Read Online The Lawman's Betrayal by Sandi Hampton - Free Book Online Page A

the slicker over her head and hid it behind a tumble of rocks. With a smug smile, he pulled a shirt from his saddle bag, handed it to her, and turned his back. “I’ll be a gentleman and not look.”
    With a laugh, Naomi removed the bandage, shrugged out of her wet shirt and slipped into his. It was so big on her the sleeves came almost to her knees. She buttoned the shirt and turned up the cuffs. “You can look now, but you can’t laugh.”
    But when she caught his gaze, there was no laughter in the blue depths. The heat of his gaze sent her thoughts in the wrong direction, a direction she’d promised herself she wouldn’t go.
    He locked gazes with her for several long moments, then shook his head as if to clear his mind. “We’d best be going.”
    But when he didn’t move, Naomi stepped toward him. For a long moment, she stared into his eyes, trying to decipher the look there. “Wes?” When he said nothing, her hopes faded. With a sigh, she grabbed the horse’s reins and headed down the shadowy path.
    For another hour, Naomi followed the lawman through the tunnel-ridden canyon. Some dank and musty, some sun-dappled. On some of the cavern ceilings, great teardrops of stone hung precariously while ancient drawings filled the walls. Sightless hunters on horseback chased huge bison across an endless prairie.
    Just as she was about to voice her fear that they’d never find a way out, a sun-filled clearing appeared. With a sigh of relief, she walked out into the open and stopped to survey the area. A path up to the canyon rim caught her attention. She pointed it out to Wes. He nodded, not at all surprised. “You knew it was there all along, didn’t you?”
    A smile touched his lips. “Did you doubt me?”
    “I must admit I did.”
    “Well, we’re not out of the woods yet.” He removed the blanket strips from the horse’s hooves and hid them under a clump of brush. He led the horse across the sandy ground and motioned for her to follow. After she did so, he grabbed a dried tree branch and wiped out their tracks. “Probably won’t fool them none, but it might give us a few extra minutes.” He climbed into the saddle, held his hand out, and pulled her up behind him.
    The path to the rim led straight up. Several times, the horse faltered, slipping on the rocky ground, sending a flurry of pebbles onto the floor below. She tightened her arms around Wes’s waist, closed her eyes, and held on for dear life. Finally, they reached the top. To her relief, a glance over her shoulder showed no one following them.
    “Oh, Wes, we made it. Thank God.” She slumped against him. “I’m so tired I couldn’t have lasted much longer.”
    “You’ve got to hang on for just a little while longer. The Rocking R Ranch isn’t too far. We’ll be safe there. If we don’t run into any trouble, we should make it by nightfall.”
    In about an hour, as the sun dipped below the horizon, the Rocking R Ranch came into view. The windows of the huge ranch house glowed warm with inviting light. A corral full of horses sat to one side while a bunkhouse was positioned to the right of it. Cattle grazed for miles and miles.
    Relief, along with trepidation, washed over Naomi. This would be her first contact with the outside world for three years since her imprisonment. How would they receive her? Would they censure her because she had been Roy Brecker’s wife, now his widow? She stiffened her resolve—it didn’t matter. Nothing would deter her from her revenge.
    ****
    As Wes neared the main house, doubts surfaced. The Rocking R had been hit hard by the Brecker gang on more than one occasion. The outlaws had rustled Rocking R cattle and stolen their payroll. Should he have come here? Maybe he should have tried to go on to town, but Naomi was at the brink of exhaustion, mentally and physically. Besides, with his horse carrying double, they couldn’t have gone much further either.
    Would Robert Caine turn Naomi away? She’d been hurt