Excerpt
His own hands full with Valient and Vespry, Stephan shot her that heart stopping smile and asked, “So—since your family feels we’re officially seeing each other—”

“You let them think it! We’re not seeing each other!”

“We’re seeing each other right now! Should Persistence become my first name?”

She gave a sound of annoyance. “Thought it already was! Anyway, exercising my father’s horses together doesn’t mean we’re dating! Look, you were going to marry—Whatshername! Don’t you feel anything?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Seriously?”

“She wasn’t worth having feelings for.”

She couldn’t let it go. Just couldn’t believe he could honestly feel nothing over such a cruel break up. “You aren’t angry or resentful? Disappointed? You can forget her—just like that?”

“Someone’s made me forget her—just like that!”

“Yeah, right!” But flushed at his soft caressing tone.

He chuckled and retorted, “Admit it! You’ve been doodling my name on every available blank space since yesterday!”

The blush deepened; she gave an involuntary choke of laughter and countered, “What’s the surprise? You keep turning up! But, that doesn’t mean I want you to!”

“I don’t know . . . I hardly think you’d waste time doodling my name if you didn’t! Besides, you want to forget Charley, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I’d like to forget him. Only how do you forget someone who’s—” She broke off abruptly, sucked a long breath and ended, “Look, I can’t forget! And being with you won’t change it! Don’t waste your breath trying to convince me it will!”

For a moment, he just stood watching her. Then, passing the two pairs of reins to his left hand, he advanced. Misliking his look, Thomi backed away. Thaena, urgently clipping the grass in that little area, found her in her path, and shoved her out of it. Still clutching both pairs of reins, Thomi stumbled into Stephan’s willing free arm.

Stiffening, Thomi let go the reins and twisted in his hold, wrenching free with more force than he ever expected from a person of her small stature. She backed again; this time into Sherwyn’s grazing spot. The colt wasted not a second in ridding it of her. Catching her this time, Stephan prepared for her struggle, trying for a hold that would be firm but gentle.

His consideration meant nothing to her.

She exploded into action, doing all she could to free herself. Luckily for him, Ming still hadn’t put in an appearance. Although that could happen any second if her loyal pet caught wind of her complaints! He recalled her acting something like this on the street yesterday. Strange that she hadn’t displayed such panic hanging from that scrubby little bush before that!

“Thomi! Thomi, I am not going to hurt you! Will you just calm down! I—ugh!” For she’d elbowed him squarely in the gut, winding him.

He hugged her tightly against him so she couldn’t do it again. But it only made her worse. He decided then that she needed to face him. Not that she made that maneuver easy. Dropping the reins, he ordered, “Stop it, Thomi! I only want to talk to you!”

“Let . . . go!” She put all her weight into the attempt to free herself, her breath coming in hard gasps. No trust glowed in those dark green eyes.

“There’s no reason for you to—” He stopped, an unthinkable no-tion coming to mind. “What happened between you and Charley, Tho-mi? He has his faults, but I’ve never known him to be—”

Rebellion displaced fear. “Nothing happened! Let me go!”

He succeeded in making her face him. Acting on impulse, he took both her wrists in one hand, shoved back her sleeves. Unprepared for what he uncovered, for a moment he could only stare in disbelief. “Char-ley did this? Thomasyna . . .”

Her hands twisted agitatedly in his. “What do you care?”

There were many things he could have answered then. Things that might have helped him gain at least a sliver of her trust. None of those came front and center in his brain. Keeping her imprisoned with one hand, he plucked a ring out of his shirt pocket and held it up. “I’ll always care what happens to my wife, Thomasyna!”

Thomi gasped, taken totally off guard by both his passionate declara-tion and his producing of the ring. She recalled, all at once, her little brother’s happy statement earlier. “Know what? Stephan thaid he wantsth to mawr—!”

“Mawry . . . Marry you!”

That’s what Daine had been about to tell her when the ruckus oc-curred in the barn! Well, how could he dare say that to little kids? Espe-cially ones who’d blab it all around town within thirty seconds! And naturally, almost everyone would believe it.

Tastefully arranged in an antique platinum engagement band, the ring boasted of about forty or fifty tiny diamonds that set off an exquisite round emerald. A shaft of sunlight touched the stones, setting off the green fire in the emerald and making the diamonds flash and glitter. O, never had she seen stones as fine as these. Fabulous!

Didn’t that figure, though! Just like a guy to expect dinner and mar-riage—or sex, usually sex—just like that! Well, she might have to be grateful he’d saved her life; she might owe him a dinner for it. But marriage wasn’t open for debate.

Nor, at any moment before the ring—the wedding ring—was sex.

She stared up into those determined blues and stated flatly, “You are crazy!”

“I am,” he agreed. “About you!”