Angel Creek by Linda Howard

chin. “I’m much better today, and the soreness will leave faster if I work it out.”
    â€œTrying to get rid of me?” he asked. “It won’t work.”
    She turned her face away from him. “What about Olivia?” she asked quietly. “She’s my friend.”
    She couldn’t see him, but she could feel his fierce gaze fasten on her. He didn’t show surprise at her words. He just said, “What about her?”
    â€œThe talk is that you’re going to marry her.”
    â€œI’d thought about it,” he admitted, his temper fraying. Did she think he would be there if he had committed himself to another woman? “But not lately. We certainly as hell don’t have any sort of understanding between us. I’m a free man.”
    She plucked at the sheet, still not looking at him. “It would probably be better if you didn’t come by tomorrow anyway.”
    â€œIf you weren’t such a damn idiot, you wouldn’t need for me to come by,” he growled, glad that she had provided him with an excuse to release his temper. Being around her, with her either naked or only partly clothed, had strained his control to the limit. He felt half-mad with the need to have her.
    â€œI know,” she said, readily accepting the blame,which only made him angrier. “I try to be so careful, but that time I wasn’t.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t be pitching down hay in the beginning!” he yelled. “You shouldn’t be working this farm by yourself! Why can’t you move to town and be a normal woman, instead of trying to prove that you can make it all on your own when it’s pure insanity that you’d even want to?”
    Dee looked at him then, her eyes narrowing in a dangerous, catlike way. It wasn’t in her to simply take his attack in silence, so she didn’t. “What I want to know is why you think it’s any of your business,” she said in an even tone. “I appreciate your help, but that doesn’t give you the right to tell me how to live.”
    â€œYou know what gives me the right.” He walked over to stand by the bed, glaring down at her. “You know it’s going to end only one way.”
    â€œI believe that’s still my decision.”
    â€œWhen the time comes, you’re going to lie down and open your legs for me,” he said savagely. “Don’t try to fool yourself.”
    She tried to lift herself up on an elbow, but her shoulders and arms were still too sore, and she fell back with a stifled moan. This further evidence of her own physical helplessness, however, didn’t mean that she thought he was right. “Then I see only one solution: Don’t come back here, because you aren’t welcome.”
    â€œAre you going to use the shotgun on me?” he taunted, leaning down so close that she could see the glittering depths of his eyes. “Then take your best shot, sweetheart, because I’ll be back.”
    She lashed out in retaliation. “You overestimate your charm. I’d always wonder what you really wanted, me or Angel Creek.”
    â€œBoth, sweetheart,” he said, and he crashed his mouth down onto hers. It was a rough kiss, and she tried to bite him, but he jerked his head back, then returned to kiss her even harder. His fingers clamped on her chin and held it down so he could enter her mouth with his tongue. Dee clawed at his arms, but with her limited range of movement it was a wasted effort. He held her down and ruthlessly kissed her until she felt the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. He tasted it, too, and the pressure eased. He sucked her lower lip into his mouth and stroked it with his tongue, soothing the hurt.
    He unbuttoned the shirt she wore and opened it, baring her breasts. Her breath caught in her throat as his hard, warm hand closed over one of the soft mounds.
    â€œThis is what it would be like between us,” he