Bound for Sin by Tess Lesue

Author:Tess Lesue
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

20

“WHAT IS THAT?” Georgiana could barely speak for the shock. She hadn’t slept well. Again. She’d wriggled out of the tent before dawn, planning to wash her face in the river and have a quiet moment or two alone before the children exploded out of the tent for the day. She’d been expecting to find the camp still sleeping. She hadn’t been expecting this.

Standing in front of her tent was Matt Slater. And he wasn’t alone.

“What are those?” Georgiana sputtered.

“Horses.”

“I can see that.”

Standing behind him was a veritable herd of paint horses. Their speckled white hides glowed in the wash of predawn light. One of them nudged Matt’s arm impatiently.

She’d spent a sleepless night stewing over where he was. With his whore, she suspected, way down the back of the line. He’d disappeared yesterday and not come back for supper. Her mood had blackened by the minute, as she pictured him dining with Seline, and then following her into her tent. Georgiana had been prepared to freeze him with icy disdain when he returned.

But now here he was with a pack of horses.

“Why are they outside my tent?” Georgiana pushed her hair out of her face and pulled her shawl tighter. It was hard to maintain an icy disdain when she was a disheveled mess. But she tried.

He flushed. He looked both embarrassed and mighty pleased with himself. “They’re for you.” He held out the reins. “They were supposed to be a surprise.”

The combination of lack of sleep, lack of coffee and shock made it hard to understand what was happening.

Horses.

“You bought me horses?” she said dumbly.

He nodded, still looking immensely pleased with himself. Behind him, the Indian ponies shifted restlessly. They were fine paints, speckled brown and white, with bright, curious eyes.

“You can’t buy me horses!” Georgiana protested.

“Well, I did. I rode to Fort Leavenworth yesterday and got these. They ain’t the fanciest, but they’ll do. I picked up some tack as well. Just old stuff, but it’ll do.”

“I can’t afford horses,” Georgiana protested.

He frowned, confused. “They’re already bought.”

“I can’t accept horses as a gift!”

“Why in hell not?” Now he was frowning in earnest. It clearly wasn’t the reaction he’d been expecting.

“What will people think?” Georgiana said, turning red. She tried to calculate what the animals must have cost.

“They’ll think you were my fiancée and I bought you horses.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, trying to breathe calmly. “It just isn’t done to give a lady such an expensive gift. It puts me in your debt.”

“You’re already in my debt. You got me to pretend to be engaged to you, remember?”

She blinked. She didn’t really have a response to that one.

“You wanted to ride,” he reminded her, thrusting the reins into her hands. He had a sulky face on now, like a chastened child.

“Wait!” she called, dashing after him as he left; he was clearly upset at her lack of pleasure. The ponies came along with her. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you. I was just . . .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.