“You came out here to marry me. Most mail-order brides get married the day they arrive, and now I understand why. The only reason you didn’t was that I’m allowing us time to get to know each other first.”
“You said it was to see if I would fit in here,” she reminded him stiffly.
“That, too. But the fact is, I could have insisted we marry that first day.”
She was uncomfortable, but she wasn’t going to be squelched. “It’s just as well you didn’t.”
His brows narrowed. “Is it?”
“Yes, because I…I’ve changed my mind about marrying you, Lucas. I must ask you to send me home.”
“Boy, when you carry a grudge, you really carry it all the way, huh?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
“Simply a matter of taste,” she said. “You are much too forceful for me.”
His laugh cut her off. “Honey, if I were all that forceful, you’d have slept in my bed last night, not yours. Don’t you know that?”
She stood up nervously and moved over to the open window. She kept her back to him. “I’m not used to discussing this kind of subject.” He could barely hear her. “I don’t know what kind of women you are accustomed to, Lucas, but I didn’t come here to be your mistress. It is unreasonable of you to ask that of me. I simply cannot stay here another day, not when the same thing could happen again.”
He said nothing. Her nervousness grew with the continuing silence. At last she risked a glance at him and found him staring down at the table. Why didn’t he say something?
“You do understand, don’t you, Lucas?” she ventured.
The eyes he turned on her were unreadable. “You can’t leave, Sharisse,” he said simply.
“Can’t?” she echoed. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t send you back to New York right now.”
“Why not?” Her voice rose with nervousness and fear.
“It takes more than a few pennies to travel across the country, Sharisse. What money I have is tied up in this ranch. It took all my available cash to get you here. There isn’t any left to send you back.”
She was too stunned to say anything.
He was getting good at lying, Lucas thought disgustedly. But damn, he hadn’t thought she would confront him like that. And he couldn’t start over now. People already knew about her. It was too late to bring in another girl.
She was staring out the window, her back rigid. “You know, we could just forget your hasty decision and start again,” Lucas proposed. “I may have come on a bit too strong last night, but I wanted you badly and you can’t blame a man for trying to get what he wants. If I frightened you, I’m sorry. But I didn’t do you any harm, did I?”
Sharisse took a long, deep breath. “No, I suppose not. But I can’t go through that again, Lucas.”
“If my wanting you disturbs you so much, I’ll keep it to myself.”
“But couldn’t you just…not want me?” she ventured timidly. It seemed such a good idea.
The question amazed him. “Just how long were you married?”
“Why?”
“’Cause you know damn little about men.”
“Actually, I wasn’t married very long.” She couldn’t meet his eyes, but he assumed she was simply embarrassed.
“Didn’t your husband ever explain to you that sometimes a man has no control over his body? He can become inflamed by the sight of a beautiful woman, and there isn’t a damn thing he can do to stop his body from reacting.”
