Carol Finch (6 page)

“That goes triple for me.” He wheeled around to retrieve his horse.

“H
onestly,” Lori muttered at herself. “What makes you so defiant toward that man?”

She flopped back on the padding of straw and quilt Glenn and Sarah had graciously provided. She stared up at the barn loft, as if it held all the answers to her problems. Earlier in the day, Gideon had provoked her to attack him, to rebel against his abrupt orders.

That exercise in frustration had led to heated kisses and caresses that never should have passed between them.

Lori expelled a frustrated sigh as darkness closed in on the panoramic valley Gideon called home. He’d been gone for hours and she appreciated the reprieve. Thankfully, Glenn and Sarah had come by to check on her. Their companionship made her captivity somewhat bearable. But nothing changed the fact that the past several days had been a frustrating nightmare. Cowering in a cave during the daylight hours to avoid the two-man posse sent to overtake her, and being kept on a leash by Gideon, made her wish for the activity and freedom she’d taken for granted.

The prospect of spending years in jail—or worse—for being convicted of killing Tony made her shiver with apprehension. She wondered how many innocent people remained behind bars, insisting they spoke the truth, while guilty criminals ran around scot-free.

Lori rolled to her side, watching the sheep mill around the stall beside her. She wondered if counting them would help her fall asleep. She doubted it. She had too much on her mind.

Being wanted for murder frustrated her to no end. She’d never had to fight so hard to be believed before. Her word of honor and her character had never been questioned—until now.

She thought of her father and wondered if he believed the awful story circulating about her. Hopefully, he still had faith in her character.

Lori was anxious to return to the scene of the crime so she could personally investigate. Only
she
knew where the sniper had stationed himself in the underbrush to take those shots. There might be empty shell casings and other evidence in the bushes that no one would think to check.

Unfortunately, convincing Gideon Stone-Hearted Fox to investigate seemed impossible.

She supposed she was going to have to alter her behavior toward him if there was a chance of persuading him to listen.
Kill him with kindness,
so to speak. Lori wrinkled her nose, wondering how she’d manage to hold her tongue while that blue-eyed devil continued to mistrust and taunt her. It would require great patience and firm resolve on her part. She wasn’t sure she was up to the task because he could ignite her emotions—all of them—in nothing flat.

On the other hand, she supposed she might try her luck at seducing him. If she offered favors, she could expect a
few in return. Desperate situations demanded desperate measures, after all.

Lori blew out an exasperated breath and asked herself how she could pull off a successful seduction when she had no skills or practice at it. She spent most of her time
resisting
men’s advances, not
inviting
them.

She wondered how many female prisoners had tried to use their wiles on Gideon Fox and how many had failed.

She calculated the number at one hundred percent.

With a weary sigh, Lori closed her eyes and begged for sleep. She suspected that only divine intervention would free her from the charges against her. Before she nodded off, she wondered if God himself dared to go up against Gideon Fox.

Maggie Burgess waited impatiently for the stagecoach passengers to climb from the coach. The coach was two hours behind schedule and she’d had to hold the evening meal until the travelers finally arrived. Damnation, her life had become hell since Tony died and she’d sent Sonny Hathaway and Teddy Collins to hunt down Lorelei. So far, she had heard nothing from her missing hired hands. The bounty she’d offered for Lori’s return hadn’t produced results. Besides that, she was shorthanded on the ranch and the stage station. Only Sylvester Jenkins was still around to work with the livestock, exchange the teams of horses and check the coaches when they arrived.

Her thoughts trailed off when the passengers strode beneath the lamppost that illuminated the dark compound in front of the stage station. She nodded a greeting to a young couple then focused her full attention on the tall, swarthy man who lit his cigar, causing golden light to flare against his angular features. She stared at the well-
used pistols in the double holsters that hung low on his lean hips.

She lifted her gaze to survey his dark hat, dark hair and dark jacket. He had the look of a hard-edged lawman or bounty hunter whose attention shifted constantly to study his surroundings and scout for trouble before it pounced on him. Either that or the man was an ex-soldier, she mused. Then again, he might be an outlaw.

