into the cups and then returning to the fire. With a graceful crossing of her long legs, Katherine sank to the floor with him and placed her cup on the coffee table.
“What about your car?” he asked. “It’s still parked in Stillwater.”
“That was a rental car. I paid cash and I only owe them for today. I can mail them the money. I have fake identification, so they can’t trace it easily. I called the car agency from a pay phone in a restaurant and told them where to find the car.”
He nodded. “Where did you meet Sloan?”
“I was a senior in high school. He was a star player on the Louisiana State basketball team and I was dazzled by him when we started dating. We were married a year later, when I was a freshman in college. I’m twenty-three now.”
Another surprise, Colin thought, deciding it was the makeup and the severe hairstyle and owlish glasses that made her look older. He started to reach up to remove her glasses, remembered her fear and paused, his hand in the air.
“May I?” he asked and she nodded, looking wary and uncertain. He noticed her quick intake of breath as his fingers brushed her temple and he removed the glasses. He put them on and looked through plain glass.
“I was trying to disguise myself. It’s difficult to hide, when you’re a five-foot-nine woman.”
Colin placed the glasses on the table. “If you married when you were a freshman, you stayed with him a while.”
Her face flushed and she rubbed her fingers along the edge of the table. “It’s hard to break away, and at first I thought things might change.”
“That wasn’t any of my business. Sorry.”
“I don’t mind your asking anything. Sloan was so spectacular, a star athlete, successful, popular, handsome, wealthy, powerful. Too often he made me feel as if I were the one who was at fault or inadequate,” she said quietly.
“Do you have any proof of his abuse, if he takes you back to court?”
She shook her head. “No. He bribed and paid off people, and if he didn’t his father did.”
“There ought to be someone he couldn’t get to,” Colin said, feeling a growing anger for a man he had never met. “I can check into it if you’d like.”
“No!” Her eyes were filled with unmistakable fright. “Please, don’t do that. Sloan can be relentless. I don’t want anyone hurt because of me and it would just enrage him even more if he learned someone was checking on him.”
“I am not afraid of Sloan Manchester,” Colin said quietly, not making an effort to hide his anger.
“Please promise me you won’t start asking questions in Louisiana.”
He knew he was worrying her, so he nodded. “I promise. I not only won’t hit you, Katherine, I will never knowingly hurt you.”
Her eyes widened with surprise, a feeling that mirrored his own at himself. The words were out without thought and his statement suggested more than he intended. His promise implied a relationship, something he had no intention of developing with her.
“You know what I mean,” he said offhandedly, trying to make light of his promise.
She gave him a half smile, her lips curving, a warmth returning to her features, which made his breath catch. His gaze went over her and he forgot about her past and Sloan Manchester. He felt drawn to her, wanting to know her better, wishing he could keep her safe and wondering again at his reaction. What did she really look like without the makeup and with her hair down? His curiosity was rampant as he studied her.
“Can I take down your hair?” he asked, feeling absurd, yet not wanting to frighten her. He suspected the last time he had asked a female a question like that he had been ten years old.
Her eyes seemed to widen as she stared at him and nodded. He reached out carefully with one hand to extract pins, going slowly and trying to avoid even the slightest pull of her hair, as he thought a man could get lost forever in the cool green of her eyes.
As Colin Whitefeather stretched out his hand, Katherine’s heart beat with fright and she willed herself to sit still, thinking the first moment he made a move other than to take down her hair, she would put more distance between them. And suppose he wanted her? This afternoon she had placed herself at his mercy and tonight she might have to pay the consequences, because she couldn’t run in this storm.
Katherine felt his fingers brush her head, tug so gently on her hair, stirring strange tingles that she was unaccustomed to feeling. Long ago Sloan had killed all physical yearnings toward him. Sex was a dreaded event and she loathed Sloan’s touch. Once she started dating Sloan, there had never been another man in her life and she was unaccustomed to anyone wanting to touch her hair.
Her heart thudded with fear and her mouth felt dry while she watched Colin, staring into unfathomable dark eyes that gave no hint as to what he was thinking. His gaze shifted to her hair again as he pulled away another pin and placed it carefully on the table. He was slow and deliberate, barely touching her, not moving an inch closer, and gradually her racing heart slowed to a normal beat.
She began to calm, studying him, realizing his eyes were thickly lashed, his features almost too rugged to be called handsome. His skin was dark, a faint scar visible along his jaw now that she sat close to him and really looked at him.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked quietly.
“I wanted to see what you look like with your hair down.” His voice was quiet and deep and reassuring. She couldn’t recall a moment like this in her entire marriage to Sloan.
She wished she could make some light comment about her skittishness, yet she couldn’t. All afternoon and evening there had been moments when the slightest move on Colin Whitefeather’s part would set her heart pounding with apprehension, and it was difficult now to relax. There was no way to forget he was a big, powerful man. And one used to wielding his authority. He threaded his fingers through her hair, combing gently with his big hands. The faint tugs tingled and stirred a strange yearning in her while her gaze locked with his.
Watching her, taking great care, Colin slowly combed free her hair until the mass of it tumbled over her shoulders down to her waist. “Your hair is long,” he said in a husky voice, realizing the hints of beauty he had seen earlier were correct. Her hair was a silken cascade that gave her an earthy, touchable look. No practical, sensible hair here, but a mass of vibrant hair that conjured up erotic images of it spilling over her naked body.
“This isn’t the real color,” she admitted, touching a lock while he continued to comb his fingers through it.
“It’s red, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I colored it, trying to hide from the men Sloan sent after me. It was useless.”
“They’re pros and disguises won’t do you much good. You’re right—you’re too tall to really hide from them.”
She closed her eyes, feeling as if she had received a blow to her midsection. Was she that obvious?
“Katherine, turn around and I’ll give your shoulders a massage that will help you relax,” he said gently, trying to get the erotic images
