Deny, deny, deny

"You Mr. Fuller are a astonishing conceited man!" Charlotte exclaimed angrily. Although she was not completely sure if she was angry at Mr. Fuller for his bold kiss or at herself for the way she had responded to the surge of emotion that his kisses released. She twisted away and from the broad-shouldered man and sat on the bed with her arms crossed refusing to even look at him.

"I've been accused of that by others Miss Marlton, but I don't think I'm wrong about this." Charlotte risked a quick glance through her lashes and was alarmed to see her captor kicking off his boots calmly preparing for bed. He was an arrogant man, a pretentious, overbearing, iron-handed man and Charlotte hated the way her body responded to his touch!

"Well you are, Mr. Fuller." She told him with as much hauteur as she could muster, she was going to continue her derisive criticism of his character but was distracted by the sight of him removing his shirt. It was happening! This common outlaw was preparing to retire for the night but there was only one bed, the very bed she was chained to. With a surge of panic Charlotte remembered the damp spot on the bedding, Dear Lord in Heaven, please let the evidence of my weakness have dried by now. She watched in silence as the shirtless man threw a thick chunk of wood into the fire and and doused the light from the brass lantern, quickly lowering her eyes when he turned back to where she sat. The last thing she needed was to have him think that she had been staring at the muscular shoulders of her captor's back.

"Get some sleep, Lady Marlton." Randy told his captive as he hung the now extinguished lantern back from the thick root that protruded from the blackened ceiling of the cave, and pulled his linen shirt up over his head.

"What are you doing, Mr. Fuller?" Lady Marlton asked demurely as he circled the foot of the bed and sat down careful to keep well away from her side of the bed.

"I'm getting some much needed rest." Randy told her trying not to think about how hard it was going to be to get any rest knowing that that lovely young woman would be sleeping just inches from him. "I suggest you do the same, hopefully by this time tomorrow you will be safely home once again."

"Mr. Fuller, you cannot sleep there." Miss Marlton's voice sounded small and uncertain; in spite of her protests she didn't look or sound like she was going to stop him from sharing the bed with her. In truth there wasn't much she could do to stop him from doing whatever he wanted, but did that make it right? He had extra blankets that he could roll out by the fire, after all he slept that way for months before he intercepted Lord Marlton's own bed.