Read The Texan's Diamond Bride for Free Online Page B

be fine.”

Chapter Four
    P aige slept like a baby.
    Blissfully, heavily, completely unaware of anything, until she woke to the same sound of pounding rain and howling wind of the night before. If anything, it might just be worse.
    And she was alone.
    She sat up, wiped her hair from her face. It was flying around everywhere this morning, escaping from her braid. Her shirt and her camisole were bunched up under her sweater, and she straightened those, her cheeks filling with heat at just how that had all happened. And her jeans were unbuttoned, unzipped.
    And she couldn’t say she was sorry at all.
    They hadn’t actually had sex.
    Not quite.
    But he certainly had taken care of her.
    She’d felt like the whole world exploded quite happily inside of her, with nothing but his mouth and his hands, and felt bad that he hadn’t let her do the same for him.
    But he’d said he wanted her in a nice, soft, warm bed, in a nice, warm bedroom with all the time in the world to do this right. He didn’t want to be rushed. He didn’t want to be worried about the storm or a flood, and he kind of liked the idea of her owing him.
    So there it was.
    She owed him.
    And planned on happily making good.
    Lord, what a man!
    Then she remembered the money thing. Paige’s family had serious money. And clout. And history.
    Men could get weird about it.
    She hoped her cute cowboy didn’t get too weird about it. Ranch hands lived simply, most of them on very little, and usually had a healthy disdain for the world in which Paige’s family lived.
    She just wanted to know the man, enjoy the man, think for a while at least that any and all good things were possible with the man.
    How long had it been since she’d felt like that?
    She was practically singing as she got to her feet and went to look for him.
    It was still very early, not quite five her watch told her, the world still filled with a ghostly white gloom, the rain not retreating in the least. Neither was the wind.
    She went from one end of the overhang to the other. It was like searching through thick fog, but he wasn’t there.
    A moment later he came in out of the rain, a ghostlyimage, except she could tell he was dripping wet. He stopped when he spotted her and then through the gloom, she could swear she saw his mouth spread into a big smile.
    “Sleep well, Red?”
    “Yes, I did,” she said. “You?”
    “I had really nice dreams and a woman draped all over me. Yeah, I slept just fine.”
    So that’s how she’d slept? Draped all over him?
    It must be true, because she’d slept on rock-hard ground before, and the body made its protests known the next day. Hers felt just fine this morning.
    “Sorry about that,” she said.
    “I’m not complaining,” he reassured her.
    “No, just…You got to sleep on the ground. I definitely got the better end of the deal.”
    “Well, you can owe me for that, too, Red.”
    And then she laughed like she hadn’t in years.
    Yeah, she owed him.
    And it felt good to owe him, to think of paying back the favors of last night, leisurely, happily, in a nice warm bed.
    “So, where is this nice, warm bed of yours, and how are we going to get to it?”
    “My bed is about five miles, as the crow flies. So we’re going to have to make do with the hunting cabin I was telling you about. All we have to do is make it through the rain. I’m glad you’ve got your boots on. And your coveralls are waterproof?”
    She nodded.
    “Good. You’ll be just fine.”
    “And you’ll be soaked,” she said, looking at the shirtplastered to him, his dark hair drenched and slicked back, lying against his head.
    “I’ve been wet before. I’ll survive, and we’ll get a nice fire going once we get to the cabin and we can dry each other off. Sound like a plan?”
    “Yes, it does,” she agreed.
    A glorious plan.
    They gathered up their things. She had her small pack, and he took her larger one. She got into her coveralls and then stared out into the storm.
    At least