Through the Looking Glass Read Online Free

sunlight through a cloud, catching at his breath.
    "This is my wagon." She turned and climbed the steps to the open door.
    Gideon felt bereft for a moment, rudderless. It wasn't a comfortable sensation for a man of thirty-five, especially when that man had never taken an unplanned turn in his life. But a small voice in his mind whispered now, seductively, that treasures weren't found on the predictable and neatly paved walkways where a thousand feet passed daily. He tried to ignore the voice; he'd never heard the damned thing before, and it promised, at the very least, a lack of control that appalled him.
    "Gideon?" She looked out at him, brows lifted. "Aren't you coming in?"
    After a moment he climbed the steps and went into her wagon.
    "Sit down," she invited, gesturing toward a brightly green love seat as she leaned the camp chair against the wall, put the bundle of cloth on the foot of the bed, and opened the door of a big wardrobe to begin searching through it.
    He was glad to sit. The interior of the wagon struck his senses like a blow. He looked around slowly, his gaze lingering on the scarlet velvet bedspread and tasseled pillows covering the bed that took up most of the space. He closed his eyes, opening them again when she settled beside him. She was holding a first-aid box open on her lap.
    While he watched silently, she got out a tube of antiseptic and some gauze and put the box on the floor, then took his wrist and guided his arm until it rested across her thighs. He could feel the warmth of her, and a soft scent like wildflowers in a meadow rose to his nostrils. Her long, clever fingers were bare of rings.
    "Are you married?" he asked.
    She was carefully spreading antiseptic cream over the scratch on his arm and didn't look up. "No."
    "Involved with anyone?"
    "No. Are you?"
    He gazed at her profile and felt more then heard a sigh escape him. "I wasn't when I got here."
    Finished with her task, she tossed the used gauze into a small trash can near the door. "It'll heal better if it isn't covered," she said, capping the tube of cream.
    "Did you hear what I said?" he demanded.
    "Yes." She put the tube back into the box and then sat back, looking at him. A tiny smile curved her lips and her fey eyes were completely unreadable.
    "I just made a verbal pass," he explained.
    She considered the matter, then shook her head. "No. You indicated interest. A verbal pass is something like—'Why don't we have breakfast in bed?' "
    "Why don't we have breakfast in bed?"
    "You do come straight to the point, don't you?"
    He eyed her, a little amused at both of them, and very surprised at himself . It was totally unlike him to move so fast, and even less like him to be so blunt. Still, having begun in that vein, he kept going. "We're both over twenty-one. At least, I hope—?"
    "I'm twenty-eight," she supplied sedately.
    "Then you've certainly heard quite a few verbal passes."
    "A few."
    He wanted to ask how she had responded to passes from other men, but bit back the question. She would say it was none of his business —or, at least, any other woman would. And she'd be right. Her past was no concern of his, and that had never troubled him in previous relationships with women; in fact, he'd never even been tempted to ask.
    "Are you just going to ignore my pass?" he asked.
    She looked at him, an uncomfortable perception surfacing in her vivid eyes. Rising up out of the depths, he thought, like some mysterious, all-knowing siren. "Unless and until your motives change, yes, I think I will."
    "My motives?"
    Mildly she said, "You don't like giving up control to anyone else, and as long as you don't understand me, you feel it puts me in control. You don't want the vulnerability of a possible relationship, just the control of knowledge. Sex, you believe, is a means to finding that knowledge. In your experience, women tend to give up all that they are to a lover, whether he responds in kind or not. How am I doing?"
    Gideon cleared his