The Devil's Daughter by Laura Drewry Page B

over the pot, she bit her lip to stop from smiling. Miss Blake knew what she was doing with the whole guilt idea. Jed would no doubt give in and relieve her of all future cooking duties. Maybe the dish duty, too.
    His huge fingers wrapped around her arm, gently pulling her to her feet.
    When she was standing next to him, he released her. Lucy could only hope she looked as hurt as she was trying to be.
    “Supper
was
fine,” he said, then held up a hand when she opened her mouth to object. “I told you earlier, I’ve been eating nothing but cold beans and a little dried pork for weeks.” He paused a second, then added with a drawn out sigh, “Long, tiresome weeks.”
    “And you want me to believe what I served you tonight was better than that?”
    Color crept up Jed’s neck as he chuckled softly. “Well, now, I never said it was
better
, did I?”
    Lucy opened her mouth to argue, then snapped it shut.
    “No,” she admitted, looking down at his boots. “You never did.”
    He tipped her chin back up with the crook of his finger and smiled down at her. “I didn’t say it was bad, either. It was fine.”
    “It was burnt.”
    “It was cooked – which is a darn sight better than what I’ve been living on lately.”
    “But--”
    Jed pressed his finger against her lips. Her heart stuttered, her breath held, and for a long moment, they simply stood there; Jed seemingly mesmerized by the mating of his finger against her lips.
    Lucy stood rooted to the spot, willing him to kiss her, to press his lips against hers and take everything he wanted.
    His mouth opened and shut twice. Then he licked his lips and swallowed hard.
    “No buts,” he murmured before pulling his finger away and stuffing both hands deep in his pockets.
    An odd feeling coursed through Lucy’s body. Her lips tingled from his touch, and it took every ounce of strength she could muster – and then some – to not slide her tongue out to taste where he’d touched.
    Startled, she shook herself hard.
What the --?
    Biting back a curse, she turned away from Jed and set back to work on the dishes. She needed to focus. With Deacon working against her and her husband worrying about a long and fruitful marriage, she definitely needed to rethink her plan.
    Lucy had no intention of going back to Hell with Deacon, but she sure as Satan wasn’t going to have a long and fruitful commitment to
any
man, least of all one who made her collect buffalo chips. Only a few hours into this marriage, and she’d already had enough of being told what to do and when to do it, especially by a mere mortal.
    He’d be sorry.
    They’d all be sorry.
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
     
    Lust. That’s all it was.
    He’d been a long time without a woman and Lucy was a hundred times more woman than he’d planned on bringing home.
    Jed scooped the two large buckets from the ground and began the short walk down to the creek, leaving Lucy staring after him. With any luck, the distance would give him time to regain his senses.
    He hadn’t set out to touch her. Hadn’t even meant to stand that close, yet before he knew it, he’d done both. Her lips were softer than any he’d ever felt, and if he hadn’t regained his control when he did, sure as hell he’d have kissed her. But kissing her wouldn’t be enough – he knew that, and apparently so did she.
    He tried not to wonder how many other men had touched her lips or worse. . .
    Jed shook his head. It didn’t matter. He needed to be patient, to create a bond with Lucy before they let themselves fall into bed – or onto the hard ground, as was more likely the case with her. How long could he resist her, though? Even when she wasn’t intentionally trying to seduce him, she was far more than he was prepared to handle.
    What he had was a wife who didn’t think the same way he did. He had a wife who was only interested in the physical end of a marriage – and that was something no man could resist.
    The other men at the auction would lynch