In this territory, you never knew for certain.

Maggie had watched her fair share of passengers come and go. She had listened to her husband and foreman speculate on the occupations of travelers. Oh, yes, this man looked a mite dangerous and very confident of his abilities. She’d wager he was handy with a variety of weapons.

Since Sonny and Teddy had no luck tracking Lorelei, it was time to take matters into her own hands and hire a professional to bring Lorelei to justice for her crime. That woman was going to pay for what she had done to Tony, Maggie vowed fiercely. That witch had worked her wiles on Tony for three months and now he was dead because of her.

“A moment of your time, sir,” Maggie insisted, blocking the stranger’s path before he entered the station.

He took a puff on his cigar then gave her the once-over. His steely gaze made her wonder if she had been too hasty in trying to charm him into accepting her proposition.

“What can I do for you, ma’am?” he drawled.

She flashed her best smile and reminded herself that it was up to her to see Lorelei pay dearly. “I am in need of a gun for hire to track down the female outlaw who shot my foreman. I wondered if you might be interested in the job. I have posted a reward. Plus, I’m offering the uncollected salary owed to him.”

The stranger blew a lazy halo of smoke into the air then
stared at her with chilling silver-gray eyes that made her shift uneasily. “A woman, you say?”

Maggie nodded and gave Lorelei’s name and detailed description before conveying the incident that left Tony dead.

“Did Miz Russell admit she shot your foreman?”

“No, she tried to convince me that someone ambushed Tony from the bushes, but I didn’t see anyone. I think she was simply trying to throw suspicion on someone else.”

He stared intently at her. “Did she claim she actually
saw
the shooter and could identify him?”

Maggie frowned, bemused. The man was intent on knowing the unnecessary details. But Maggie refused to be sidetracked. She wanted Lorelei tracked down and punished severely.

“She didn’t offer a description of the shooter and I doubt there was one. Why else would she thunder off on horseback if she wasn’t guilty?”

He squinted at her through a curl of smoke that drifted around his head. “And you are thoroughly convinced the lady outlaw acted alone?”

“She was standing over him with one of his pistols in her hand,” Maggie insisted. “She has to be hiding out in the hills and I want her punished for her crime.”

The stranger stared at her for a long moment then extended his callused hand. “All right, we have a deal. If you’ll pay the unclaimed salary to me now to cover my expenses and furnish me with a reliable horse, I’ll bring her back. Then I’ll pick up the bounty money as my bonus.”

Maggie was so delighted that he accepted that she pumped his hand enthusiastically. “Have a seat inside and I’ll bring you a double helping of your meal. While you’re eating I’ll gather the money.” She glanced at him expec
tantly. “Thank you, Mister…?” She waited for him to fill in the blank.

He tilted his dark head back and blew another smoke ring in the air. “Reece McCree,” he murmured before he sauntered into the stage station to join the other passengers.

Maggie blinked, stunned. She’d heard that name mentioned several times the past year. McCree had developed a reputation as a bounty hunter who prowled the Territory and the Southwest to apprehend the most dangerous criminals who carried the highest prices on their heads.

A delighted smile pursed her lips as she scurried off to serve supper. Now she would get results, she assured herself excitedly. McCree would track down that devious woman and Maggie would have her vindication. Then she would sell this station and ranch and move east as she had longed to do, though Hubert had refused to pull up stakes and leave this godforsaken territory. Now there was nothing to keep Maggie here in this uncivilized wilderness. Nothing but the capture of Lorelei Russell for making her life miserable.

“She will pay,” Maggie murmured spitefully before she manufactured a smile and served up supper.

Gideon returned home long after dark. He had stopped at the stream to bathe then halted Pirate beside the barn. He debated about torturing himself by confronting his prisoner again. He should leave her alone until morning.

But that was the easy way out, he reminded himself.

Heaving a weary sigh, he dismounted, then led his horse into the barn. It wasn’t like him to avoid a prisoner. Then again, he’d never dealt with one like Lorelei Russell, who lambasted his emotions on so many levels that he didn’t know which one to fight first.

