page_59 < previous page page_59 next page > Page 59 brother, which jibed with her story about Mister Mule. What didn't jibe was her story about being broke. If she'd wanted so much to pay her way, she could have sold the horse. Why had she gone? He must have come on too strong, at least from her point of viewholding her, opening his heart, kissing her the way a man should not kiss an innocent. To his mind, he'd been a master of restraint. She had no idea how close she'd come to being tossed onto the bed and thoroughly loved. Which he would have regretted. Enjoyed and regretted. A gentleman didn't treat his intended so crudely. He waited until after the wedding to do the tossing. Except that the innocent Miss Braden, reacting to the lone kiss with an encouraging flare of passion, had shown herself capable of throwing a toss or two herself. She would be the perfect wife. If only she hadn't run away. It was a complication that just might postpone his wedding plans, and he readjusted the odds. Conn laughed at himself, though the laughter was not without pain. He liked to think of himself as a romantic, but it could be he was simply a fool. Instead of falling in love with the first pretty Texas woman he met, he ought to be thinking about the reunion with his father. In a way it never left his mind. Anguish was inescapable, as well as awkward- Â < previous page page_59 next page >