnacious, yes, but delicate, never. In the last two months, he’d developed a real liking for pugnacious.
“I can walk,” she gasped.
Her face was waxen. The limbs draped across his arms trembled and she couldn’t get a decent breath to swear at him, yet she intended to walk clear across town to Doc’s office? “Yeah. Right.”
That chin crept up another notch. “If you will just put me down, I will prove it to you.”
“You can prove anything you like when we get to Doc’s.”
“If you don’t put me down, Mr. McKinnely, I’m going to hurt you.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, the hand trapped between their bodies was groping for his privates. A surge of tenderness snuck up on his blind side.
“Well, I’m not going to hurt you,” he countered quietly as he stepped back down into the muddy street. In this position, she wouldn’t be able to reach her target. In this position, she was pretty much defenseless. Her hand retreated as she realized it, too.
Cougar watched resignation creep over her face. She expected him to carry her off to some dark corner and have his way with her. The terror of that was there in her eyes right along with her determination to prevent it. Her lips quivered once before tightening resolutely. She would fight him with whatever she had. Damn, she was something.
“Take heart, Angel,” he murmured, his gaze trapping her cinnamon-brown eyes. “Everything’s going to be all right from here on out. You’ve got my word on it.”
With a slow movement, she shook her head. There was no way she’d given up the fight.
He ignored the negative. “That’s right. You trust me from here to Doc’s office, and I’ll prove to you that not every man in this town is so eager to get under your skirts that they can’t remember how a decent woman is supposed to be treated.”
She avoided his gaze. “I’m not decent.”
“Well,” he admitted, “I’ll allow that you’re not showing your best, but it’s nothing a good bath and a mirror wouldn’t fix.”
The repercussions of his light humor had her gaze slamming back into his. Her mouth opened and closed. Once. Twice. On the third attempt, she just huffed and glared at him. From deep within, her eyes lit with anger. The sight held his attention.
Her features were even, her nose small, her mouth full and wide. In short, she was pretty enough, but it was her eyes that drove him crazy. Brown, lit with a touch of fire, they screamed every thought she suppressed, and belied the delicacy of her face and body. The woman was all grit and determination. She’d make a hell of a wife. A hell of a mother. And a hell of a lover if she brought that fire to his bed.
He met the anger in her gaze with calm. She didn’t understand it yet but it was a misplaced emotion. He wasn’t an easy man or necessarily a civilized one, but he was a man a woman could put her trust in. He couldn’t keep her safe from a distance. He couldn’t keep her safe following polite rules. The only way he could keep her safe was to make his claim public. Which he intended to do as soon as possible.
“If you weren’t such an impulsive little thing, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt at all,” he pointed out. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as she uttered an “Excuse me?” that would have done a schoolmarm proud.
“Well, if you’d waited long enough for me to get my boots unstuck from the mud,” he continued, “I’d have taken care of that yahoo for you.”
An unladylike, very sarcastic snort was her response. “I suppose you’d have been right in line behind the rest of this town’s inhabitants?”
He stopped in front of the door to Doc’s office. He glanced down into her belligerent
He laughed as he very gently lifted her up. Her chin went up two degrees higher. He looked down and his laughter lingered. Delicate was not a word a body used to describe a chin like that. Pugnacious, yes, but delicate, never. In the last two months, he’d developed a real liking for pugnacious.
“I can walk,” she gasped.
Her face was waxen. The limbs draped across his arms trembled and she couldn’t get a decent breath to swear at him, yet she intended to walk clear across town to Doc’s office? “Yeah. Right.”
That chin crept up another notch. “If you will just put me down, I will prove it to you.”
“You can prove anything you like when we get to Doc’s.”
“If you don’t put me down, Mr. McKinnely, I’m going to hurt you.”
If he wasn’t mistaken, the hand trapped between their bodies was groping for his privates. A surge of tenderness snuck up on his blind side.
“Well, I’m not going to hurt you,” he countered quietly as he stepped back down into the muddy street. In this position, she wouldn’t be able to reach her target. In this position, she was pretty much defenseless. Her hand retreated as she realized it, too.
Cougar watched resignation creep over her face. She expected him to carry her off to some dark corner and have his way with her. The terror of that was there in her eyes right along with her determination to prevent it. Her lips quivered once before tightening resolutely. She would fight him with whatever she had. Damn, she was something.
“Take heart, Angel,” he murmured, his gaze trapping her cinnamon-brown eyes. “Everything’s going to be all right from here on out. You’ve got my word on it.”
With a slow movement, she shook her head. There was no way she’d given up the fight.
He ignored the negative. “That’s right. You trust me from here to Doc’s office, and I’ll prove to you that not every man in this town is so eager to get under your skirts that they can’t remember how a decent woman is supposed to be treated.”
She avoided his gaze. “I’m not decent.”
“Well,” he admitted, “I’ll allow that you’re not showing your best, but it’s nothing a good bath and a mirror wouldn’t fix.”
The repercussions of his light humor had her gaze slamming back into his. Her mouth opened and closed. Once. Twice. On the third attempt, she just huffed and glared at him. From deep within, her eyes lit with anger. The sight held his attention.
Her features were even, her nose small, her mouth full and wide. In short, she was pretty enough, but it was her eyes that drove him crazy. Brown, lit with a touch of fire, they screamed every thought she suppressed, and belied the delicacy of her face and body. The woman was all grit and determination. She’d make a hell of a wife. A hell of a mother. And a hell of a lover if she brought that fire to his bed.
He met the anger in her gaze with calm. She didn’t understand it yet but it was a misplaced emotion. He wasn’t an easy man or necessarily a civilized one, but he was a man a woman could put her trust in. He couldn’t keep her safe from a distance. He couldn’t keep her safe following polite rules. The only way he could keep her safe was to make his claim public. Which he intended to do as soon as possible.
“If you weren’t such an impulsive little thing, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt at all,” he pointed out. A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth as she uttered an “Excuse me?” that would have done a schoolmarm proud.
“Well, if you’d waited long enough for me to get my boots unstuck from the mud,” he continued, “I’d have taken care of that yahoo for you.”
An unladylike, very sarcastic snort was her response. “I suppose you’d have been right in line behind the rest of this town’s inhabitants?”
He stopped in front of the door to Doc’s office. He glanced down into her belligerent
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