This explained the sounds that had wakened her.Ryder appeared to be dreaming.She moved closer, leaning over the sofa for a better view.And as she did, accidentally scooted it with the force of her body.The wooden legs screeched across the vinyl flooring like chalk on a blackboard.The sound was enough to wake the dead… and Ryder.
He came up and out of his sleeping bag and before Casey could react, he had grabbed her by the throat, and pinned her to the wall.His face and body were in darkness, but there was enough light for her to know to be afraid.The look in his eyes was grim, and the grip he had around her throat was all but deadly.She grabbed at his wrists before his grip tightened further.
“Ryder…Ryder, it’s me.”
“Oh, my God!”He jerked, moving his hand from her throat to the side of her face in a quick gesture of assurance.“Dammit, Casey, I’m sorry, but you startled me.”
Casey closed her eyes as her legs went weak.
She rubbed at the tightness in her throat where his fingers had been.“It’s okay.It was partly my fault for sneaking up on you like that.”
Remorse shafted through him as he saw her fingering her throat.Dammit, he’d hurt her.He caught her hand, and then the moment they touched, wished that he’d kept his hands to himself.She was too close and too tempting.
Her focus suddenly shifted from her throat to him.They were face-to-face—body to body, and only inches from each other’s lips.
Breath caught.Hearts stopped.First hers, then his.
She swallowed.“You were having a bad dream.”
He inhaled slowly then spoke.“I’m sorry I frightened you.”
Once again, she was struck by the size of him, of the breadth of his shoulders blocking out the light coming through the windows behind him.
“It’s okay.It was partly my fault,” she said.
She moved her hand and accidentally brushed the surface of his chest.His skin felt combustible.Muscles tensed beneath her fingertips and she jerked back her hand.
When he took a deep breath, she looked up.His eyes were glittering and there was a faint sheen of perspiration on his body.At that moment, she remembered what she was wearing, and realized what he was not.
He slept in the buff.
Her gown was short and sheer.
Seduction had been the last thing on her mind when she’d bought it, but from the way Ryder was staring at her now, it wasn’t far from his.She could almost hear what he was thinking.Hewasher husband.Thiswastheir first night alone.But from her standpoint, what he was so obviously thinking could not—must not—happen.
Ryder was in shock.To wake up from the horror of reliving the crash that had killed his father to find a beautiful, half dressed woman within reach made him want.He wanted to make love.He wanted to feel the softness of a woman’s body—a woman’s lips.To get lost in that certain rapture.To celebrate life because he couldn’t forget death.That’s what he wanted.But it wasn’t going to happen, and because he knew it, his voice was harsh and angry.
“Go back to bed.”
She tried to explain.“Look, I didn’t mean to—”
He pinned her against the wall with a hand on either side of her head and leaned down, so close to her that his whisper was as loud as a shout.
“Either get the hell out of my sight or take off your clothes.”
Casey bolted for the bedroom, slamming the door behind her and then leaning against it, as if the weight of her body might add strength to the flimsy barrier that stood between them.
For several interminable seconds she stood without moving, listening for the sound of footsteps.When all she heard were a few muffled curses and then the sound of a slamming door, she relaxed and then panicked.What if he was leaving for good?
She opened the door with a jerk, but when she realized all of his things were still inside, she shut it again.She crawled into bed and pulled up the covers, again, erecting another puny barrier between them.
In spite of the cool air circulating throughout the room, it seemed stifling.And while she waited anxiously for him to return, she considered their temporary bonds.
Ryder Justice had promised to love and honor her, to take care of her in sickness and in health.She didn’t know about the loving, but some part of her trusted that he wouldn’t lie.He’d said he would stay the year and she believed him.It was that fact alone that gave her ease enough to go back to sleep.
When she woke again, the alarm on the bedside table was going off, and water was running in the shower.
* * *
