Texas Ranger, Runaway Heiress. Carol Finch

saw Eaton and his red-haired actress ambling down the boardwalk. If Eaton spotted her in her gray gown, he would spoil her charade.

      “Awk…” Hud choked on his breath when she clamped her mouth over his and pulled him deeper into the shadows.

      To her dismay, the same bedeviling sensations that assailed her the previous night spilled over her again. His tantalizing scent, his taste and the feel of his muscular body pressed against her swept her into a dizzying universe that defied logical explanation. When she came within two feet of him, her body reacted with reckless abandon. How was this even possible? she wondered bewilderedly.

      This man didn’t like her. He thought she was spoiled and selfish. Maybe she was, but he had no right to sit in judgment. Furthermore, he had no right to arouse her when she didn’t want to like him, either. Unfortunately, there was no denying her fierce and lusty reaction to him.

      Hud clamped his hands on her hips, pressing her against his thighs, making her vividly aware of his masculine response. Then his hand glided up to brush the side of her breast and another flame of desire scorched her.

      Bri told herself to back away now that the potential threat of being recognized by Eaton had passed. But the feel of Hud’s palm gliding over the fabric covering her breast made her burn with insatiable need. When he teased her nipple with his thumb, her legs wobbled and her breath sighed out raggedly. The embrace quickly became even more personal and intimate than the ones from the previous night.

      Bri moaned in helpless surrender when he lowered his head to kiss her hungrily. He cupped her breast again and insinuated his muscled thigh between her legs, making her weak with need.

      “Come back to my room,” he whispered between devouring kisses and arousing caresses.

      “Hey, mister, get yer hands off of her!” came an irate adolescent voice from the black depths of the alley.

      Hud jerked up his head, surprised to see three ragtag boys, each carrying a makeshift club, prepared to defend to the death the Lady In Gray. He glanced down, hoping to get a good look at her features, but she turned her head away from him quickly and looked back at the boys.

      “We mean it, mister.” The chubby runt from the ragamuffin trio raised his club threateningly. “Let her go…N…O…W.”

      “Yeah, you better back off right this minute or we’ll make you damn sorry,” the middle-sized urchin sneered boldly.

      Hud was still standing there, his body throbbing with unappeased desire, when the mysterious woman lurched around and darted between the three boys.

      Hud shook his head, trying to clear his senses. No doubt about it, the elusive female was spinning some sort of magical web around him. One minute she was kissing him until his brain went up in flames and his body burned into a pile of frustrated ashes. Then poof! Off she went again. This time she had three half-grown guard puppies trailing behind her. Were they her children or her siblings? he wondered.

      Scowling at the oddity of his encounters with the Lady In Gray, Hud pivoted on his boot heels. Thanks to that steamy interlude, he needed another drink. He also needed a cold bath to douse the fire the kissing bandit left burning inside him—again.