Read Online Samantha James by Outlaw Heart - Free Book Online Page A

he said very deliberately, “who said I was going anywhere with you?”
    Abby gritted her teeth. “My name is Abigail—Abigail MacKenzie. And we had a deal, Kane, so don’t try to weasel your way out of it now.”
    “A deal?” His harsh laugh set her on edge. “That’s not the way I remember it.”
    “Then think of it this way.” Abby was too desperate to heed her words. “You’ll be saving a man’s life—maybe it’ll ease your conscience a little.”
    His conscience! A fiery mist of rage swam before his eyes. Who the hell was she to judge him anyway? Kane thought furiously. Why, she was an uppity little brat who’d probably never wanted for a single thing in her life! She didn’t know a damn thing about him—who he really was … the reasons behind all that he’d done … Oh, he knew her kind, people who had their noses in the air, who’d convinced themselves they were so much better than their fellow man—they thought they could push everyone else aside and no one would be the wiser. Well, to hell with people like her, he thought savagely. To hell with her!
    He stared at her coldly. “You’re a fool if you think I’ll take you to Sam,” he stated flatly. “Good Lord, woman, I don’t think you realize what kind of man Stringer Sam is!”
    “Oh, but I do! I told you last night, Kane. He came to the Diamondback after Dillon—but he killed my father instead.” For just an instant, pain gouged a gaping wound in her breast. Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back, not wanting this man to see her cry.
    But Kane didn’t see. His mouth compressed into a thin line. Dillon again, he thought scathingly. She’d talked about someone named Dillon last night—Dillon and some kind of vendetta.
    His lip curled; he spoke in a flat, staccato rhythm. “Listen, Abigail , and listen good. A woman with your looks shouldn’t have to look far to find another man primed and ready to warm that sweet little behind. Just because you don’t like sleeping alone doesn’t mean I’m willing to risk my hide to save his .”
    Abby gaped. What was he saying? Why, it didn’t bear thinking about! But all at once her spine went ramrod straight. It was just like a man, she thought furiously—just like him! —to think with that part of his anatomy.
    “No, Kane,” she began heatedly. “ You listen. It’s not like that at all, do you hear? I don’t know what hole you crawled out of—I don’t care to know! But I’ll thank you to keep your crude little judgments to yourself. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to save Dillon, is that understood? Furthermore, any other woman would do exactly the same if Stringer Sam were after her—”
    She never knew exactly what halted her speech. Perhaps it had something—everything?—to do with the knowledge that Kane was under a grave misconception about her and Dillon.
    “Her what?” Kane’s eyes had narrowed suspiciously. “Exactly what is this Dillon to you anyway?” His hand shot out and wrapped around her arm, jerking her close.
    Abby bit her lip. She’d told Kane last night that Dillon was her brother, hadn’t she? Hadn’t she ? Maybe not, or he wouldn’t be making such outrageous insinuations …
    Her breath came jerkily. He frightened her, she realized dazedly. Oh, not because he was an outlaw. Simply because he was so—so overwhelmingly male! So close to him, trapped against the heat of his body, her mind displayed a vivid recall. She remembered the way he had looked at her last night, his eyes glittering with heat. She remembered the intimate glide of his tongue against hers, the shocking sensation of lean, plundering fingers shaping themselves to her breast.
    She swallowed, unable to tear her gaze from those dark features that hovered so closely above her own. A bristly shadow hazed the hollow of his cheeks and jaw. His lips were thin and cruel. She was tall for a woman, her body sleek and toned and far from weak, but Kane made her feel that way. And