02 Madoc

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Book: Read 02 Madoc for Free Online
Authors: Paige Tyler
Tags: Cutler Brothers
cold. But he wasn’t about to let her know that. He knew it was silly, but he just couldn’t let on that he was cold. Men didn’t do that, not where he came from. And definitely not in front of a woman, especially one that was a prisoner. “I’m fine,” he said.
    She lifted a brow, clearly not believing him. “You were outside just as long as I was, which means you’re probably just as cold as I am,” she pointed out. “Why don’t you get into bed and we can share the blanket?”
    Madoc lifted a brow at her words. Though the invitation to crawl into a warm bed with a half-naked woman was tempting, he had no doubt Shayna Matthews was trying to play him again. Just like she had when she’d convinced him to take off the cuffs. Well, not this time. “I said, I’m fine,” he told her gruffly.
    She shrugged. “If you say so,” she said. “But you’re obviously freezing.”
    Madoc made no reply, hoping she would let the matter drop, but to his annoyance, she continued.
    “What is it with you men, anyway?” she said. “You think that if you admit you’re cold, we’ll think less of you or something. Well, you don’t have to worry about that with me. I couldn’t possibly think any less of you than I already do. So, stand over there and freeze if you’d rather.”
    He ground his jaw, refusing to rise to the bait. “I will,” he said.
    When Shayna made no comment, he thought she had finally given up on trying to cajole him, but then she spoke again.
    “You’re starting to shiver,” she said. “Not only is it really blowing your whole tough-guy image, but it’s making me cold again.”
    Madoc scowled at that. He knew she was trying to embarrass him into admitting that he really was cold. Then, once she got him into bed, she would try to use her feminine charms on him. But unfortunately, though he didn’t want to fall for her scheme, she was right about him being cold.
    He thought about it for a moment. Aw, the hell with it, he thought. He wasn’t going to fall prey to her charms, so why did he care what she was up to? And since that was true, there was no reason to stand there freezing. Shaking his head, he motioned for her to move over.
    “All right,” he said. “But only because you’re being such a pain about the whole thing.”
    As he sat on the edge of the bed to take off his boots, Shayna scooted over to make room for him, but the bed was small, so it did little good. There was no way he was going to fit his large frame on there with her comfortably unless they cuddled up close together. As he moved closer to her sexy, curvy body, Madoc told himself once again that he wasn’t going to allow her feminine charms have any effect on him.

CHAPTER 4
    Shayna tried to give the Marshal as much room as she could on the bed while still trying to find a comfortable position. This had to be the smallest bed she’d ever seen, she thought to herself. Or maybe it just seemed smaller because the man in it with her was so big. Then again, maybe it was because it had been a long time since she’d been in bed with a man at all. It hadn’t exactly been at the top of her list of things to do since going on the run.
    And she had to admit that the Marshal was gorgeous.
    Stealing a glance at him from beneath her lashes, however, Shayna almost laughed at the effort he was making to keep his distance. It was obvious that he hadn’t wanted to get into bed with her. It had probably been a blow to his manly ego to admit that he was freezing, she thought. But she really had hated to see him standing there shivering. Of course, just because she hadn’t wanted him to freeze didn’t mean that she was completely comfortable with the idea of being in bed half naked with him, either. But sharing body heat made sense.
    Moreover, it had gotten him to stop hovering over her like a guard dog. She might be his prisoner, but it didn’t mean she wanted to be reminded of it.
    Shayna studied the Marshal in silence. He was lying on

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