Read Online The Widow and the Wildcatter: A Loveswept Classic Romance by Fran Baker - Free Book Online Page A

stroke and she knew she was lost. He seemed to know it, too, as he brought the brush back up to the crown of her head and pulled it down with enough pressure to disentangle the heavy, snarled strands but not enough to cause her pain.
    She’d never realized such a simple act could also be so stimulating. He touched her nowhere else, yet she felt the repeated tug of the bristles from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
    “You have beautiful hair.” He lifted it and sifted it through his fingers, letting it fall back to her narrow shoulders like spun cinnabar.
    She nodded her thanks, not trusting her voice.
    He set the brush on the dashboard and took hold of her upper arm. “Turn around.”
    Against her better judgment she turned.
    The music on the radio picked up a beat, as did her heart when his fingers captured her jaw.
    “No, Chance.” She raised her hands to his shoulders, wanting both to push him away and pull him closer.
    “Yes, Joni.” He kissed each corner of her lips and then traced the trembling line between them with the tip of his tongue.
    She shut down her mind and parted her lips, surrendering to the power and the persuasion of a desire that had been too long denied. He matched his mouth to hers, a perfect fit, and seared her soul with a tongue of fire.
    The ashes of emotion that she’d given up for dead flared to life, and she gloried in the blaze. But when the kiss ended and they drew apart, she knew it couldn’t happen again without her getting badly burned.
    Chance dropped his thumb and middle finger to the pulse points just below her jaw, circling them slowly, as if magnetizing her blood to follow the movements of his hand. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the day you came to the drilling site.”
    Joni pulled back in a panic, her hands clutching his, stopping those clever fingers before they robbed her of the will to resist. “Don’t.”
    “Don’t what?” he asked gently.
    She released his hands and scrambled back to the passenger side. “Don’t give me something to regret when you’re gone.”
    He reached to bring her back. “How about something to remember?”
    “I remember too much as it is.” Her softly worded reply stilled him as effectively as a siren’s blast.
    A somebody-done-somebody-wrong song came over the radio as Chance retracted his hand andstudied her, huddled miserably against her door. He understood then. That bastard she’d been married to had a long reach.
    Swearing roughly, he got out of the convertible and cut around to open her door. “Get out.”
    It cost Joni a great deal of courage to meet his eyes, but meet them she did. “You have every right to be angry—”
    “You’re damn right I do.” He slammed her door so hard, it rocked the car on impact.
    “If you’d rather I find another ride—”
    “I brought you; I’ll take you home.”
    Guiltily, she glanced away. “Please believe me, I didn’t mean to lead you on.”
    “Not consciously, perhaps.” He looked at her left hand, now clenched in a fist, fighting the urge to yank the ring off her finger and free her from the past. “But subconsciously, you wanted me to make love to you.”
    Joni jerked her head up in shock, but kept her voice down so the dancers wouldn’t overhear. “That’s a lie!”
    “Is it?” Chance lowered his face close to her. “Then why did you get all dolled up tonight? And why were you practically sitting in my lap—”
    “You’re the one who insisted I sit there.”
    “You sure as hell didn’t argue about it.”
    It all sounded so damnably true that she felt sick to her stomach, but still, she scoffed. “You’re crazy.”
    He swore beneath his breath. “I’m crazy, all right. Crazy for wanting a woman who’s married to a friggin’ ghost.”
    Joni reeled as if he’d slapped her. Before she could respond, he spun on his heel and started toward the circle of headlights. Acting purely on instinct, she ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Where