The Dangerous Jacob Wilde

Finished? Finished? No. He was not finished, nowhere near finished.

“You know,” he said, “I behaved like a damned fool back at El Sueño.”

“If you’re waiting for me to disagree—”

“But what you did here was worse.”

“Worse? Defending myself against you was worse?”

“I could have killed you.”

His words were flat and cold. Addison felt the chill of them straight into the marrow of her bones.

“Don’t get me wrong. You were scared. A truck, following you on these dark, deserted roads … I understand that. But once you pulled that trick with your car, put your headlights on me, that flashlight, saw who I was—”

“I saw who you were, all right.” For the first time since he’d taken her down, her voice quavered. “A man who wanted to—to—”

Addison shuddered. The wind was chilly; in her rush to leave El Sueño, she’d left her jacket behind.

“I’m not that kind of man,” Jake said flatly. “Despite this face.”

“Goddammit,” she said with hot fury, “do you think that’s what this is about? You and your face? You, feeling sorry for yourself?

Jake took a quick step forward, muscles taut with anger. “Who in hell do you think you are?”

“I’m a woman who’s not afraid to tell you the truth, unlike that—that bunch of sympathy sisters at your ranch.” Her chin rose; she tossed her hair back from her face. “Grow up, Captain. You were wounded. You have scars. People react to seeing them. So what?”

“You’re out of line,” he said coldly.

“I am very much in line. You have a chip on your shoulder the size of a house.”

“You don’t know a damned thing about me.”

“And you don’t know a damned thing about me, but that didn’t stop you from making a snap judgment. And I am sick and tired of snap judgments. You got that?”

Jake hesitated. Then he nodded.

“You’re right,” he said in a low voice. “You want to know the truth of what happened tonight? I saw you. And I wanted you. I haven’t wanted a woman in what seems like forever but one look at you and all that changed. And then—then, my brothers told me you weren’t looking at me, Jacob Wilde, you were looking at me, the guy they’d recommended to check out your ranch and I, hell, and I—”

“I saw you watching me. And I told myself I was just trying to get your attention so we could talk business but—but—”

“Dammit,” he said, and either she moved or he did.

It didn’t matter.

What counted was that an instant later, she was in his arms.

CHAPTER SIX

THERE WAS NO time to try and understand what was happening.

This was magic, and only a fool would question it.

Jake was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a fool. He was a man with a beautiful woman in his arms, her mouth warm against his.

She whispered something against his lips. Was she asking him to stop?

No.