The Storybook Hero by Andrea Pickens

Author:Andrea Pickens [Pickens, Andrea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Alex settled the fur blanket around his legs and set the horses in motion, grateful for a bit of solitude in which to order his thoughts. He should be cursing the heavens for the trick of Fate that had landed yet more responsibilities in his lap, but oddly enough the only sound coming from his throat was a burble of rueful laughter. Well, it certainly could not be said that their encounters with each other lacked for a touch of the dramatic. Good Lord, it was he who had nearly swooned, rather than the intrepid Miss Hadley, on seeing her confronted by those three armed ruffians.

The sight of her brandishing a pistol at them had stirred a number of strange sensations in his breast. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to ring a peal over her head for having put herself in the way of such danger or pull her to his chest and melt the steely resolve on her lips with his kisses. What he was sure of was that he would have launched himself barehanded at any number of assailants who posed a threat to her.

He shook his head. Chivalry had not exactly been his strong suit since longer than he cared to remember. It made no sense. She was not by any stretch the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered, nor were her charms such as to twine a man in a net of silky infatuation. At that thought, another laugh nearly burst forth. Seek to charm him? By God, she could barely tolerate his presence! But somehow, she affected him like no other woman he had ever met.

Alex's brow furrowed. Over the past ten years he had met quite a few others, and each had provided a certain diversion. Yes, women had always served as a welcome distraction. The curve of a breast, the throaty trill of a laugh, the sensuous smile as flagrant as a written invitation to dally—at one time or another they had all heated his blood enough to make him feel... alive. But the passion was always fleeting, the transient pleasure unable to keep at bay the dull ache that inevitably crept back to suffuse his very being.

What was it about the prim Miss Hadley that seemed... different? When he looked in her eyes, he saw no trace of artifice, only a keen intelligence that cared not a whit who perceived it. Her words, as well, were unadorned with fripperies. None of the banal observations usually mouthed by those of her sex for Miss Octavia Hadley! Why, he realized with a start, she was the only female of his acquaintance with whom he felt he could have an interesting conversation, save perhaps his sisters-in law.

There was no denying that she had spirit and courage as well, qualities he was more used to attributing to his friends than his bedmates. Nothing seemed to quell her spark. Eyes blazing, she kept her chin up, as proud as her namesake in the face of adversity.

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