Page 20 of The Cowboy's Forbidden Bride

It was different at night, in the Copper Mine, when she knew that it was a game and that she would see him in the woods in a little while. It was different when she knew that he was playing that same game, in the same way.

Here, on the main road, in the bright summer sun, it didn’t feel like a game.

Cat felt something like ashamed.

She hated it.

And when she got back to the store, she didn’t go inside. She circled around and walked over the creek to Tennessee’s house, where she could sit on his porch, shove pizza into her mouth, and ask herself why it was her feelings were so hurt.

Because they had agreed that it would stay between them.

She had thought it was smarter and it had seemed like fun, too.

Keeping him as her secret had seemed like such a great idea out there in the dark, rolling around with him in the bed of his truck, wondering how it was possible for any one human body to containall of that sensationat once.

Keeping secrets seemed sophisticated and delicious when his mouth was on her skin and he was doing those things with his hands, teaching her things about her own body that she blushed just thinking about.

It hadn’t occurred to her to think about this part of keeping him secret. Feeling like a spurned little kid, not invited to the party, ignored on a public street.

She didn’t like how this felt at all.

And there was nothing for her to do but sit there, blinking away tears, until she could get herself under control. Until she could make herself stand up, shake it off, and walk back in to face her brother with a smile.

Because all the reasons she was keeping Wilder a secret still held. All of those long, wild, glorious nights were theirs, she’d agreed, and she was still hungry for more.

Cat just wasn’t sure how much she liked it now that reality had smacked her in the face right there on the street in the bright light of day.

Or what she thought she was going to do about it.

Chapter Five

Wilder thought hewas handling the entire situation with Cat beautifully.

Nobody knew, and that was the main thing. No discussions of ancestral feuds, no run-ins with her brothers. And he wasn’tactuallysleeping with her, so he was clinging to that little shred of decency in this thing.

He liked to tell himself that a slight bit of restraint made all the difference.

Likely because restraint really wasn’t his thing.

But the first night she didn’t show up at the usual spot at the usual time—not that they’d agreed on those things, that was just how it had been since the beginning—he had to get more honest with himself.

Because he didn’t like it.

He didn’t like that she wasn’t there. That he was standing there alone in the woods with nothing but his thoughts for company.

Maybe it was the reality of this thing that wasn’t sitting well.

Wilder told himself it was a blessing. She hadn’t shown up and maybe that meant she was done with this, and he should be pleased. She was a young, pretty girl, and he was certain that she had a thousand better prospects than him.

In a truck.

Off in the woods.

But as he sat there contemplating those prospects, he found himself feeling… murderous.

And he could admit that was a new one.

Truth was, Wilder couldn’t remember ever being particularly bothered with what the women in his life were doing. There were always more women. And he didn’t mean that the way some men did, like it was all tallying numbers on bedposts and that kind of nonsense. He wasn’t big into math. He enjoyed women when they were with him but he didn’t think much about them when they weren’t, that was all.

---