Dancing in the Moonlight - Harlequin.com

154 DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
“Nice try, Lieutenant. You can either put it down on
your own and go wait for me in the truck or I’ll haul you
in there and tie you to the steering wheel.”
She lifted her chin, and he braced himself for the
blast of her temper. Instead after a moment she gave him
a look as cold as a dead snake, turned on her heel and
walked stiffly outside.
He followed with the alfalfa bales and watched her
climb awkwardly into the cab. She didn’t look very
happy about it, but she went, which was, he supposed,
all he could ask.
In only a few moments he stacked the truck bed as
high as he could with hay bales, then joined her in the
cab, wondering as he took off his leather gloves whether
he might need them to defend himself from the jagged
emotion he could feel rippling off her.
Again he braced himself for anger, but she only
gazed at him, an unreadable expression in those dark,
lovely eyes.
“I’m not a child, Jake,” she finally said, her voice low.
“I’m a grown woman with a mind of my own. I’ve
survived a war and having two of my closest friends
blown to pieces beside me while I could do nothing to
help them. I’ve seen horrible things. For that matter,
I’ve done horrible things. I’m not fragile or weak or
stupid and I’m not some infant who needs to be
pampered and coddled.”
He heard her words through a haze of great shame.
She was exactly right—that’s how he had treated her,
like a child who couldn’t be trusted to know her own
limits. She deserved better.