Dark Warrior: To Tame a Wild Hawk (Dark Cloth) by Lenore Wolfe Page A

she stumbled over the word, and then nearly tripped over the carpet.
    Just desserts.
    “You started it.” Meg was only too happy to remind her. “And if you don’t quit pacing, you’re going to wear out the carpet. Besides, you’re giving me a headache.”
    “Damn,” Mandy gave into uncharacteristic swearing. “Damn. Damn. Damn.”
    A deep-throated growl from the doorway caused both women to jump. “That is the second time I’ve caught you swearing. Once more,” he strode forth and took hold of her arm, “and I’ll take soap to your mouth.”
    Maybe her swearing was more characteristic than she realized. “You wouldn’t dare!” Mandy tried to yank her arm free.
    “Oh, I think he would.” Meg laughed when Mandy glared at her. She added, “And I don’t think I’d mind anything that man wanted to do to me.”
    Mandy rolled her eyes, knowing her friend was baiting her. “Thanks to that man , I no longer have a mysterious fiancé. I now have a real one ! McCandle thinks he is my mysterious fiancé.” She poked him in the chest, forgetting, in her anger, that she was the one responsible for McCandle’s misconception. “You’re both the same. You come waltzing into town and say you’re going to marry me, and I’m just supposed to fall at your feet,” her voice rose steadily with each word. “You crook your finger, and I’m supposed to follow you anywhere.”
    Too late, she saw the thunderous look in his golden-green gaze, and she tried to bolt. Damn the man was fast. She was going to have to get better at seeing that particular expression in time, or she was in deep trouble. Hell! She was already in deep trouble.
    In that instant, she was hauled against his brick-like chest. “By your own admission, you are now my woman.” His voice was husky.
    Of all the nerve. He looked—victorious.
    “Now you did it,” Meagan chimed in.
    He turned his unusual green eyes and glowered at her.
    “I was just leaving,” she laughed, jumping to gather her things. “I think it’s time for the rest of the town to hear the good news, now that you’re up and about, don’t you?” She didn’t wait for a reply, just bolted out the door, her musical laughter floating back to them.
    “No, Meg!” Mandy yelled, trying to break free of Hawk. “Meagan, wait!” This time, Mandy did beat on his chest. “Now look what you’ve done, you brute.”
    Hawk held her in his tight embrace until she stood quietly, her eyes cast down. He hooked a finger under her chin, tilting her face up. Mandy closed her eyes. “You’re not a coward, Mandy.”
    She couldn’t detect any anger in his voice. Gathering her courage, she peeked at him. Golden eyes glowered back at her. Mandy squeezed her eyes shut again. “Yes, I am,” she whispered.
    She heard him chuckle. “No, you’re not.”
    Mandy shivered at the sound of his voice. “With you, I am.”
    She felt Hawk’s deep laugh against her breast, felt him kiss her eyelids. Her pulse leaped through her veins.
    “Hawk?” She peeked at him. “McCandle was angrier than I have ever seen him. He’ll do everything in his power to kill you.”
    Hawk caught a stray curl and rubbed it between his fingers. “Men have tried before.”
    She looked at him, honesty slipping through her lips. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you,” she looked down, “I mean—because of me.”
    He raised her chin in his hand. “Would you cry for me, Mandy?”
    She could not hold the intensity she saw in depths of his golden-green eyes. She could not bear to meet the pain in his gaze. “That’s not funny, Hawk!”
    “Would you?” he demanded.
    This time, she did not look away. The heartrending tenderness in his gaze made her knees buckle. His right arm tightened around her as if they were steel bands.
    “Yes,” she whispered.
    “Hmmm, nice.” He caressed her face with his free hand.
    “Nice?”
    “Yeah,” he answered. “It’s just nice to know someone would be there who cared