Morrow Creek Marshal by Lisa Plumley

Author:Lisa Plumley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-12-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“I’m surprised you wanted to come out with me today.” Dylan slowed his horse to better keep pace with Marielle’s borrowed mare from Cooper’s livery stable. “I have to warn you, though—it’s like I said before: most of the time, making sheriff’s rounds is about as exciting as waiting for flowers to grow.”

“I don’t care.” Catching up to him, Marielle delivered him a vivid smile. Her roan mare tossed its head with eagerness. “I want to see what you do all day when you’re away from me.”

Her sweet tone almost deceived him. But Dylan Coyle was no sap. Not even for her. “You don’t fool me. You’re just itching to get out of the house, and the only outing Doc Finney would approve for you is a ride. So you’re tagging along with me.”

“I happen to like the way you ride.” Not taking the bait, she swept him with an admiring look. “That horse acts as though she wants to take you wherever you want to go.”

“The secret is apples. Lots and lots of apples.”

Marielle laughed. Her cheeks pinked. This time, Dylan did soften toward her. He just couldn’t help it.

“If I could,” he said, “I’d enchant you as ably as I do this horse.” He leaned across his saddle, the better to soak up the view he had of her pretty profile. “Do you like apples?”

“More and more all the time.”

“Then I’ll be sure to lay in a few bushels.”

“I’ll be sure to arrive home hungry.”

“When it comes to you...” Dylan glanced sideways again, enjoying the capable way she rode. Not to mention the hint of slender calf she’d revealed below her skirts. Sidesaddle riding had practically been invented for such scandalous glimpses. “I’m always hungry. All the time. Everywhere.”

Her sassy look caught him off guard. “Everywhere?”

“Everywhere,” he confirmed.

“I see.” She smiled anew. “But not for apples?”

“If you think I’m talking about pie,” he said as they rode onward toward the mountains, “I’ve given you too much credit.”

“If you think I won’t give you some of those ‘apples’ you’re hankering for, Sheriff, you’re sorely mistaken.”

Her sparkling eyes fascinated him. Her tantalizing talk teased him. But he knew Marielle better than that. “That’s easy for you to say, six feet away on a moving horse. I’ve seen you ride, remember? You rode up to the jailhouse like your skirts were on fire and I had the only bucket of water in town.”

“Yes, sir. That’s how I think of you, all right. Just like a big ole bucket of water.” She slanted him a sideways glance. “Just ready to quench my thirst, whenever I want you to.”

Damnation. Inwardly, Dylan groaned. Lately, Marielle had stepped up her flirtatious way of talking to him. There’d been no denying that she’d been behaving more boldly than ever toward him. Unfortunately, Marielle’s newfound brashness had coincided with Hudson’s unfortunate “fall” off his horse—and that selfsame horse’s inexplicable decision to “run clean away!” Dylan was far too experienced to consider those coinciding events accidental.

He was sure that Marielle and her brother were hiding something.

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