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.As they shook, the boy's chest puffed out and a grin nearly split his face.Touched, Maude Ann retreated to the top of the stairs to wait for Matt.He spotted her the instant he stepped from the bathroom, and his mouth thinned as he limped towardher."What are you doing here?" he demanded in a furious whisper, but he didn't wait for an answer.Grabbing her arm, he began hustling her down the stairs."I thought I told you to wait in the kitchen.""I don't take orders well.It's one of my many failings," Maude Ann replied with a saucy grin.She hadhoped the cheerful admission would erase the scowl from his face, but it hadn't the least effect."Anyway,I'm glad I didn't.I wouldn't have missed what just happened for the world.Oh, Matt, you were sowonderful with Tyrone!"At the bottom of the stairs he turned her to face him."You came upstairs because you didn't trust me todeal with the kid fairly, isn't that right? What did you think I was going to do give him a beating? I'm notan ogre, Maude Ann."He was angry, but she was too happy to care.She gave him a tender smile, her whiskey-brown eyesbrimming with warmth as they ran over his face."No you're not," she agreed in husky voice."I may not be a shrink like you, but for your information, in my own way, I've been trying to save thatkid ever since he was about three years old.""Have you? Oh, Matt, that's so sweet.I think you're making headway."She gazed into those blue eyes and that stern face and tried to think of a way to explain how she felt,how grateful she was, how moved, but words seemed inadequate.She was brimming over with so muchemotion she simply could not contain it any longer.Stepping closer, she placed her palms on his chestand gazed up at him with a melting look."Thank you," she whispered, and rising on tiptoe, she put her mouth on his.Matt stiffened and went utterly still.It was the softest of kisses, a gossamer caress of infinite tenderness and gratitude that lasted onlyseconds.There was nothing sexual about it at least, Maude Ann had not intended there to be but theinstant their lips met in that feathery touch, a zing of electricity shot through her from the point of contactall the way to her bare feet.If Matt felt anything, he gave no sign.Even as her hands curled into the front of his shirt, he stood rigid asa statue.Shaken, she drew back and looked up into his face with a self-conscious smile, but it froze on her lipswhen her gaze met his.He was watching her, his eyes blazing.His face was dark and rigid with the Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlemotions that seethed just below the surface.Maude Ann felt her heartbeat speed up.This close she could see the tiny lines around his eyes, the poresin his skin, each individual eyelash.She could smell the musky maleness of him, the hint of outdoors andsweat, and feel his breath feathering across her forehead."If you're going to thank a man with a kiss, at least do it right," he growled, and before she realized hisintent, he bent his head and clamped his mouth to hers.At the same time, his arms came around her,jerking her against his chest.The kiss was powerful, stunning, and so hot and erotic Maude Ann thought surely she would melt into apuddle on the floor.His tongue stabbed into her mouth, dueled with hers, demanding surrender.Hishands roamed over her back, and she felt his cane bumping against her backside.Maude Ann's headswam.All she could do was clutch his shirt and hang on.She experienced a sudden sensation of spinning.Then her back came up against something hard and flat,and she realized he had swung her around so that her back was to the wall.With his hands braced oneither side of her shoulders and his mouth still fused to hers, he leaned his weight into her and pressedagainst the wall.The feel of that hard body against hers sent a shiver rippling through her.Her knees were so weak shewould have slid down and collapsed on the floor had he not kept her pinned in place.Bracing on onearm, he moved his other hand to her waist and slid it slowly upward to cup her breast.When his thumbswept back and forth across her nipple, her toes curled against the hardwood floor of the hall.At last he raised his head and released her, but he did not step away.Dazed and shaken, Maude Annleaned weakly against the wall, her mind fogged with passion.Her breath rushed in and out of her lungslike a marathon runner's at the end of a race.With his forearm still braced against the wall beside her head, Matt leaned in close and trailed his gazeover her flushed face.It lingered for an uncomfortably long time on her wet, slightly swollen lips, thenlifted to meet her eyes."That's the way it's done."Straightening abruptly, he turned and limped away, leaving her stunned and disoriented.Maude Ann had been kissed before.Many times and quite thoroughly, but never like that.Tremors stillshook her body, and her heart hammered against her ribs like a wild thing.She watched Matt move through the doorway at the back of the central hall behind the stairs.When hedisappeared into the kitchen, she closed her eyes and let out a long, gusty sigh and slid down the walluntil her bottom bumped the floor.Leaning her head back, she closed her eyes.She had always thoughtMatt was handsome in a tough-as-nails sort of way.Sexy, too
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