Chasing Rainbows by Lynne Victoria

Author:Lynne, Victoria [Lynne, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical romance, Historical Fiction, outlaw, Romance, suspense, Western, Action adventure, Colorado
Publisher: Amazon
Published: 2010-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

Jake didn’t know what to make of Annie’s story. He had spent the past few hours turning it over in his mind while they rode, but he came to no definite conclusion. Even now, as they stopped and searched for a spot to make camp for the night, he was still wrestling with it.

The problem was simple. He wanted to believe Annie. Everything he had seen indicated that she was completely sincere in her desire to start her life over again. And because he wanted to believe her, he was actually convincing himself of her innocence. Annie was simply too forthright and direct to fabricate an elaborate lie about the boys being dead. Granted, it was suspicious that she had been gone for hours before the Mundy Gang had tried to make a run at the bank, but that truly could have been a coincidence.

Nothing about Annie suggested the type of woman who would cover for a gang of cold-blooded killers. Looking back, Jake remembered the first time he had seen her, standing with a noose around her neck, staring down a hostile crowd with a mixture of anger and bravado. He remembered her storming in on horseback to face down a gang of deadly bandits, and risking her life for an abandoned alleycat. He remembered her gently reassuring him that it wasn’t entirely his fault that the South had lost the war. And finally the image of Annie that was carved most vividly in his mind, that of her stepping out from behind a tree in all her naked glory, her willowy limbs and soft curves concealed by nothing but a pine branch: That was one recollection he would carry with him to the end of his days. While none of those memories directly proved her innocence, they did tend to tip the scales more in that direction.

Jake was also listening to what his instincts were telling him. In his experience, instinct was as valid a tool as any other form of reasoning. The mind absorbed a lot that never came to the surface as organized thought. When he played a hunch, he was simply using knowledge that he had but wasn’t able yet to identify or put into words. And that instinct told him that Annie was telling the truth.

“Is this all right?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts as she gestured to a patch of grassy brush surrounded by tall cottonwoods.

He nodded in agreement and dismounted. They still had about an hour or so of daylight left, but he didn’t mind stopping early. He had had little sleep last night and was willing to bet that Annie had had even less. He glanced around, examining the campsite without much enthusiasm. What he wanted was a soft bed and a good meal. Maybe a plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, stewed tomatoes, fresh green beans, and a thick slice of chocolate cake for dessert. What he got, however, was considerably less. He rolled his blanket on the cold, hard ground and checked his saddlebags for supplies.

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