She looked up then, her brown eyes wary, and Ben was startled by her tumbled appearance. He'd never seen her look anything but cool and perfect. The beginnings of a new awareness of her stirred inside him, and all his senses were awakening. To his disgust, he realized that with the slightest encouragement he would have taken whatever she cared to offer. She'd had him right where she wanted him.
But unlike before, she made no move to seduce, taunt, or tease. There was a touch of fear in her eyes, and no end of anxiety. Was it all an act? There was no way of knowing.
Addie fumbled with her hat, trying to set it on her head at the right angle, while her mind raced with worry. I can't pretend I'm Adeline Warner anymore. I'm no good at it. But was there any choice? There didn't appear to be. She was trapped here, and it seemed there was no going back. This was a real world, just as real as the one she had come from, and she could either thrive in it or be eaten alive. She would have to continue as Adeline Warner. There was nothing else to do, nowhere to go.
And she couldn't let herself forget, ever again, that Ben Hunter was her enemy. Addie looked at him, experiencing a shock when she met his eyes, so keen and aware. Some part of her was finally able to grasp the danger of him. Of all the disasters that could happen, the very worst would be to find herself close to him again. She moved away from him, trying to get up, and he took her hand, pulling her to her feet. Addie jerked her hand away as soon as she was able, rubbing the back of it as if to erase the grip of his fingers.
Ben shook his head slightly, his eyes locked on her face. "What's happened to you?"
She stiffened, her insides going cold. "Nothing's happened. What do you mean?"
"You've been acting strange ever since Cade found you yesterday. Your face, your expressions… everything's different."
No one else noticed a difference in her, not even Russell or May. Uneasily she wondered just how perceptive he was.
"I don't feel like humoring your whims, Mr. Hunter. Nothing about me has changed."
"Then tell me this-how is it in the space of twenty-four hours that you've forgotten how to ride? Why didn't you remember about what happened between us in the stable? Why are you walking around as if you're seeing everything for the first time?"
"My father doesn't pay you to pester me with stupid questions," she snapped, and he grinned, seeming more at ease.
"That sounds like the Adeline I'm used to. And for once you're right. I don't get paid for asking you questions. I get paid for taking care of business, and that's what I'm supposed to be doing. So if you're feeling better…"
"I… " Nervously she looked at Jessie, who now stood with the reins hanging down to the ground. "I need a few more minutes. "
He stood up and resettled his hat. "I've got to be at the Double Bar. Right now. "
"Then go! And take Jessie with you. I don't want anything more to do with her. "
"Are you serious? How the hell are you planning to get back home?"
"I'll walk back."
"Don't be a fool. That'll take you hours. No knowing you, it'll take days." As she met his eyes defiantly, he swore, and his hands flexed as if he longed to shake her. "Of all the mulish, unreasonable, troublesome females I've ever come across…" In the silence which followed, he noticed the trembling of her lower lip, the residue of her reaction to all she had just gone through, and his exasperation was tempered with an emotion she couldn't quite identify.
"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-"