To Love & Protect Her Read Online Free Page B

answers. Until we know who was trying to kidnap you, I don’t want to take any chances.”
    â€œAll right.”
    He glanced over at her. “All right? As easily as that? What if Ryan doesn’t learn anything? You don’t have forever before you have to start teaching your classes again. What if we don’t know what’s going on, and you have to go back to the university?”
    â€œI’m not sure,” she said slowly. “Right now, the university and my job there seem very far away. I haven’t thought about it once since we left College Station.” She turned to him again, and gave him a blinding smile that made his legs weak. “I’m not going to worry about that until I have to.”
    â€œI thought you were a regimented, plan-everything kind of woman,” he managed to say. “You teach at a university, for God’s sake. How much more by-the-book can you get than that? I figured an open-ended stay here in El Paso would be a problem for you.”
    â€œI guess you were wrong, then,” she said lightly. “Maybe underneath this mousy exterior, I’m really a wild woman.”
    â€œMousy?” He gave her an incredulous look. “You’re about as far from mousy as you could get.”
    His response was instantaneous, and he saw her blush. “Thank you, Griff,” she murmured. “But my physical attributes aren’t the issue. My job is. And Ihave a month before I have to worry about it. So let’s just forget about it for now.”
    â€œThat’s fine with me,” he muttered. How was he supposed to forget her physical attributes? he thought to himself. Especially when she’d spent the night sleeping on his lap.
    He hardened again just thinking about it. He’d seen that her head was bent as she slept on his shoulder, and knew she’d awaken with a stiff neck. So he’d eased her down until she rested on his lap. That had been a mistake. It had been a night of pure torture for him, but he wouldn’t have traded it for anything. The fragrant cloud of her hair had drifted over his thigh, and whenever he’d shifted, her scent had swirled around him. As she slept, she’d unselfconsciously slid her hand under his leg, and the imprint of her fingers still burned on his skin. Even the heavy denim fabric of his jeans hadn’t been a barrier to the sensations. He’d been in a state of arousal for the whole trip, and it still hadn’t receded completely.
    Which was probably why he was acting like an idiot.
    â€œHere’s the road that leads to the cabin,” he said, as they turned onto a rutted dirt track. He was relieved and grateful for the distraction. “It doesn’t look like anyone has been this way in a while.”
    â€œGreat,” she said fervently. “I can’t wait to get out of this truck.”
    Neither could he. The atmosphere was too confined, too intimate. Especially after last night.
    But he was afraid that living in the same house with Willa was going to be even more so.
    Â 
    Betsy Keene sat on the shabby couch in the small living area of her trailer near Leather Bucket and shrank back against the cushions. She stared at the man who had been her lover ever since he showed up on her doorstep six months ago, wounded and needing help. Clint Lockhart raged through the room, throwing papers onto the floor and overturning her tiny kitchen table and chairs. His blue eyes were black with rage, and his arrogant mouth, the mouth she’d come to love, was twisted into a frightening grimace.
    â€œWe should have had her!” he shouted, slamming his fist onto the counter. The jars and boxes on top of the counter jumped, and so did Betsy. “One more minute, and we would have had her.”
    â€œWe can try again, Clint,” Betsy said, her voice placating.
    â€œWhen?” He turned on her, his eyes blazing. “When will we get another chance? That meddling