by Pat Tracy
“We both made our share of mistakes.” His hands caressed her back.
“And then I was furious with you when I realized that you’d made a fool of me by going along with my false assumptions about your character.”
“Or lack thereof.”
She lightly pinched his chest. “I’m trying to be serious.”
“Ouch. All right, we’ll be serious, then. There just came a point, honey, when I gave up trying to convince you I wasn’t a wild desperado.”
“I apologize.”
Logan was silent for a moment. “Is that it? I was expecting something a little more elaborate.”
She placed a moist kiss on his chest. “I’m willing to humor you.”
“Well, now…”
Logan rolled over. Victoria found herself on her back gazing up at his bruised, mildly predatory features.
“Yes?”
“Say you’re sorry for thinking I was a half-wit.”
“I’m sorry.”
His wide palm stroked her breast. “And for thinking I was an outlaw.”
“Yes.”
He teased her hardening nipple. “For thinking I was going to steal Night Wolf’s gold.”
“Yes.”
He lowered his head and used the tip of his tongue to caress her. “For assuming I couldn’t read…”
“Yes!”
He suckled gently. “For thinking I’d come to the bank to rob it.”
“Oh Logan.” He’d set another of his masterful blazes. “Forgive me for ever doubting you.”
He stared at her with open, undisguised hunger. “And?”
“And.” And what? she thought, utterly swept up in his possessive brand of lovemaking.
“You trust me completely.”
“I proved that when I didn’t find a gun and shoot you when I caught Mrs. Windham in your room!”
“But I didn’t know if that was because you trusted me, or because I didn’t matter to you.”
Victoria’s heart expanded wider to accept Logan’s unexpected vulnerability. “Oh, you matter, darling…”
“Thank God.”
His arms closed around her. Victoria turned this new knowledge over in her mind, the knowledge that a man could be strong, fearless and uncertain. She sensed he wouldn’t like acknowledging such a weakness, but to her it wasn’t weakness. She thought of her aloof father and realized that being married to a man capable of strong emotion and strong passion was a special blessing.
“And, if it’d make you happy, darling, I promise to shoot you if I ever find another woman in your arms.”
She felt Logan’s deep chuckle in a dozen interesting places.
“It makes me happy to know you belong to me.”
“When did you know you loved me?”
It was a question that begged to be asked.
“Well, I wanted you from the start.”
“Oh, Logan, you hated me on sight!”
He squeezed her. “Now pay attention, honey. We’ve got to get this right for our children. When I stepped out of that cell and laid eyes on you, I noticed right off that you were a fine-looking woman.”
“You certainly didn’t act as if you liked me. In fact, I remember most clearly that you were disappointed I wasn’t the ‘kid’ who fed you those biscuits.”
“Well, I took a liking to the ‘kid.’ I was visualizing a spunky tadpole with a lot of grit. What I found when I walked into the sunlight was a sassy female with a Boston accent and a wagon full of books.”
“What’s wrong with being from Boston? You’re from there.”
“I had a grudge against the place, but that’s in the past now.”
“It is?”
A smile touched his soul. “It’s your birthplace, honey. As far as I’m concerned, that makes it Paradise.”
“Oh…”
Victoria’s little sighs and moans were demolishing Logan’s ability to think.
“A-about that library?”
“What library?” he mumbled, losing himself in her scent and her texture.
“The one you want to build me…”
“What about it?”
“Well…” She did a little serious kissing of her own. “I was thinking that it’s probably selfish of me to keep all those books to myself. A town like Trinity Falls should have a public library, don’t you think?”
Think? Logan wasn’t sure he could breathe, let alone think.
“Sure, honey, anything you say.”
They were words she’d demanded when she so earnestly tried to initiate her “chain of command.” But her days of trying to outmaneuver and reform Logan were past. As his caresses became bolder, Victoria Amory Youngblood abandoned herself completely to her beloved outcast’s tender possession.
And a Western adventure wilder and more spectacular than any she’d ever envisioned.
* * * * *
eISBN 978-14592-7543-0
BELOVED OUTCAST
Copyright © 1996 by Pat Tracy.
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