Read Online Devil in Texas (Lady Law & The Gunslinger Series, Book 1) by Adrienne deWolfe - Free Book Online Page A

one-shot derringer that was just as deadly as a Peacemaker at close range.
    He glared at the thief. "So you're a wise guy, eh?"
    "Just shoot him," Collie interjected, knowing full well Cass wouldn't.
    "Junior's awful grumpy," the thief drawled. "Must've missed his baby nap."
    "I'll plug you myself!"
    "Settle down," Cass snapped at Collie, but he was only half listening to the boy's rant. Something about the thief kept niggling at the back of his mind. Cass thought it might have been the man's wit. It reminded him poignantly of Sadie.
    He cursed himself. Now wasn't the time to let grief distract him. Sadie had made a fool of him more than once. She'd even betrayed him, telling Sterne about his murder warrant when the Ranger had ridden into Dodge City, bearing a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal's commission. After a hurt like that, Cass shouldn't have cared what happened to Sadie.
    But no matter how he tried, Cass couldn't stop thinking about the first woman he'd ever kissed, about those long-lost days of star-gazing, berry-picking, and infatuated innocence back in their childhood home of Pilot Grove. A yawning emptiness consumed his soul. The nights had lost their thrill because he could never love, war, and make up again with the Devil's Red-Haired Daughter.
    Dragging a ragged breath into his lungs, he forced himself to rein in such useless conjectures.
    "What's under your coat?" he snapped at the thief.
    The ghost of a dimple peeked from the shadows beneath the man's derby. "The usual."
    "Want to be more specific?"
    "See for yourself."
    Cass's pulse quickened. This conversation was familiar—macabrely familiar. The only difference was, his memory had to do with a Dodge City brothel and a skimpy lace negligee that had all but stopped his heart.
    "I'll make you want me, Sadie," he'd threatened, his loins hurting even worse than his pride.
    She'd laughed up at him with those wicked, golden tiger's eyes. "You'll always be that green-as-grass boy I taught how to rut."
    Cass forced himself to drag his wits about him. He glared at the thief. "Take off your hat."
    "You want it?" Another saucy dimple peeked. "Come and get it, hotshot."
    Cass's patience was rapidly unraveling. He stalked closer, defying popguns, blinding powder, and anything else the thief might throw. "Think you're something special, eh?"
    "If you say so."
    A breeze stirred the draperies. The masculine scents of leather and horse wafted to Cass, along with the feminine fragrance of rosehips.
    Sadie's favorite tea.
    Cass frowned.
    Now he was close enough to notice anomalies beneath the man's derby: cheeks too smooth to be a graybeard's. A mustache that was just a hair off balance. Lips that were pink and kissably soft.
    Cass halted, his heart slamming into his ribs. His brain told his senses they were liars, but his heart couldn't give up the hope. Sadie and Sterne were old flames. If she'd survived the Satin Siren, if she'd feared for her life, maybe she would have disguised herself to seek the Ranger for protection.
    Cass reached a shaking hand. He knocked the derby off the thief's head.
    Eyes as hot as golden brands burned into his. Cass sucked in his breath. In the next instant, a boot struck his forearm. His gun went flying. The second drop-kick plowed into his midsection like a battering ram.
    "Son of a—" Cass stumbled to his knees, winded.
    Sadie fled for the stairs, a snarling coon in hot pursuit. Desperately, Cass dug inside a trouser pocket and hurled pecans after Vandy's head. The eager moocher veered, scrabbling over the glint of gold that spilled from Sadie's neck. Collie muttered something about traitors and reached for the pistol in his bodice.
    "No!" Cass tackled the boy's legs. They crashed to the carpet, rolling over Sadie's necklace in a tangle of limbs and lace.
    "What the hell's the matter with you?"Collie struggled to free the gun arm Cass had pinned.
    "That's Sadie!"
    "Sadie's dead!"
    She paused to look back, that wicked dimple flirting with her