A Texan's Luck Read Free

but I'll not step foot on that stage until this marriage, no matter how it started, is consummated."
    A hundred reasons should have come to mind about why he could not do this, but not one seemed to matter. Into his world filled with war and death and pain, something perfect had fallen. Even if she were a mirage, he had to hold her this once.
    Walker crossed the room, unbuttoning his uniform. He stood above her and ran his hand down the length of her body, marveling at the softness. He wanted to tell her how perfect she was, or how there had been no women in his life for years, but there was no time now. The stage would be leaving in a few minutes.
    His jacket fell atop her coat as he leaned down, letting his chest press against her. The pure pleasure of her beneath him shot through him unlike anything he'd ever dreamed of experiencing. He thought of himself as a man of action whose emotions were buried years ago. Only this woman, who called herself his wife, brought them all back, an avalanche of sensation.
    She didn't move. She only waited.
    When he tried to kiss her, she turned her head away, and he realized what he'd been about to do was not a necessary part to this mating she wanted. Anger and relief blended, for he knew he'd never wanted to waste time kissing on the few brief encounters he'd had with women of the night. For some reason, she felt the same.
    "Are you sure?" He had to know that this was what she wanted. "You'll leave as soon as I do this?"
    She nodded.
    He unbuttoned his trousers, reminding himself she was his wife. Though he'd never asked for the part, it was his duty to see her safe. He gripped her thigh and pulled her legs apart. Maybe this was his duty, too. She'd asked for no love. No forever. No pretense. Only this.
    Walker pushed into her hard and swift, angry that he'd allowed her to call his bluff, that he hadn't been able to stop after he saw her waiting. He had no idea what game she played, but he'd do his part and be done with her.
    With his second thrust, all thought vanished as her body took him in, wrapping around him. A passion strong and wild jolted through him. His senses shot in rapid fire. The fragrance of her washed over him, the feel of her, the soft sound her breathing made, the perfection of her nearness, the taste of her skin as he opened his mouth against her throat.
    He wasn't prepared when his very soul shattered. He pushed into her and let out a long breath that he felt he'd held in for years. They became one, two strangers married now on paper and by action.
    When he was able to form a thought, he rose a few inches off her and looked down at this woman who insisted she was his wife. Her warm brown eyes were tightly closed, her teeth biting into her fist, holding back any sound as tears streamed from the corners of her eyes into her hair.
    It took a few moments to realize that the unexpected ocean of pleasure that had washed over him like a tidal wave had held only pain for her.
    Peterson pounded on the door. "Two minutes!" he yelled. "The driver threatened to shoot me if I asked him to wait any longer."
    "She'll be there!" Walker shouted back as he climbed from his bed and buttoned his trousers, realizing he hadn't bothered to remove even his boots.
    "I've done what you asked," he said, irritated that she seemed to be suffering through some great tragedy when she'd been the one who insisted on the mating. He glanced at her body one last time as she pushed back tears. The buckle from his uniform belt had scratched across her abdomen. "Now, you have to go, Lacy Larson. We've no more time."
    Walker grabbed his jacket and turned his back, hating himself more than he had since the night he'd left Cedar Point. He thought of saying something kind to her, but there were no words. What they'd done was as far from making love as heaven from hell. He wasn't fool enough to tell himself that it was all her doing. She might be his wife. She might have insisted. She might have had a body made