"When he calms down and thinks about things, he might change his mind. A little common sense will make him see that-"
Ben snorted at the suggestion. "You know him better than that. This isn't a matter of common sense to him. It's a matter of pride. He won't back down."
"What are you going to?"
He shrugged, looking away from her. "Put the fence back up."
"Even though you don't believe in it?"
"I've told Russ what I think. That's my job. He's made the decision. That's his job. Whether or not I like his decision, I'm going to live by it. The alternative is to leave, and I'm not ready to."
"Why not? There are other ranches that would hire you in a minute."
"I get the feeling you're hoping I'll go." Ben didn't miss the way she blushed and looked away. His eyes were cool and watchful as he continued, "Why won't I? Because I like Sunrise. And I gave my word to Russ that I'd stay as long as he needed me."
"You're very loyal to him, aren't you?" Addie asked. There was a fine edge to her voice that must have been unfathomable to him.
“He's one of the best men I've ever known. And one of the few I've ever met who deserves complete honesty. It would be easier just to tell him what he wants to hear. But I respect him too much for that."
"He thinks of you as an adopted son." The way she spoke made it sound far from a compliment. "What about your own family? What about your own father?"
"I've got a nice family in lllinois. And a respectable father, who's worked at a bank for the past twenty-five years." Ben grinned, his mood lightening. "Every time I'm anywhere near my father, he goes into the early stages of apoplexy. We don't have much in common, he and I."
"With a Harvard education-if you really got one you could have gotten a job back east. Why did you decide on Texas?"
"The only place I'm not wanted by the law… yet." His deadpan assertion was so close to what she had been thinking that Addie started. Then she saw the dance of mischief in his eyes. He was taunting her. She scowled at him, unamused, forgetting her intention to be sweet to him.
"I never know when to believe anything you say!"
"Poor Addie. And here you are, dispensing your charity and goodwill to a wounded man-"
"Oh, stop it," she said, thoroughly disconcerted by his sarcasm. "I don't know why I tried being nice to you. And you're not wounded, either. You're just a little beat-up."
"A real angel of mercy, aren't you?" He reached up experimentally to touch the comer of his mouth, which had stopped bleeding. She bent closer to peer at it.
"It doesn't look too bad to me."
"Only because you're not the one wearing it." His mouth tilted roguishly at the comers. "Don't I get a kiss to make it better?"
She snorted at the question, knowing he didn't really mean it. "You’d probably die of shock if I did."
Slowly he set the ice down on the table. He decided to take a gamble. "Try it and see," he invited softly.
Addie stared at him in amazement. Her heart jerked as if it danced on the end of a string. Surely his last words had been the ultimate mockery. She knew she was staring at him, but she couldn't help it. He didn't mean it… oh, he couldn't mean it. But… he looked as if he did.
I can't. I just couldn't. He 'd make fun of me if I took him up on it. He 'll make fun of me if I don't, too. He 'll say I was afraid… he has too much of an ego to accept that I just didn't want to kiss him.
But she did want to.
Look at him sitting there, just daring me to make a move. He looks good even when he s dirty and messed up. Leah always said she figured the Devil would be a mighty handsome man.
Why is he so tempting? It s the bad in me. The bad in him appeals to the worst part of me.
What would it feel like?
Ben appeared to be relaxed, but she knew he was as alert as a cat. She wished he didn't look so predatory. He had issued the challenge; now he was waiting for her response. She forced herself to smile carelessly. Bending quickly, she brushed her lips across his in the lightest of touches, too fast for him to respond.
"Feel better?" she asked in a sugar-coated voice, and he eyed her sardonically, the moment of tension almost broken. But not quite.
"Hardly."
"Well, what were you expecting?"
Now the challenge was thrown to him. He accepted it without hesitation. Standing up in a swift movement, he caught her waist in his hands and backed her up until the edge of the table pressed into her buttocks. She didn't know what to do or where to put her hands. Her palms came to rest on his upper arms, on the hard swell of muscle that tightened at her touch. And she looked up at him, confused and excited, and curious. Just this once it wouldn't hurt. She would let it happen, and she didn't care what he said or thought afterward. He lowered his dark head and nuzzled her ear, and the touch of his hot breath in the hollow behind her earlobe made her shiver.
"That's a good question," he said. "What should I expect from a woman like you?" He heard her swallow convulsively, felt her body tense as he drew closer. She wasn't trying to move away, although they both knew he would have let her go easily had she made a move to be free. The skin of her arms was soft underneath his fingers.
Suddenly she seemed very fragile to Ben, someone to be handled gently and treated with tenderness. He'd never felt that for anyone in his life, or held a woman who trembled at his touch. He was accustomed to women who were comfortable with men, well-versed in the ways a man liked to be pleased. But there was a vast gulf between their knowledge and this woman's. Despite her attempts at sophistication, she didn't have much actual experience, of that he was fairly certain. There was no way her shyness, her uncertainty, could be manufactured. Why did it arouse him so?
“Addie, " he murmured, and her breath caught as his mouth began to wander to the edge of her jaw. "Don't pretend with me. Not ever."
"Wh-what? "
"I hope I'm not imagining you. Am I, Addie?"
"No-"
"It doesn't matter if I am." His hands urged her upward, gently forcing her to rise on her toes. "Don't pull away, Adeline."
She wanted to pull away, but her body was thrilling with exhilaration, guilt, and fear. Her face turned that necessary half-inch, to an angle that aligned with his. She was lost in the deep green sea of his eyes. His arm slid around her back, trapping her, keeping her close, and suddenly both of them were aware of her breasts pressed snugly into his chest.
As he bent his head to kiss her, she held her breath and her eyes closed. Just as their lips met, there was the sound of footsteps outside the kitchen door, and Russell's imperious voice.
"Addie? Addie, where are you?"
They broke apart in a startled movement. Addie flushed and spun away from Ben, touching her mouth with her fingertips as if he'd left a brand. There had been no time to feel anything but a delicious hint of warmth… but that was more than she ever should have known of Ben Hunter.
"We're both in the kitchen," Ben replied, swiping up the dripping cloth full of ice and holding it to his face as he sat down abruptly. He and Addie stared at each other for one burning moment until Russell strode into the kitchen.
"I see she's got you fixed up good," he said, seeming not to notice Addie's discomposure. "Adeline, there's a thing or two we got to talk about."
"Oh?"
"That Johnson boy-well, things hafta change between you and him."
"What do you mean?" she asked warily. "The quarrel is between you and Big George. That doesn't have to affect my friendship with Jeff. "
'The quarrel's between the Warners and the Johnsons. Which means there's no more friendship between you and Jeff. You're not goin' to see him anymore, or even talk to him. Understand?"