Chance's Game

"You certainly are a feisty thing. I can see why some men would think you're in need of a husband. With that tongue of yours, I'll bet you just get into all kinds of trouble."

Perceptive. Her tongue had gotten her into a lot of trouble. Some people just couldn't handle the truth. "I don't need a husband," she said stubbornly, pricked by his comment.

"All women need a husband."

Of all the arrogant things to say. "I'm not all women. I am perfectly content to remain single. I have no intention of being some ornament for a man, taken out only on special occasions. Treated like I have no brains and whose only worth is in birthing children."

"You would deny yourself then the pleasure that can be found between a man and a woman?" he said softly, stepping closer, making her feel small in his shadow.

She held her ground and tilted her chin up defiantly. "From what I can see the pleasure is fleeting and not worth the trouble that comes with it."

"And I think," he said stepping even closer so that their bodies were almost touching, an act that had her body tingling oddly. "That you only say that because you have yet to taste real passion." And with those last whispered words, his head dipped down and his lips touched hers.