He felt unaccountably vulnerable with her. He didn’t like the feelings she shook loose inside him, with her grace and beauty and touch-me-not air. He felt like the rawest cowhand around her. He had no right to be lusting after this satin-skinned duchess. He owed more to the memory of his late wife.

His guard stayed up as he studied Miss Ashford closely. “You do realize that my daughter is half Cheyenne Indian?”

“Yes. You made that clear in your letters.”

“Her half-breed blood wouldn’t sit too well with most ladies.”

“I assure you, it will hold no weight with me.”

He made no reply, but one heavy, dark-gold eyebrow rose skeptically.

“You don’t wish to marry me after all, is that what you are trying to tell me?”

Sloan hesitated. As a gentleman, he couldn’t say such a thing. As a gentleman he wanted to take her in his arms and erase that wounded look in her eyes. As a man, he wanted to loosen that sleek knot and let her hair stream down all pale and silken, like it had in his dream. He wondered if she would clench and shiver around him in climax as she’d done in his dream… Sloan drew a sharp breath as fresh desire knifed through him.

He cursed again, telling himself the ache in his groin would pass. What he felt for Miss Ashford was simply healthy lust, nothing more complex. She had a cool, untapped sensuality any man would find challenging. He just didn’t want the challenge.

Hell, his mind was only playing tricks on him. Along with his body. The duchess was doubtless a missish prude, nothing like his dream. She wouldn’t possess the uninhibited passion of his late wife, either. Doe’s favorite place to make love was a grassy meadow under the hot sun. This crystal-and-lace figurine would probably cower under the covers.

Yet he couldn’t honorably back out of the marriage now. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t try to convince Miss Ashford to turn him down.

He took a deep breath. “What I’m saying is that maybe you should reconsider. A soft woman like you isn’t cut out for the kind of life I live. Working a ranch is tough on the hardest folks.”

“I am stronger than I look,” Heather argued stubbornly. “And I am in excellent health.”

His mouth twisted cynically. “Are you now?”

“Would you care to inspect my teeth, sir?”