“Who’s there?” she called out in the darkness.

“Who are you expecting?”

“Oh, it’s you. I was hoping you’d gotten lost.”

Even now, that sassy mouth of hers annoyed and amused him at once. Gideon halted and frowned disapprovingly when he discovered that Glenn or Sarah—or both—had opened the window to provide moonlight and fresh air. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the stall and he could see Lori’s shapely body all too clearly.

There was a bed of straw, a quilt and a pillow. He wouldn’t be surprised to learn that his infatuated little brother and his bleeding heart of a sister-in-law had taken the quilt and pillow off Gideon’s bed. For spite.

As if Lori hadn’t been offered enough comforts, he noticed she was wearing a skirt and blouse that had belonged to Sarah before her waistline expanded. The scoop-necked blouse displayed Lori’s full bosom to its best advantage, he noted. Plus, she’d combed her thick, lustrous hair….

He frowned when it dawned on him that she couldn’t have changed clothing without someone unlocking her cuffs.

Anger roiled inside him at the thought of his family defying his instructions. Galen would have a key because he carried cuffs while on duty. Therefore, Glenn or Sarah must have borrowed them—with or without Galen’s permission.

He stared accusingly at Lori. “Did you manipulate my little brother or sister-in-law into providing you with a change of clothes and talk them into unlocking your cuffs?” he demanded gruffly.

“No, they are far more considerate and humane than you are.” She sat up cross-legged on the padded pallet. “They allowed me to take a bath, with Sarah standing watch at
the door and Glenn guarding the window to make sure I didn’t try to escape.”

He
had bathed in the creek on his way home but his princess-of-a-prisoner had attendants!

When Lori rose gracefully to her feet, the moon and starlight sparkled in her red-gold hair. He noticed she’d pinned it up on her head, leaving the elegant column of her neck exposed. She approached him and halted at the end of her tether.

“Did you find the men who stole your valuable horses?” she surprised him by asking.

“No, but I located the tracks leading away from here and I know which direction they are headed. I also found the campsite they used to bed down last night.”

“Are you going after the men tomorrow?”

He cocked his head, unwillingly admiring her curvaceous figure and bewitching face. No doubt about it, Lorelei Russell was a beautiful, intriguing woman. He could understand why men became captivated—including his knot-headed little brother, who had judged her by her temptingly attractive appearance and found her innocent of any and all crimes.

Before he did something stupid, like help himself to another taste of those luscious pink lips, Gideon wheeled around to unsaddle Pirate. He gave his horse a treat then placed him in a spacious stall. A moment later, he strolled past Lori’s meager accommodations to see that she was still standing there staring at him.

He paused, cursing his betraying gaze, even as his eyes wandered over the enticing curve of her neck to the voluptuous swells of her breasts. His attention wandered to the trim indentation of her waist and the exposed portion of her legs that indicated the skirt was too short for her.

Gideon wasn’t sure which was worse—this alluring
feminine attire or those trim-fitting breeches and shirt that accentuated all her tantalizing assets. He had the uneasy feeling that she could dress in a burlap sack and he would still find her impossibly attractive.

Lust hit him like a brick as his gaze roamed over her again. Damn it all, why did he have to be the one who captured her? Why couldn’t she be someone else’s problem? Why not one of his fellow marshals? Every blasted time he got close to her he was vividly reminded of how long it had been since he’d touched or tasted a soft, yielding female and had an opportunity to ease his basic needs.

“I want you to let me go, Gideon,” she murmured. “I’ll even promise to meet you in Fort Smith at whatever time and place you designate. You have my word.”

“Right.” He scoffed at her. “Now what’s a murderess’s word worth? I forget.”

She flashed him a glare and muttered something he didn’t dare ask her to repeat. Then she said, “I need to reassure my father that I’m all right and figure out what happened that fateful evening at the stage station. I keep playing the incident over in my mind, going through it in slow motion, focusing on everything Tony said to me. Something isn’t right. I can feel it. I’m not sure what it is but it’s niggling at me and I have to go back.”