Colorado Captive by Charlotte Hubbard

Author:Charlotte Hubbard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Evan Marshall Agency
Published: 2016-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Matt stopped on the stairs, ready to tease her about taking so long to bathe and dress, but when he caught sight of her, the words didn’t come out. Emily was in her father’s room, wearing a lace gown he recognized from Claire Burnham’s portrait in the parlor. She was barefoot, holding her hair up in an untidy topknot, yet as she turned in front of the mirror with an expression that was both critical and pleased, her unstudied beauty stole his breath away.

It was time to declare himself. Emily knew his intentions—just as he now realized she was waiting for him to announce them—but the idea of proposing marriage unsettled him. He loved her without question, and his wealth and background made him as qualified as any man to claim Emily Burnham’s affections…yet he felt hesitant. Depending on her whim, the woman modeling her mother’s wedding gown was as likely to laugh at him as she was to admit she loved him. McClanahan had been derided and slapped before, and had put those women in their places, but Emily wouldn’t tolerate such domineering behavior from him. Nor did she deserve it.

Matt slipped down the stairs, shaking his head. When had he started bowing to a woman’s wishes? Utter nonsense, to consider a naive little blonde his equal. Yet he knew damn well Emily could outsmart him if she chose to, and she could certainly live without him. As he checked the horses and the saddlebags a final time, he hoped the right words would come when he needed them, because he wasn’t so sure that spending the rest of his days and nights without her would be much of a life.

When she heard him come in from the stables, Emily bounded down the stairs with a smile full of sunshine. “Sorry I took so long. Are the horses ready?”

“Hours ago.” Matt caught her up in an exuberant kiss, and then couldn’t turn her loose.

Emily giggled, straightening her hat when they came up for air. “What was that all about?”

McClanahan shrugged. “Even in pants and a shirt, you look very kissable, young lady.”

“And you look sleepy. If you fall off your horse today, I’ll leave you at the mercy of the cattle.”

“If someone hadn’t wakened me—twice—I’d have the energy to turn her over my knee for making such a threat.”

“You loved it, McClanahan.”

Recalling her eager, willowy body as she’d coaxed him into one bout of frenzied lovemaking and then another, Matt smiled. Emily’s tawny eyes were teasing at him again, and a kiss on the tip of her nose was all he dared give her. “We’d better get started, Miss Burnham. It’s a long ride over your vast estate.”

“Yes, sir. Lead on.”

They rode out beyond the corrals and stables, over rolling pastureland that was green and uninterrupted for as far as the eye could see. Occasional clumps of trees were turning cinnamon and orange, and the autumn air was invigorating while being unseasonably warm. As he watched Emily’s graceful form fall into the rhythm of Sundance’s canter, Matt searched for the words that would win her.

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