Beautiful Bandit (Lone Star Legends) by Loree Lough

to slow you down.” She shot him a crooked little grin. “I can still ride. Really, I can! You might have to help me into the saddle, and out of it when we stop, and I’m sorry about that, but—”
    “Dinah,” he interrupted her, grabbing her wrists, “for the love of all that’s holy, will you please stop talking?” His mood vacillated between guilt and frustration. “Stop saying you’re sorry. You have nothing to apologize for!”
    In this position, they were eye to eye for the first time, and the intense glow of the sun left little to the imagination. He noticed the sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Saw for the first time blue flecks that glittered in her green eyes. Despite her womanly features, she seemed so young, so inexperienced, and so innocent.
    Dinah looked as transfixed as he felt. She swallowed, hard. Widened those remarkable, riveting eyes. Raised her perfectly arched brows. He could tell she was holding her breath, and he could feel her pulse pounding through the fingers of his gloves. Josh frowned with self-loathing at the doubt that was etched in her delicate features. But there was no time for lingering here, gawking at her pretty face. “We’d better head out.”
    One corner of her pretty mouth lifted in a tiny grin. “’Cause we’re burnin’ daylight?”
    He wanted to say, “No, ’cause if we don’t head out, I’m liable to kiss you right where you sit.” Instead, he said, “Yeah, ’cause we’re burnin’ daylight.”
    Josh wanted to gather her close and admit how much he’d come to care for her. Wanted to pledge that he’d never speak a cross word to her again. That as long as they were together, he’d protect her from rain and wind, from whatever might—
    “Then, I guess we’d best get going.”
    “First, let’s have a look at that ankle. If it’s broken, it might need a splint.”
    “And if it isn’t, it’ll puff up like a bullfrog’s throat, and I’ll never get my boot back on.”
    “Good point,” he said. “I’ll have a look at it when we stop for the night.”
    She nodded, and as Josh held out a hand to help her up, she didn’t hesitate to take it. So, he was furious with himself for not thinking to use both hands, because Dinah lost her balance when she stood up and had to lean on him for support. Not that he minded having her so close, of course.
    He held on tight, determined not to let her fall again. But he knew without a doubt that if they stood this way a minute longer, he’d find out firsthand if those extraordinary lips felt as soft and tasted as sweet as they looked. “Let’s get you back on the horse,” he said. “Start out sidesaddle, so you won’t bang your ankle on the horn.”
    Dinah took a deep breath.
    With one hand on either side of her waist, he said, “Ready?”
    Another nod. Then, with her eyes closed tight and her lips taut, she said, “Ready when you are.”
    “Up you go.”
    Once her backside hit the saddle, a high-pitched yet barely audible “Ouch” squeaked from her mouth. And then, she laughed. “Whew,” she said, fanning herself. “I’m glad that’s over!”
    Well, I’m not, he thought, heaving himself up onto Callie’s back.
    “You want to hear something funny?” she asked as they cantered south.
    Leave it to Dinah to find something comical about an injured ankle. “Sure.”
    “I’m famished.”
    He grinned. “Want to hear something funnier?”
    She matched his smile, tooth for tooth. “Sure.”
    “Me, too.”
    A moment of silence ticked by as they stared into each other’s eyes. Their laughter started slow and low, escalating in pitch and volume, until both Dinah and Josh were breathless and wiping tears from their eyes. How long had it been since he’d laughed like that? Had he ever laughed as long or as hard? If so, he couldn’t remember when.
    “Think I can dig some food out of my saddlebags without falling off my horse?”
    “A man can hope.”
    Half an hour later, after