Read Online Liz Ireland by A Cowboy's Heart - Free Book Online Page A

was hard to keep her thoughts straight, being so close to him. She just couldn’t allow herself to think about that kiss, not right at the moment.
    “You’ve got a lot of nerve, riding in like that and scaring us half to death!”
    Will swung off his horse. “Good morning to you, too, Sprout.” He seemed to look right through her, as though he didn’t want to deal with her at all. Like last night had meant nothing to him!
    Well, he would soon find out she wasn’t so easy to ignore.“Do you realize we were poised to shoot whoever was coming? You could have got yourself killed just now!”
    He turned on her, eyes flashing. “If you can’t keep a cool head, you shouldn’t be here.”
    Her blood shot from hot to the boiling point in nothing flat. “You’re the one who’s been flying off the handle all the time, Mr. Hothead,” she said. She almost added that it was his jumping to fool conclusions about his lady love’s abduction that was leading them off on this crazy mission to begin with, but decided to refrain, for Oat’s sake.
    Will turned to her with a retort on his lips, but was cut off by Trip.
    “Any sign of Night Bird?”
    Will pivoted toward Trip—dismissing Paulie as easily as he would swat a bothersome gnat away. “No,” he said, shaking his head.
    “Where are we goin’ today?”
    “I thought we could head into Vinegaroon.”
    Paulie’s ire evaporated at the mention of that town. “Vinegaroon!” she cried. “There isn’t anything there but a saloon.”
    “You’ll be thirsty by the time we get there,” Will told her with a wry smile.
    The reply poised on the tip of Paulie’s tongue was interrupted by Oat, who was nodding in agreement with Will. “Roy Bean’ll know if Night Bird is crawling around.”
    “That’s what I’m counting on,” Will said.
    “Judge Bean, you mean!” Paulie had heard about Roy Bean, but had never met the man. He had a reputation for running a hell of a saloon, and, since being appointed judge, or appointing himself—no one was ever quite sure which—he’d also become known for doling out swift justice. She wasn’t sure she would like him. “I’ve heard ofinnocent men wandering into that place in the morning and ending the day swinging by a rope.”
    Will looked at her, really looked at her for the first time that morning, and she could have sworn there was laughter in those brown eyes. “Well maybe if you mind your manners and keep your mouth shut, we won’t have to waste time cutting you down at sunset.”
    Then he turned, missing by inches the hard biscuit that Paulie sent whizzing past his ear.
    If Trip wanted Paulie Johnson, he was welcome to her. And good luck to him!
    Will snorted to himself and spurred Ferdinand just a little faster, knowing that the others would keep up, no matter what. Paulie would die before she let out a whimper of complaint about their pace, or her hunger, which she was probably feeling keenly by now. The fool girl should be eating more food and throwing less of it. Trip said she hadn’t eaten a bite at breakfast. Probably just more evidence of her lovesickness, he thought, feeling a now familiar prick of unease at the thought of the pair of them.
    The whole affair was none of his business, and he’d already spent far too much time thinking about it. Brooding about it, almost. Bad enough he hadn’t been able to sleep almost all the night, but the minute his bleary eyes had opened this morning, he’d started thinking about that kiss again, and how surprisingly soft and warm Paulie had felt in his arms. And then he’d remembered that Paulie belonged to Trip. He’d ridden out and had been unable to think about anything else. Night Bird could have jumped on the back of the horse with him and he wouldn’t have known it.
    He was determined not to give Trip and Paulie—or that kiss—another thought.
    He rode on for a few minutes, trying to concentrate on the landscape around him. Scrubby hills surrounded them, providing