Read Online Outlaw Hearts by Rosanne Bittner - Free Book Online Page B

feel to have a man hold her again in the night, treasure her, make love to her. It was certainly ridiculous to think such a thing about a man like Jake Harkner.
    She got him to a sitting position and quickly moved away from him, turning to take the tray and set it across his legs. She took the cup then and raised it to his lips. “Try to drink some.”
    Jake took the cup into his own hands. “I can hold it.”
    Miranda watched him a moment, confused by her own feelings. Taking care of him, nursing him through his agony and knowing she was the cause of it, hearing the things he had said in his delirium, all made her feel closer to him, responsible for him. Her curiosity about his past had only grown stronger, as had this strange, unexplainable sympathy for him. Why on earth should she feel sorry for this man who was probably no better than those who had killed her father? Was it foolish to believe that deep inside, every man had some good in him?
    â€œI don’t know why I haven’t told anyone you’re here,” she said. “I only know that no matter how much part of me argued for it, I simply could not turn you in for bounty money. I did go into town once.” She watched his dark eyes turn distrustful again as he lowered the cup. “Don’t worry. I had no intention of turning you in,” she assured him. “I only went so that everything would appear normal and so my friends could see I was just fine. I wanted to avoid anyone coming here to check on me. As long as you were sick, I couldn’t count on you keeping quiet if someone came around.” She smiled softly. “Do you want to know the latest rumor about you?”
    Jake frowned. “I’m not so sure I do.”
    â€œOh, you’ll like this one. Everyone is convinced you died alone somewhere and your body will never be found. They say you might have made it to Indian Territory, in which case you most certainly will never be found, except perhaps by wolves and buzzards who will do a fine job of consuming what is left of your body.”
    Jake grinned. “That so?” He took another drink of tea. “Well, as long as I’m supposed to be dead, we’ll just leave things that way. It will be easier getting out of here. If I’m lucky, a certain gang of outlaws will believe the rumor and will stop looking for me.”
    â€œBill Kennedy?”
    Jake studied her eyes. “How did you know?”
    â€œSheriff McCleave told me you rode with him. Why is he after you?”
    Jake rubbed at his eyes. “I think I told you I don’t like questions.”
    Miranda folded her arms. “And I think that after all I’ve done for you, I deserve some answers.”
    Jake sighed, setting the cup on the tray, feeling ridiculous trying to handle the delicate little thing in his big hands. He thought how the thin china cups reminded him of Miranda Hayes. “Don’t you have some good whiskey? That would do me a lot better than this tea.”
    Miranda walked around to the foot of the bed. “Tell me why Bill Kennedy is after you, and I’ll let you have a couple of shots of whiskey.”
    He grinned a little. “So, now we’re up to blackmail, are we?”
    â€œCall it what you want.”
    He rubbed at his stomach, thinking how the tea did make him feel better. “The things that bounty hunter said, about me being wanted for rape. I wasn’t with Kennedy’s gang that day they robbed that bank back in Missouri, and I didn’t have anything to do with them taking that woman customer off with them. But because I usually rode with them, rumor spread that I was a part of it. I didn’t even know about it until I rode into Kennedy’s hideaway that night and found him and the rest of them—” He glanced at her, saw her growing a little pale. “I don’t think I need to go into details. Suffice it to say most women would rather have been shot,