Catch Me by Lorelie Brown

Author:Lorelie Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Amazon
Published: 2011-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

At the new, breakneck pace Dean set, they came to the next town only a day later. Maggie was as sore through the buttocks and thighs as she could ever remember being. The best she could figure, they’d seen miles of rolling hills covered in low-lying brush and the occasional herd of cattle.

But she wasn’t about to complain. As much as she’d like to delay standing trial, there was something about Ike Linkers that set the fine hairs at the back of her neck to standing on edge. She hadn’t felt like spending more time on the road than necessary since he’d joined their little group.

She’d seen him around Fresh Springs, usually coming or going from the back door of Mr. Masterson’s bank, or lurking in the alley behind his house. Any time Linkers wasn’t working, he disappeared to Tucson, and the womenfolk of the town counted themselves glad for it. She’d talked to Father about having him run out of town, but he’d countered that Mr. Masterson found Linkers useful. His disapproving tone had made Maggie leave the topic alone.

Along with assurances about her wellbeing, she’d confessed to Father in the telegram Dean had allowed her to send that she’d been captured by a bounty hunter and Linkers was now a part of their small party. She wondered if her father would be as sanguine about Linkers knowing the man was spending time so near to his only daughter.

The town they’d ridden into was much nicer than the last, and thank heavens for it. She’d actually had a moment to wander through the mercantile at her leisure. Dean had been at her back, naturally, but that hadn’t bothered her. He’d become a steady comfort against the world at large, even if she hadn’t a snowball’s chance in an Arizona August of figuring him out.

With nary a peek over her shoulder to assure he still followed, she drifted out the door of the store. He stepped up beside her as she smoothed the hair from her forehead. She plunked on her hat to shade against the bright desert sun that blanched the entire town a silvery gray.

“You ready to head on over to the telegraph?” she asked as she tugged the brim a fraction to the side.

He leaned against the wall beside the many-paned windows. “Oh? Now you’re all fired eager? I do believe you called me a whipped boy for stopping us so often.”

She gave a little hop as she twirled and started walking away backward. The town was lined with covered boardwalks, so she felt fairly confident she wouldn’t fall on her face with her little show-off maneuver. “But that was before.”

“Before?” He ambled along after her, walking with a loose-limbed assurance that tingled her in naughty places.

“Before I had my own telegraph I was waiting on.”

“Good to know where your priorities lie.”

As the sidewalk ended for a crossing, she turned to face forward, shoving her hands in her back pockets as she went. “You mean with

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