Reckless Love

"Probably because Cascabel looks a hell of a lot more like a mesquite bush than you look like a woman."

"That's your opinion," Ja

Ty saw the reaction that Ja

He laughed aloud and felt his temper sweeten with every passing second. He was going to get some of his own back from the gray-eyed chameleon, and he was going to enjoy himself thoroughly in the process. She would rue the day she had fooled him into believing she was an effeminate boy.

"If you'd been any kind of a woman," Ty drawled very slowly, "I'd feel right ashamed of being fooled. But seeing as how you only say you're a girl, and I'm too much of a gentleman to ask you to prove it… I guess I'll just have to keep my doubts to myself."

"You? A gentleman?" Ja

Ty's laugh wasn't quite so heartfelt this time. "Oh, I know I'm a gentleman for a fact, boy. And so do a lot of real ladies."

Mentally Ja

Unshed tears clawed at the back of Ja

When Ja

"Hello, pretty girl," Ja

She worked slowly around the horse, touching each fetlock. Zebra presented each of her hooves in turn, standing patiently while Ja

"It would be easier with a steel hoof pick," Ty said.

Ja

"If I bought a pick, people would wonder what I was pla

Ty looked at the face turned up toward him in silent pleading and felt as though he had been kicked in the stomach. The idea of using Ja

They'd hunt me down like a mad dog and use me…

Before Ty realized what he was doing, he cupped Ja

"I won't tell anyone," he said quietly. "I promise you, Ja

The heat of Ja

"Thank you," she said huskily, her face hidden while she resumed working over Zebra's hoof. "And I'm sorry about what I said earlier. You're very much a gentleman, no matter what you're wearing."

Ty closed his eyes and fought against the tremor of sensation that was spreading out from the palm of his hand to the pit of his stomach and from there to the soles of his feet. Before he could prevent himself, he had lifted his hand to his lips. The taste of Ja

You've been without a woman too long, he told himself as he fought to control a combination of tenderness and raw desire.

Yes-and the name of the cure is Ja

"No," Ty said aloud harshly.

"What?" Ja

Ty wasn't watching her. He was standing rigid, his face drawn as though in pain. When she spoke, he opened his eyes. She wanted to protest the shadows she saw there, but he was already speaking.

"I'm not what you think," Ty said, his voice rough. "I'm too woman hungry to be a gentleman. Don't trust me, Ja

Chapter Ten

Under Ja

"I told you she wouldn't object," Ja

"Don't remind me," he said. "I've had nightmares about that ride every night since." He leaned down and offered Ja

Ja

"H-how is your back healing?" she asked.

"You tell me," Ty said dryly. "You can see it better than lean."

She bit her lip, irritated by her inane question and his goading response. On the other hand, asking that question had been safer than following her original impulse, which had been to run her hands over his ta

"Don't do that," he snapped.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was still painful. It looks healed."

Ty's lips flattened, but he said nothing to correct Ja

"When we get back from town, I'll put more salve on," Ja

His mouth opened to object, but he closed it without making a sound. The temptation to feel her soothing hands on his body was simply too great for him to deny himself the opportunity of being cared for by Ja

Silently Ty nudged Zebra with his left heel. The mare turned obediently and headed toward the cleft in the rocks that surrounded the tiny valley. Each motion of the horse's buttocks, combined with the natural forward slope of Zebra's back, gently moved Ja