Read In Your Arms for Free Online Page A

scowl.
    ~ * ~
    Melissa knew it was Marcus who’d filled the trough, but she still refused to confront him about it. It was hard to keep the hurt of his rejection from her face, but she avoided him as best she could, staying inside whenever he was out and finding something to do outside when he happened to be in. To keep herself busy, she’d polished the entire store from top to bottom, doing just about anything to keep her thoughts from straying to the impossibly sexy man helping her father re-hang the back door on its hinges.
    The memory of his lips against hers, of his arms crushing her to his body, made her shiver even in the heat of the day. More often than not, she felt her nipples tighten just as they had the night she and Marcus had kissed, and her thoughts would stray to those big hands and what they might feel like on her heated skin.
    Swallowing hard, she rose from the stool she’d been sitting on and marched toward the front door. It was a slow day, and she knew her father or Shirley could handle any customers coming in.
    “Where are you going, Lissa?” Chuck called out as Marcus opened and shut the rear door a few times, smiling at his handiwork.
    Glancing over his shoulder with a grin, Marcus’s eyes locked with hers, and a jolt of electric heat spread through her. Her body came alive, and she could see nothing but him as he held her gaze, his smile slowly fading. An ache settled between her legs, and she pressed her hands to her belly as if it could calm her raging heart.
    “I’m going for a walk,” she replied. “I’m not feeling well.”
    Without waiting for a response, she turned and marched out the front door. Striding up the boardwalk, she gasped to catch her breath and balled her hands into fists. What was wrong with her? Marcus hadn’t even touched her, yet she’d flushed on the spot, almost swooning right then and there. She had to remember he wanted nothing to do with her.
    Ever since their kiss, he’d given her a wide berth and had taken pains not to talk to her directly. She knew why. He was ashamed and probably a little disgusted. He’d kissed her for Heaven’s sake! It had simply been a spur of the moment thing, something he’d done on impulse rather than actually thinking it out. And he’d said it had been a long time since he’d kissed a woman. Perhaps she was just convenient and the talk of bathing in the creek had done him in.
    Whatever it was, Melissa didn’t want it repeated. If Marcus kissed her again, she wanted it to be because he wanted to, not simply because she was there.
    Before she knew it, she’d reached the livery stable and entered with a smile at Butch. After a few minutes of friendly chatter, she grabbed a bucket of oats and wandered to Pete’s stall. She knew taking care of him was only going to make her ache for Marcus that much worse, but Pete was a fine horse and she couldn’t resist saying hi.
    He nickered in greeting and sniffed at the bucket. Taking a handful, Melissa reached over the stall door to let him eat them from her hand. His soft lips tickled her palm, and she giggled at the contact.
    “Good to see you smiling again.”
    Whipping around, she almost spilled the oats until Marcus reached out to steady her.
    “What are you doing here?” she scolded, sounding not the least bit intimidating.
    “Pete’s my horse, ain’t he?” Marcus nodded his head to the stall.
    “That he is, Mr. McCaide.” Handing him the bucket, Melissa lifted her skirts and moved to walk past him.
    He stood in her way. “We need to talk.”
    “About?”
    “You know what about.”
    “If you want to break off going to the dance, that’s fine with me.”
    “Why would I do that?”
    “To go with my sister, of course.”
    “You think I’d leave you high and dry just so I could go with Shirley?” He sounded shocked, but she couldn’t imagine why.
    “What’s wrong with that? It’s what most men would do.”
    “I’m not most men, Lissa.” He scowled, his eyes