Ambushed (4 page)

best-selling erotic romance author.

Her heart hammered painfully in her chest as

she slowly got to her feet, staring at her words come to

life. She knew her mouth was hanging wide open, but

her jaws currently weren’t paying attention to her

brain’s demand that she get her shit together and calm

down. Who could have done this, and why? Was the

person still here, waiting? What if it was some kind of

crazed demented fan?

She’d read about things like this. A lot of authors

often complained people who weren’t wrapped so tight

seemed to think just because a woman wrote erotic

romance, she was easy or a freak. Maybe she should

call the sheriff. Or not. Zedidiah Stone may have been

the best sheriff in the entire state of Texas, but he

creeped her out. He was
waaaay
too silent, his stormy

iced gray-blue eyes a tad too intense. He gave off an

eerie impression he knew every evil, bad or naughty

thought in a person’s head, like he could see right

down to the essence of whomever he happened to turn

that freaky stare at. There was no way in hell she’d

ever let him know what she really did for a living.

Whoever this was, she could handle it. Taking

the tiny canister of Mace out of her pocket, Alexandria

kicked off her shoes and slowly followed the trail of

roses as quietly as she could. The only sound that

could be heard in the smallish library was that of her

own frantic breaths, though she tried like hell to calm

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herself. Could he hear her? What if it wasn’t even a he?

Whoever it was, she could take them. Hadn’t she taken

four years of self-defense classes down at the Y? She

could surely defend herself—she hoped.

The red and white path lead back to the romance

fiction section. A section she had not only checked, but

spent more than a little time trailing her fingers over

some of her all-time favorite romances. It was located

in the back corner of the library, away from prying

eyes. She’d spent countless hours there with Tex when

they were in high school. That someone had used her

special place to pull a cruel prank just pissed her off.

No longer caring if the person waiting heard her

or not, Alexandria stalked forward, determined to give

the person a piece of her mind. She would be damned

if anyone was going to ruin her memories of the

romance section. She wasn’t about to have it. She

stalked down the first aisle, seeing nothing out of

place, then rounded the corner to the aisle in the very

back. The nerve of some people! Trying to desecrate

the one place she could always go when she was

feeling sad or alone!

“Hey there, sugar. Miss me?”

Alexandria came to a dead stop. That sexy drawl

poured all over her like honey, melting her core just as

it had ten years ago. She blinked hard, dropping the

Mace that had been clasped in her hand like it was a

piece of hot coal. She couldn’t be seeing what she

thought she was seeing. This was a figment of her

overacting imagination. Her loneliness had conjured

up her ideal man. There was no way Tex Westley was

laying out in front of a picnic of her favorite foods

and— Oh sweet Mary have mercy! The man was

shirtless!

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Nope, he was not there. She was seeing things.

She turned on her heel, refusing to give in to her

sudden psychosis. She needed a vacation, she needed

to go see a therapist; something, anything to keep her

most precious daydream from driving her completely

insane.

“Hey!

Al,

get

back

here!”

She didn’t turn around. It had to be an all-too-real

daydream. No one else had ever in her life called her

“Al,” and she’d never divulged the name Tex used

when they were alone. It was a small thing, but it was

theirs, and she hadn’t wanted to share it with another

soul. She had almost made it out of the damnable

romance section when a steel hard hand clasped

around her upper arm. Oh no, she could actually feel

him! She had finally gone right over the deep end.

She’d lived so long in her head, she had taken one final

trip and stayed there. Someone would probably find

her comatose in her office in the morning, drooling

out of the corner of her mouth. How depressing.

Knowing it was all a cruel hoax of her

subconscious didn’t stop her from turning and looking

up into clear green eyes that were suddenly not

brimming with laughter. Instead she saw concern and

something else; something she couldn’t clearly

identify.

“Al? Honey, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to

see me?”

Alexandria swallowed the lump that had formed

in her throat, but the tears fell anyway. She hated

crying in front of anyone. She was not an attractive

crier—her nose got all red and her eyes got puffy. She

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never could master the art of the feminine, dainty

tears. “You’re not real.” Her voice was all cracking and

pitiful. Couldn’t she manage to be the ideal woman in

her own dreams? “You are a manifestation of pent-up

desires and a sure sign I need to get laid.”

The Tex she had known better than anyone in

her youth had certainly never looked quite as savage

as the man before her had become after that little

declaration left her lips. His face contorted in a fierce

scowl that was kinda sexy.

“Say something like that again and I’ll spank that

juicy ass of yours.”

That sounded a hell of a lot like the Tex she

knew; but he couldn’t be here, in the library, in an

intimate setting with an eye toward seduction. Her Tex

didn’t see her like that.

“Tex?” She was afraid to believe it really was

him. What would she do if tomorrow she woke up in

her own bed, cold and alone as always? That would

surely kill her. “If you’re not really here, please, please

disappear. I don’t think I can take the

disappointment.”

Of course if he was real, that was going to be a

humiliating statement to live down.

“Oh, I’m real all right,” her dream come true

affirmed. His big calloused hand cupped the back of

her neck, lifting her face as his head descended closer

and closer until their lips were barely touching. “And I

can promise you this: you’ll never be in need of a man

again for as long as you live.”

His soft declaration had her body dissolving into

a big ole pile of goo, falling against his much bigger,

harder frame. He didn’t kiss her right away. Oh no, her

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dream man was far too perfect for something as

mundane as a simple kiss. His teeth nibbled her

bottom lip, his tongue snaking out to trace against her

lips. Only when she moaned softly did he swoop in,

crushing their mouths together, his tongue thrusting

inside her mouth to explore, tame, overtake her.

Alexandria didn’t think to resist. She’d wanted

this moment for so long, yearned for his kiss, his

touch. Now she was being thoroughly conquered,

seduced beyond anything she could’ve ever written. It