“I go wherever the mood takes me.” His eyes pierced her. “Where are you going, beautiful?”
She clamped her mouth shut, determined that she didn’t have to tell him anything.
“No answer?” he prodded.
“It’s none of your business,” she said stonily.
“Oh, I don’t know.” He relaxed back into the seat and said in a too casual manner, “I saw Luke in Tucson a few days ago. I guess I didn’t believe him when he said he’d tied the knot. I came back this way to find out the truth. Sure enough, I heard from several people that a preacher made a respectable woman of you.” He sighed. “I never did like respectable women.”
“Isn’t it the other way around, that they don’t like you?” she said sharply.
He smiled. “Think so? But we were talking about your new status, Mrs. Holt, and whether or not what you do is my business. Seems to me, as long as you’re married to my brother, it is.”
“Nonsense,” Sharisse snapped. “You never cared about your brother’s feelings before. Why should you suddenly want to protect his interests?”
“Who said anything about his interests? That name you carry now is mine, too, beautiful. You think I want it said that a Holt couldn’t hold on to his woman?”
Before she could say anything, he went on. “You’re here alone. That tells me Luke doesn’t know you’re leaving. And here I thought he was all you wanted. You did tell me that, didn’t you?” he asked with pure mockery.
“Leave me alone, Slade.”
She turned away, but he grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Answer me.”
“Yes!” Then, “Yes, he was all I wanted. But that doesn’t matter anymore, because he doesn’t want a wife. I can’t stay here, knowing that.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know what he wants,” Slade remarked cryptically. “Did you fall in love with him?”
“Certainly not,” she replied, too quickly. “And you needn’t concern yourself, Slade. Lucas is quite willing to let me go. He expects me to get an annulment of our marriage. I won’t disappoint him. It will be done as soon as possible.”
He stared at her thoughtfully, then said, “Well, before you quit being a bride, there’s an old custom I want to take advantage of.”
She threw up her hands to stop him. “Slade, no!”
His mouth closed over hers in a hard, searching kiss. Ripples of excitement flowed through her. Oh, no, not again, she despaired. But she pressed closer to his hard body even as she tried to move away.
She was breathless and dazed when he released her.
And then he was gone, as abruptly as he had come.
Thirty-two
Billy drew up short when he entered the barn and found Lucas readying his horse with more gear than he could possibly need for a long trip. “Willow tells me your wife took off. You going after her?”
Lucas didn’t bother to glance up. “Nope.”
“Then what’s all this? You just got back from being gone a week. Where’d you go anyway?”
“Around.”
“Oh,” Billy said sardonically.
Lucas chuckled. “Since when did you get so curious about me?”
“Since you took off the same day you got married,” Billy replied. “I got to thinking maybe being married didn’t sit too well with you.”
“It didn’t.”
“Shoot, Luke, I thought you liked her.”
