Read Online A Wanted Man by Susan Kay Law - Free Book Online Page B

Mr. Peel guarded her because he considered them fully qualified for the job. But still…it surprised her when three figures crossed the street no more than perhaps ten minutes after she’d first leaned against the cool, rough brick wall. One short, powerfully compact, another tall and broad. And one between them, just as tall as Hiram but leaner, his steps graceful beside Peel’s lumbering tread.
    “What took you so long?” Mrs. Bossidy met them at the edge of the street, drawing all four of them into a thin, cool slice of moonlight.
    Laura swallowed a gasp. They had a gun to his head—no, two, one apiece, lethal glints of metal.
    Not a flicker of emotion showed on his face: not fear, not anger, not even impatience at being dragged away from wherever they’d found him. Not even surprise or curiosity, as if being accosted by armed gunmen was as routine a part of his day as being offered a cup of coffee.
    He certainly wasn’t protesting. He moved along with that predator glide as if the guns to his head had nothing to do with it, as if he was going exactly where he wanted.
    Mrs. Bossidy met him toe-to-toe. Given the same situation, Laura didn’t think she’d have that much faith in the guards and their guns. He just looked too much at ease. And it couldn’t have just been that the bandits were that inept, could it? Hiram had had enough trouble with them.
    “What do you want with Miss Hamilton?” Mrs. Bossidy’s voice was clear and sharp, and Laura was pretty sure she didn’t want to hear the answer, whatever it was.
    Years of sneaking around her house served her well. She slipped up behind Mrs. Bossidy without any of them noticing.
    “If you wanted to talk to him,” she said over Mrs. Bossidy’s shoulder, “you should have told me. I venture he would have come along without nearly so much trouble if I’d asked him.”
    His hands flashed out—a quick spike of movement like a cobra strike, without his gaze wavering in either direction. Moonlight flickered over the metal of the guns, then he had them, one in each hand, pointing at his captors instead of himself, in less time than it took for Laura to suck in a breath.
    “Christ!” Peel swore. Mr. Hoxie stood frozen, eyes crossing as he tried to focus them on the barrel an inch from his nose.
    “Now then,” he said, settling his gaze on Laura. Hedidn’t seem the least bit worried about the two men, not even glancing their way. But Laura suspected if one so much as twitched, he’d have them down just as efficiently as he’d stripped their guns from them. For obviously they’d brought him here so easily because he’d chosen to go along with them; he could have stolen their guns anytime he wanted.
    “What do I want from Miss Hamilton?” he mused. Laura’s heart stuttered into uneven rhythm. She didn’t even know what she hoped he’d say.
    Nothing? Everything?
    “I want to do my job,” he said. “Her father hired me to keep her safe.”

Chapter 5

    “W hat?” The word burst from her, an echo of the hurt that erupted in her chest. She wasn’t sure what spurred it the most: the fact that her father, who she’d believed had finally, finally, trusted her enough to allow her this small venture into freedom clearly didn’t trust her; or that her lovely stranger was, after all, arranging himself into her life only because he’d been paid to do so.
    The first should be no shock. She’d even wondered at the time, hadn’t she, about whether when it came right down to it her parents would be able to let her go. She’d even joked about searching the train car to see where he’d hidden his spies.
    And the second…well, Mrs. Bossidy had warned her. Heavens, Laura had even warned herself. And so the pain was not so much true hurt as it was a wistful regret, she told herself now. Hurt required things such as trust and intimate knowledge. The capacity for betrayal necessitated that there be a relationship to betray. Whatshe mourned right now was not so