Give Me Tonight(83)

"Now?" He'd been wearing a mask all during breakfast, of courtesy so perfect it was almost a mock­ery, an attitude of endless politeness. Now he was looking at her as he had last night, his smile full of masculine arrogance.

"No, not now," she said, glancing around to see if they were being observed. "And don't look at me like that "

"Like what?"

"As if . . . you . . . as if—"

" As if I'd spent the night in your bed?"

"Yes, and you don't have to act so smug about it."

"You do seem to have that effect on me," he said lazily. "It was all I could do to keep my . . . er . . smugness under control this morning."

"Be quiet," she commanded, wanting to clap her hand over his mouth. "Someone's going to hear you."

She looked anxious and rosy-cheeked this morning, and there were faint smudges under her eyes from lack of sleep. A button near the top of her dress wasn't fastened, as if she'd dressed too hastily. Ben had never seen anything as charming as Addie Warner standing there and trying to scold him discreetly. If there hadn't been so many people around, he would have stepped up to her and kissed her.

"What do you want to talk to me about?" he asked instead. She sighed shortly, picking up her skirts and retreating up the steps. Now was not the time to dis­cuss Russell.

"It can wait."

Hearing the tense note in her voice, Ben followed and stopped her with a touch on her arm. "Addie. Are you all right?"

She lifted her shoulders in an uncertain shrug. Gently he stroked the hollow on the inside of her el­bow with his thumb.

"Do you need something, honey?" No one but Ben could ask a simple question in a way that sent a shiver down her spine.

"I need to talk to you privately."

"Tonight after dinner soon enough? . . . Good. Then give me a smile so I won't worry today. And fasten your top button, darlin'."

That night she would talk to him about Russell and the danger he was in. Knowing Ben's affection for Rus­sell, it wouldn't be difficult to appeal to the more pro­tective side of his nature. Surely she could convince Ben they needed to watch over him more, especially now that the conflicts between Sunrise and the Double Bar were growing in frequency and intensity.

Addie could hardly believe that someone would sneak in the house and kill Russell Warner in his own bed. But it had happened once, and succeeded because it was so unexpected. It couldn't happen again. Addie knew she'd already changed part of the Warner family history. She hadn't disappeared. She'd been here for weeks, a different woman than before, and she'd made choices the former Adeline Warner would never have made. She'd turned against Jeff and fallen in love with Ben. For the first time in her life she was part of a family. She'd found a place where she belonged. Addie would fight to keep all of that, and every last bit of strength she had would be devoted to saving Russell.

Russell was puffed up with pleasure when Ben ca­sually left the table after dinner to accompany Addie on a walk outside. By now it was obvious to everyone that a full-fledged romance was in the making. Russell was even more gratified than Caroline. Of course May still had reservations about the match between her daughter and the ranch foreman, but strangely, she of­fered no objections when she saw them leaving to­gether. Maybe she was beginning to see that opposing the relationship wouldn't do any good.

"My goodness," Addie breathed as soon as they were outside alone, "this is all going to be so much easier than I'd expected. Mama didn't say a thing. Oh, she looked very frosty, but she didn't say one word."

"Maybe the thought of me as a son-in-law isn't as hard on her as we anticipated," Ben mused, sliding an arm around her back, taking care to match his stride to her much shorter steps.

"Or maybe she thinks you're a temporary fling. You're just the kind I'd choose for that."

Ben feigned a scowl at her careless remark. "Me, a fling? That does it."

Addie laughed breathlessly as he scooped her up and headed toward the pasture in back of the house. "It was a compliment," she protested, giggling and squirming in his arms..

"Oh?" He arched his dark brows as he looked down at her. "It didn't sound like one to me."

"It was, it was. Where are you taking me?"

"To a place where I can take revenge in private."

"I meant what I said. Any woman would want to have a fling with you." She ran the tip of her finger down the part of his throat exposed by the open collar of his shirt, coquettishly tracing a pattern on the well-tanned skin. "You're very handsome. And you look like the kind who's good at . . . well . .”

"Good at what?"

"Stop teasing. You know what I mean. I always wondered what it would be like with you. Even when I didn't like you, I still wondered."

He smiled, shifting her higher in his arms as he walked. "Has your curiosity been satisfied, ma'am?"

"Not yet," she said, fingering the buttons of his shirt. "But I know one thing for certain."

"What is that?"

She looped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, "You're every bit as good as you look."

He dropped a kiss on her throat, his eyes flickering, and he stopped walking as they reached a stack of dry, freshly piled alfalfa hay. His original intention had been to drop her in it and kiss her until she begged for mercy. But now all he wanted to do was give her plea­sure. Her clasp on him tightened as he lowered her into the sweet-scented hay.