Duncan's Bride by Linda Howard Page A

second his arms tightened so fiercely that she moaned into his mouth. Instantly they loosened, and he lifted his head.
    Breathing swiftly, only inches apart, they stared at each other. His expression was hard and sensual, his eyes dilated with arousal, his lips still gleaming from the moisture of their kiss. He was bending back toward her when another call for her flight stopped him, and he slowly released her.
    Her entire body ached for him. She waited, hoping he would say the words that would keep her there, but instead he said, “You’d better go. You’ll miss your flight.”
    She couldn’t speak. She nodded instead and walked away on shaky legs. She didn’t look back. It was bad form for a grown woman to howl like an infant, and that was what she was very much afraid she would do if she gave in to the need to see him for even a split second.
    She had gotten off the plane in Billings feeling confident and alive with anticipation. She left twenty-four hours later feeling shattered.
    R OBERT MET HER plane in New York, which told Madelyn how worried he’d been. She gave him a parody of a smile and saw his pale eyes sharpen as he immediately read her distress. The smile wobbled and collapsed, and she walked into his arms. She didn’t cry; she didn’t let herself cry, but her chest heaved with convulsive breaths as she fought for control.
    â€œI’ll kill him,” Robert said in a very soft, almost gentle tone.
    Madelyn shook her head and took one more deep breath so she could talk. “He was a perfect gentleman. He’s a hard-working, salt-of-the-earth type, and he said I wasn’t suitable for the job.”
    He rocked her gently back and forth. “And that hurt your ego?”
    She raised her head and managed a real smile this time, though it was just as wobbly as the first. “No, I think he managed to break my heart.”
    Robert gave her a searching look, reading the expression in her bottomless gray eyes. “You don’t fall in love in one day.”
    â€œSometimes you don’t, sometimes you do. He didn’t feel the same way, so it’s something I have to live with.”
    â€œMaybe it’s just as well.” Keeping his arm around her shoulders, he guided her toward the entrance. “I investigated him—I know, you told me not to,” he added warily as he saw the menacing look she gave him. “But he would be a tough man for any woman to live with. He’s understandably bitter about the raw deal he got in his divorce—”
    â€œI know,” she said. “He told me about it.”
    â€œThen you know that any woman he marries will have a cold marriage. He’s still carrying a lot of anger inside him.”
    â€œI saw the ranch. He has reason to be angry.”
    â€œHis ex-wife and her family took him to the cleaners. I’ve dealt with them—cautiously. You have to be careful when you wade into a pool of barracudas.”
    â€œI’d like for you to ruin them financially, if you can, please,” she said in the manner of a socialite idly asking for another glass of champagne.
    â€œThat won’t give him back what he lost.”
    â€œNo, but I’m vindictive enough that I want to see them get what they deserve.”
    â€œYou don’t have a vindictive bone in your body.”
    â€œYes I do,” she said in the same gentle tone he occasionally used, the one that made smart people back away.
    He kissed her hair and hugged her closer. “So what are you going to do now?”
    â€œCarry on, I suppose.” She shrugged. “There’s nothing else I can do.”
    Robert looked at her, wryly admiring her resilience. Madelyn was a trouper; she always carried on. Sometimes she needed a crutch for a while, but in the end shestood upright again and continued on her own. Reese Duncan had to be a lot of man to have gotten to her this way.
    T WO WEEKS LATER , Reese got back into