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after a scolding. She didn’t care to be treated like an adolescent, but at the moment, she didn’t seem to have any choice. He said he would take care of her, and for some odd reason she believed him. She hoped by going with him she would figure out why she had traveled back in time. Why she had ended up with him. Surely, there had to be a purpose to this nightmare.
    She thought Zachary had finished bawling her out. Then he added insult to injury. “You also owe me twenty-nine dollars.”
    There went the obedient wife routine. “Owe you!   For what?” she shouted.
    “For the damage to the door of the cabin. Though I am well acquainted with Captain Pike, he still demanded the money to have it repaired.”
    “You threw the knife!   And those other men knocked it down. I had nothing to do with it.”
    “And,” he continued, as though he hadn’t heard her complaint, “as for the wifely duties…” Zachary’s hand snaked out, pulling Gillian against him.
    “Unhand—”
    His mouth claimed her lips, drowning out her demand in a heated invasion. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t allow it. He held her head and exerted a more provocative pressure with his mouth. A slow burn of desire curled through her, demanding more than she was prepared to accept. She could feel herself weakening. Her struggling lessened as she melted against him. There was something familiar about the embrace as if she’d been kissed like this before. The reasonable part of her brain knew she should push him away, but all her senses were lit on fire, threatening to consume her in one final blaze. As far as she was concerned, they were the only two people on the street, while all time stood still.
    Zachary experienced the same difficulty with reality as Gillian. He wanted to tame her, to humble her, not the other way around. The small insistent voice in the back of his mind warned him to stop, but then … Hell and damnation! She kissed him back.
    He didn’t care people stopped and stared. He didn’t care that Ellery’s eyebrows shot up as he watched the two succumb to whatever enchantment had captured them. Her mouth was sweet and her tongue stroked against his. She shifted restlessly, her movements a faint whisper against him. God, this felt right.
    Ellery cleared his throat and tapped Zachary on the shoulder breaking the spell. “My boy, I had no idea you had a speck of passion in you, but people are beginning to talk. You might want to take this inside… say a hotel.”
    Gently caressing her cheek, Zachary leaned back from Gillian, his brows furrowing. If he wasn’t careful, he could lose himself to her, and he didn’t have the time or the patience to woe the woman. He dropped his hand away. He forced the tenderness from his gaze and a wall of resentment went up in its place. He had to temper his out of control emotions. In a voice void of any amiability, he told her firmly, “That is what I expect from a wife, when called upon .”
    Gillian flinched as if he’d slapped her in the face. Whom did this man think he was talking to anyway? Without weighing the consequences, she swept her foot behind his leg, knocking him on his pompous behind.
    Ellery laughed so hard Gillian couldn’t help but chuckle herself. She would have continued laughing, but the look she received from the fallen Zachary was deadly enough to silence her. Livid with anger, he slowly lifted himself off the ground. He turned to look at his backside all caked with mud. He glared down at Gillian, his blue eyes narrowing to slits. “Madame, if you ever do that again, you will rue the very day.”
    Ellery stopped laughing long enough to put in a few words. “Oh come on, Zach my boy, no harm done. It’s just a little mud. It will come clean. With the energy this woman possesses, just sit back and imagine the nights you will have with her.”   He pounded Zachary on the back before he went on his way. “You’re a lucky man .” He was almost out of hearing