Give Me Tonight(19)

"Adeline." He reached out with one hand, and she froze. His thumb brushed across her lower lip in a touch so light she thought she might have imagined it. A flutter went through the center of her body, lingering in the pit of her stomach. She jerked her head back.

"Don't touch me!"

He half-smiled, shaking his head at her behavior, which clearly struck him as ridiculous. "Of all the things about you I've ever taken exception to, the one thing I could never fault was your riding. Until today you've always had a good seat and light hands. What's wrong? Is it the horse?"

Her eyes fell before his. "I can't ride sidesaddle any more."

For some reason, he didn't press for a more explicit answer. "Then don't. After today. But for the rest of. the morning you'll have to put up with it."

"I can't."

"You sure as hell don't expect me to switch with you, do you?" he asked, nudging her chin upward with the edge of his forefinger. This time she didn't protest, knowing it wouldn't do any good.

"It would m-make it easier for me."

"Adeline, just think of how it would look. Me, perched on that dainty little saddle, riding up to the Double Bar to do business with Big George Johnson. I'd planned to make a few threats to him-that's the only way to get through to him. Oh, I think Big George is gonna shake in his boots today, especially when he sees me prancing up on a sidesaddle with my knee hooked around the pommel. "

"Stop it." Addie found herself smiling unwillingly at the picture he painted. "I just want to know what you're going to tell Rus—my father after I get thrown again and wind up with a broken neck."

"It sounds as if you're asking for a riding lesson." Ben's amusement disappeared all too quickly, replaced by a sneer. "Imagine that. Adeline Warner needing a few pointers from little 0l' me."

"You're crazy if you think I'm trying to get attention from you!"

"Then why the attempt at femme fatale?" He cast a meaningful glance at the patch of ground where they had both been.

Addie swallowed back a sharp-tongued retort, won­dering if it would be more in character for her to argue with him or pretend that her fall from Jessie had been a silly feminine ruse to get his attention. He seemed inclined to believe the worst of her-why not play on his ego? Besides, she had to come up with some ex­planation of why she'd handled the horse so ineptly. Ben might as well think she'd fallen on purpose.

"I should have known you wouldn't be enough of a gentleman to oblige me," she murmured, peeping up at him through her lashes. There. That sounded flir­tatious, and perhaps it would throw him off-balance. Let him believe this entire episode was a ploy to at­tract him. He'd expect nothing less from Adeline Warner.

Instead of being disconcerted, Ben was frankly amused. "The merchandise doesn't appeal to me, honey." He gave her an assessing glance. "Not that it doesn't come in a pretty package."

Oh, she absolutely detested him! "You're too kind," she said stiffly.

Suddenly he grinned, the hint of malice leaving his expression. "Why the antics this morning? Just bored, hmmm? Am I the only man left in the county who isn't head over heels in love with you?"

"Probably," she said carelessly, causing him to laugh.

"Don't try again, Adeline. It's a dangerous game. I'm nothing like the boys you like to dangle by their heartstrings.”

"I'm sure you like to think so," she said disdain­fully. "But you're all alike. No matter what age, you're all just boys. You like to play the same ridiculous games over and over again, and . . . " She closed her mouth with a snap.

"And what?" he prompted. As she remained silent, his gaze seemed" to bum through her. "What do you think the difference is between a boy and a man, Ade­line?"

"I wouldn't know. I have yet to meet a real man." He gave her a jeering smile, and when he spoke, his voice was smooth and drawling, sending tremors up and down her spine. "I don't think you could recog­nize one, darlin'."

"A man is someone who has principles," she said, enunciating the word as if it would surely be unfamil­iar to him. "And the strength to stand by them. Some­one who wouldn't always put himself first, others second. And also—"

"Please." He held up a hand as if in self-defense. "I'm sure it's a long list, and very entertaining. But I don't have the time."

"You'd never measure up to it anyway."

Ben chuckled. "Darlin', you're hardly an authority on the subject."

His condescension rankled. She knew more about men than he thought! Although women back in these days were raised on silly Victorian principles, she had grown up in a time that was far less prudish. Her peers had prided themselves on being modem and sophisti­cated about sex. They had seen plays and read books about it until they ceased to become shocked by such openness and had merely been bored by it. Although Adele had never had an affair, she was part of a gen­eration which had come to adulthood wondering what all the commotion was about.

"I'm not as sheltered as you seem to think," she said.

"I have an idea you're not as experienced as you seem to think."