"
He rose with a laugh that mocked. "I expaict to spend quite a bit
of time understanding y'u one of these days. In the meantime this
is to our better acquaintance."
Deliberately, without the least haste, he stooped and kissed her
before she could rally from the staggering surprise of the
intention she read in his eyes too late to elude. Then, with the
coolest bravado in the world, he turned on his heel and strolled away.
Angry sapphires gleamed at him from under the long, brown lashes.
She was furious, aghast, daunted. By the merest chance she was
sitting in a corner of the box, so screened from observation that
none could see. But the insolence of him, the reckless defiance
of all standards of society, shook her even while it enraged her.
He had put forth his claim like a braggart, but he had made good
with an audacity superb in its effrontery. How she hated him! How
she feared him! The thoughts were woven inseparably in her mind.
Mephisto himself could not have impressed himself more
imperatively than this strutting, heartless master artist in
vice.
She saw him again presently down in the arena, for it was his
turn to show his skill at roping. Texas had done well; very well,
indeed.
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