Don't you want to know why I'm here?" Emma made herself meet his eyes. "No," she said. "I do not." He chuckled, unmoved, as always, by her discourtesy. "We're going on a picnic Saturday," he announced. Emma had had all she could take of Steven Fairfax's audacity. She glared at him, her cheeks throbbing. "I hardly think that will be possible. You see, I've agreed to attend a party with Fulton on Saturday evening." Steven sighed. "So you're still seeing the banker, huh?" "Honestly," Emma snapped, amazed, "you are insufferable. And I'm not going on any picnic with you, now or ever!" The silk crumpled between her clenched fingers, and she nearly stuck herself with the needle. "Perhaps I have finally made myself clear?" He smiled. "I do comprehend what you're trying to say, Miss Emma. I just disagree with you, that's all." Emma hurled down the bodice of the dress she'd been sewing and bolted out of her chair. "What on earth gives you the idea that it matters, whether you and I agree or not?" His eyes glittered with firelight and humor as he watched her. "You are indeed a beauty, Miss Emma-the kind of prize a man dreams of winning. Win you I will, and when I do, I intend to have you well and often." A tremor of mingled fury and desire coursed through Emma's slender frame. "What will it take to make you go away and leave me alone?" she whispered, clasping her hands together as though she were praying. Steven drew her to him without moving, without extending a hand. Before she knew what was happening, Emma was standing on the hearth, looking up into his face. He touched her lips, very lightly, with his finger, sending a storm of fire all through her. "Go on the picnic with me," he said quietly. "Then if you still want me to leave, I will." Emma's eyes widened. She felt hope, but also a raw sort of dismay. "You mean you'll actually saddle your horse and leave Whitneyville entirely? You won't even work on Big John's ranch anymore?" "That's right," Steven answered hoarsely, winding an escaped tendril of Emma's blaze-colored hair around the same finger that had caressed her lips. "If you can tell me you never want to see me again after our picnic, I'll ride out." Emma bit her lip and laid one hand to her heart, as though to slow its rapid beat so Steven wouldn't hear it. "But the dance…" "You'll be back in plenty of time for that." Within Emma's breast, reason and whimsy did battle. And as so often happened where this man was concerned, whimsy won. "All right," she sighed with resolution. "But I expect you to keep your word." She waggled a finger at him. "There'll be no backing out after I say I never want to see you again." He bent his head and kissed her lightly, tantalizingly, on the lips. "You have my word of honor," he told her between soft samplings of her mouth that sent sweet shocks jolting to her nerve endings. Emma
( Linda Lael Miller )
[ Emma And The Outlaw ]
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