Amanda would not be scared off by a big, gorgeous sheriff with eyes as cold as a winter wind.

      “If you think you’re worrying me, you’re wrong,” she said.

      Nathan stared at her. “I don’t want you worried. I don’t want you at all.”

      Direct hit, she thought as an icy fist slammed into her chest and squeezed her heart. But she wouldn’t let him see it. “I don’t want you, either, Nathan. I’m not that young girl anymore, dazzled because Nathan Battle noticed her—”

      He grabbed her, yanked her close and kissed her with a fierce desperation that was fueled by desire and anger, all twisted up together. She could feel it in him as she felt it in herself. Past and present tangled together and memories as thick as honey on a winter morning.

      But those memories were swamped by all of the new sensations coursing through her.