Between Strangers Read Online Free

he’d experienced just by touching Marcy’s hands.
    He couldn’t remember any time in those days before he settled down on the ranch—and certainly never with the woman who lived there now—when this intense kind of desire had bypassed his good judgment. With Lorna, he’d wanted to wait until the two of them were at least engaged before they took things past friendship. And he was sure Lorna felt the same way. Letting sex rule a relationship was not athing he felt comfortable doing with someone who would be his life partner.
    So this sudden craving to take a perfect stranger into his arms and kiss her senseless was totally unexpected and absolutely unwanted. Perhaps the life-and-death circumstances they found themselves in were making his normal male reactions to a pretty woman suddenly seem much more powerful.
    He decided not to dwell on it too much. The best thing for him to do was to talk to Marcy. Try to make friends with her. Keep things casual. They probably would be together for several more hours at least. By the time he was on his way down the road without her, perhaps the two of them would’ve found they had nothing in common and his libido would’ve settled back in line.
    Good plan. Now if only his body would cooperate.
    Within fifteen minutes Marcy had quieted her baby and climbed back into the front seat. Lance was beyond tired and hungry. And Marcy looked as if she hadn’t eaten a decent meal in about a week.
    â€œAnother half hour and we should be at the truck stop,” he told her. He took his eyes off the road for a second and glanced over to check on her.
    She smiled up at him. Actually smiled. It felt as if someone had flipped on a light in a pitch-black room.
    The unexpected sizzle of heat and tension made him jerk his head back around to stare through the windshield. He figured it was too dangerous to take his eyes off the road ahead. In more ways than one.
    â€œHow come you know the country around here sowell?” she asked congenially. “Are you from the area?”
    Now, this was better. They could talk for a while. Just as long as he didn’t have to look at her.
    â€œNo, ma’am,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve spent most of my adult life following the rodeo circuit. It’s a hectic way of life for a man…traveling from one rodeo town to the next. But after a few years of doing it, a guy gets to know the routes and stops pretty well. And a man can manage to make friends in the places he comes back to year after year.”
    â€œYou were in the rodeo? What’d you do there?” Surprise colored the tone of her questions, but she sounded more awed than disgusted.
    He never knew what to expect when he mentioned his work. Many people had no idea about what went on at a rodeo. Others felt it was a low-class kind of life. Still others, like the buckle bunnies and camp followers, were too easily impressed by what was really just a job.
    â€œI was a bull rider for the first few years,” he admitted. “Then later I rode the broncs.”
    â€œCool. That’s awesome. But isn’t it dangerous?”
    â€œI’ve had my share of bruises and broken bones, I guess. But the point is to know when to stop before it takes you down for good.”
    â€œYou don’t do it anymore? You quit?”
    Is that what he’d done? “I retired from the circuit. I moved on to something better.”
    â€œBack at your ranch in Montana?”
    â€œThe ranch isn’t mine. I’m just a hired hand.”
    She seemed hesitant to make a comment. “Really?” she finally said in a neutral tone. “What do you do there?”
    He didn’t know if Marcy was truly interested, or if she’d even have the foggiest idea of what went into his job. But she was waiting for an answer. And he’d already made the decision that he wanted them to become friends.
    So he figured he would just keep talking.