Taming Talia by Marie-Nicole Ryan

Author:Marie-Nicole Ryan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2012-08-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Stranded by a freak snowstorm. Hampered by an untimely accident. Dependent on the good graces of the woman he was assigned to investigate. Not to mention mesmerized by the woman’s beauty and passion. Was there a worse way to end his career as a Pinkerton agent? If there was, he couldn’t imagine it.

Seemed like he’d hit a streak of bad luck. His last assignment in the Texas Hill Country resulted in the opposite of what he was ordered to achieve. The young woman he’d returned to her fiancé turned out to be anything but happy. Starlight Tyler had run away when her mother had brokered an engagement with Jared’s client, who turned out to be a bona fide sadist. In the long run, Jared had decided to protect her from his client until her real love, the sheriff of a neighboring county, could mount a rescue. To his shame, it turned out Jared needed rescuing himself after the client’s henchmen jumped him and locked him up. Starlight was fiery, beautiful and quite a handful, and Sheriff Cordero Tate was welcome to her.

Jared’s superiors at Pinkerton weren’t happy, but he couldn’t have lived with himself if he’d just turned that young woman over to a man who was intent on abusing her for his own sick gratification. There were many operatives at the agency who followed orders to the letter. It was the job for which they were paid, and they did it. No matter what was ordered. No matter who was hurt.

No doubt, a paycheck from Pinkerton was money in the bank and more dependable than any stray gambling winnings he picked up along the way. Risking his career for the sake of yet another woman could well prove the end of steady employment. And that was no way to show gratitude to the friend who’d recommended him for the position.

This wasn’t the life he’d planned. Hell, he hadn’t planned anything beyond university. Being disowned during his third year had put a crimp in his social standing and any plans he might’ve made after completing his education.

Another muscle spasm cut short his reverie. Damn. Where was she? Where was that whiskey? “Talia!”

She returned with a rush, a pile of folded clothes over one arm and a bottle of whiskey in her other. “I thought you might like some clean clothes. I wish we could bathe. Maybe I can melt some snow so that we can at least sponge clean. As for your—uh, bodily needs—”

“My needs? Never you mind about those. I’ll manage my needs.” He straightened up, snatched the shirt and started redressing. The very idea of her mentioning his bodily needs, much less allowing her to attend to them, was too horrifying to contemplate.

Talia laughed. “I had no idea you were so modest, Señor Fields.”

“If I couldn’t—you know—manage, then I’d rather be dead.” Indeed, he would drag his body to the necessary before he’d depend on Talia for such.

“I was going to say, before you so rudely interrupted me, that Reginald installed a water closet in one of the rooms we seldom used.

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