Read Online The Outlaw and the Lady by Lorraine Heath - Free Book Online Page A

his feet. Silence. Then the crack of his knees. She followed the sound and knelt beside him. “What are you doing?” she asked.
    “I want to make sure the men pick up our trail and not my brothers’.”
    “What will you do if they follow your brothers?”
    “I will have to go back and kill them,” he said in a distracted voice, and she could imagine him scanning the horizon, searching for a sign of the riders.
    “How many men are there?”
    “Eight.”
    Would her father send that many? He’d probably send the entire male population of Texas. “You honestly think you could kill them all?” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that.”
    “I am very skilled with weapons.”
    “If you’re so skilled, then why don’t you kill them now?”
    “Because they have yet to aggravate me. You, however, señorita , are coming very close to aggravating me.”
    “Are you threatening to shoot me?”
    He released a deep sigh. “Perhaps I will just gag you.”
    “You promised—”
    “Shh. They have reached the spot where we split up. One is dismounting.”
    “Are they close enough to hear us?”
    “No, but we do not need to take a chance on drawing their attention.”
    “I thought you wanted them to follow us.”
    “To follow us, sí , to know exactly where we are, no. Now, he is kneeling to study the ground. It is a shame you do not weigh more.”
    Her mouth dropped open at his audacity. “I beg your pardon?”
    “Not so loud.”
    “You prefer rotund women?”
    “I like all women, but a heavier woman would cause the horse to leave deeper tracks, and it would not be so difficult for them to decide which ones to follow.”
    “Then you think they’re looking for me?”
    “No. I think they are lazy fools and the clearer markings would appeal to them.”
    “If they are near enough for you to see, then you could leave—”
    “No!”
    “Why not?” she asked, exasperated.
    “I do not know these men. Me, I know.”
    “I’m sure my father sent them.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    She loathed admitting the truth because it made her seem like a little girl who needed to be tucked into bed each night. “Because he always looked in on me at the boardinghouse after he closed the saloon. He tried to do it on the sly because I always hated it when he was overprotective after I lost my sight, but he’s not the quietest of men.” Although she had to admit that he was the most loving because she knew climbing stairs was agony for him, and yet he opened the door to her room every night, peered inside…and now he would endure the torment of having a lostchild. “Anyway, he would have known before the bank opened that I was gone. So it stands to reason that the first men to follow us would be men my father hired.”
    “Do you know a man who wears a feather in his hat?” he asked.
    “They’re close enough that you can see a feather?”
    “It is a fancy feather that sticks up, waving in the wind. More of a plume, I guess.”
    “I suppose my father might know a man who wears a hat like that, but he’s not in the habit of discussing men’s clothing with me.” And she was going to lose her chance for freedom if she wasn’t careful. “Yes, yes, as a matter of fact, I remember him mentioning that a dear friend of his had won a garish hat in a poker game.”
    She held her breath, waiting for his acquiescence. Her entire body ached, and she was so incredibly fatigued. As a rule, she was not a complainer, but right now she would sell her soul for a hot bath, a warm meal, and a soft bed.
    “You’re bluffing,” he said quietly.
    “What if I am? I’m damned tired of being protected. First my father and now you! I’m not a child.”
    “That fact is extremely obvious, señorita .”
    Surely she had not heard appreciation reflected in his voice. She’d always attributed her lack of gentlemen callers on her stubbornness. They wanted to coddle her, and she wanted to be an equal, a daunting expectation in the world of