Read Online Renegade Riders by Dawn MacTavish - Free Book Online Page A

really want to go there? You sure as hell aren’t taking my horse again. You’re loco if you think you can go wandering around the territory on foot. You won’t last a day before something bites you or somebody catches you…or worse. So stop acting like a fool and actually think for a change.”
    She seemed to crumble. She fought tears, but he saw several drop from her lashes, streaking down her dusty checks. “I won’t go back!” she snapped. “You can’t make me go back. I saw you out at the ranch. I saw you. You’re in league with them! I didn’t recognize you at first, without the beard, and your hair is shorter, but then I heard your voice and I knew. You were with that old cook. You may as well kill me here and now if you’re planning on taking me back to the Lazy C!”
    Trace almost laughed, though he saw nothing funny in the situation. “ Now she talks. I told you, I’m not going to hurt you, and Trace Ord never goes back on his word, even if some half-crazy, horse-thieving female drives him toward it. Now then, settle down. My camp is back up the trail in a grove. I’ll take you there, and then you can tell me what the Sam Hill’s going on.”
    “Not near the Outpost!” she cried.
    “No, nowhere near. But I’m not giving you a choice,Mae. I’ll let you up, and then we’re going back to the horses. Afterward, I will take you to my camp. You have a lot of explaining to do.”
    He eased off her, stood, and took her hand to pull her to her feet. Mae offered no resistance. Slapping at the dust on her clothes, she walked beside Trace to where Diablo and Duchess stood tied. Mae quickly reached for the mustang’s bridle.
    “Oh, no, you don’t,” Trace growled, grabbing her wrist. “My mother didn’t raise a foolish child. You’re going to ride before me on Duchess. The only place you’ll get your hands on that black devil stallion of mine again is your dreams.”
    As promised, he rode them back to his campsite. He paused before stepping down from Duchess to draw a deep breath. With her practically sitting on his lap, the trip back had been torture. Each step the horse took shifted Mae, creating friction against his groin. He held her close, his hand on her belly. There was no other choice; give her an inch and she’d run again.
    “Good thing my mama raised me to be a gentleman,” he said under his breath.
    Mae turned. “Beg pardon?”
    “I was commenting that you’re lucky my mama raised me to respect female folk. Now, here is how things go. I am going to step down off Duchess. Making my poor departed mama happy, I will offer you my hand in a genteel fashion. You, like a lady—no matter how hard that comes to you—will accept it, and you will climb down without trying to steal Duchess and run off. You try anything of the sort and I will run you down and truss you up. You can lie on the ground like a calfready for branding while we have our discussion. Understand?”
    She nodded.
    “Despite your clear lack of concern about their condition, you are going to help me water these horses and rub them down. Then I will brew us some coffee and we will talk. So help me, Mae, don’t run. You really don’t want to push me that far again.”
    She surprised him by obeying. They cared for the horses and she sat watching him with big eyes while he built up the fire and fixed the coffee. He wasn’t trying to delay the confrontation, but after he saw the condition of Diablo he figured he’d better get a good grip on his temper before dealing with her. He could barely stand to look at Diablo, tearing up whenever he saw the whip marks in the horse’s hide.
    Pouring water into a cup, he added herbs for the ointment he would brew for the stallion. Stirring the mixture, he glanced at Mae. She sat on a fallen log, both hands wrapped around her tin cup as if she were holding on for her life. How pale she looked in the firelight—like a ghost, except for the golden sunset of her hair shimmering in the