Read The Texan's Bride for Free Online

Katie said. “But listen, couldn’t you just pluck away the thorns and lift me out? I think that would be better.” While she argued, he slipped the cold steel blade inside her bodice and split the yellow dress from neck to hem.
    He peeled away the cloth, trying not to hurt her as he pulled the thorns from her flesh. Her drawers remained relatively free of spikes, so he left them intact. The chemise, however, went the way of the dress. Engrossed in his task, Branch ignored what he’d uncovered. At least, he did until he touched her.
    Sliding his arm beneath her, he intended to pull straight up and free her in one quick motion. But the vision of those bare, bountiful breasts, rising up to meet him, was his undoing. His body’s immediate reaction made his position on the limb downright painful. He jerked his arm away and sat up, disregarding Katie’s grunt of pain as she sank heavily into the brambles. He stared stupefied at the woman displayed beneath him.
    Her glorious breasts rested proudly upon her chest with dusky tips erect. Their fullness served to emphasize her incredibly narrow waist, and the thin cotton of her drawers did nothing to conceal her gently flaring hips and shapely legs. Fair, unblemished skin provided the perfect backdrop for her thick, auburn hair. Even the scratches looked good on her. Consumed with lust, he absently wondered how mingled pain and pleasure would feel from loving on a bed of thorns.
    “Branch Kincaid, when I get out of here, I’m going to beat you like a tied-up goat.” Katie’s voice sizzled with angry embarrassment and broke through the haze of his desire.
    “You’re gonna do what?” Damn, but the woman had a mouth on her. He tossed the knife to the ground.
    “Listen, lady. I’m getting cotton-pickin’ tired of your complaints and your threats and your highfalutin ways.” He glared down at her. “I’m of a mind right now to leave you where you are till the buzzards gather.”
    Her outraged gasp didn’t faze him in the least. He continued, “Now, if you want my help, we’ve got to get a few things straight. First, you keep that tongue of yours off me unless I give you leave to do otherwise. Second, your father hired me to do a job. I’m gonna do it in my own way on my own time. I don’t need any advice from you on how to hunt.”
    He looked into her irate blue eyes and slid his arm around her waist. “I admit maybe I came at you a bit strong, but seein’ how you’re a widow woman, I didn’t figure you’d complain.” Before she could let loose with the words he felt certain she wished to hurl, Branch yanked her up and out of the vine.
    It was no mean feat to get them both settled on the limb without either landing in the briars. Branch managed to straddle the limb with his back supported by the upward-reaching trunk of the tree. Katie sat sideways, nestled between his thighs.
    She clutched his shoulders to keep from falling. “Mr. Kincaid, you have to be the most conceited, offensive, predatory animal to walk the face of this—Oh!”
    He could no more have stopped than man could fly. With a groan, he pulled her to him. Ever so slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers. Softly, gently, he wooed her lips, the tip of his tongue tracing a seductive path across the trembling surface of her mouth. “Ah, Kate, let me in, open to me,” he whispered. And she did.
    He plunged into the scintillating pleasure of her kiss.
    She tasted sweet as the sugarcane grown at Riverrun and, despite her fall, smelled as fresh as the forest after springtime rain. So tiny and soft, so fragile—he felt as though the slightest pressure from his hand would break a bone.
    But Katie was anything but fragile. To his surprise, she met his invading tongue with a demanding passion that stole his senses and left him heavy with desire. She took control, teasing, exploring, plundering. Swept into the vortex of craving she created, Branch relaxed his arms and allowed her to move as she