Texas Outlaw (Wild Texas Nights, Book 1) by deWolfe Adrienne

Author:deWolfe, Adrienne [deWolfe, Adrienne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2012-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Cord had been too frustrated to sleep well that night. To lie in such proximity to Fancy, her lush curves silhouetted by amber flames and violet shadow, had been only part of the distraction.

True, he'd been sorely tempted to bridge the space between them. With no brothers, no aunt, no dishonorable promises to come between them, the only way to keep his mind off the simmering heat in his loins was to repeat silently over and over that she hated him. With a passion. And that wasn't the kind of passion he wanted from a woman.

He didn't understand why his best intentions always went wrong where Fancy was concerned. She seemed determined to misinterpret or flat out disbelieve everything he said. What was worse, she seemed equally determined to put all of her faith in Santana. He couldn't fathom such blind loyalty.

Thinking there must be something more he could say to hammer the truth home, Cord tried once more on their way to Fort Gates. In vivid detail, he pointed out all the dangers of living life on the run—especially with an inveterate sinner like Santana. He pleaded with her to supply her contacts' names so he would be bargaining from a position of power when he went to the governor.

Reasoning with the woman proved just as futile as before. Half the time, he suspected she'd turned deaf as well as blind.

She wore a stony, indifferent expression during their entire ride. When he fired off telegraphs to New Mexican lawmen, seeking information about Bart Wilkerson's old cohorts, she didn't even bat an eye in challenge.

During their stage ride to Waco the next day, she proved even more unreachable, if that was possible. His hopes of coaxing a confession out of her were dashed the instant the wife and daughters of Fort Gates's commander all clambered aboard the coach. They spent most of the ride giggling about charivaris and honeymoons and debating the merits of taffeta over satin for wedding gowns. As their chatter droned on and on above the jolts and bumps of the road, Cord thought he had never seen Fancy looking quite so grim... or so resigned. He imagined she was thinking of Santana again.

The thought gnawed at his gut all the way to Waco.

The stage pulled into town late in the afternoon, just as the commercial district was closing down and the saloons were picking up. Cord watched the proliferation of swaggering young gunslingers with a wary eye, but he didn't anticipate trouble. He guessed they had stopped in Waco on their way to Austin to sign up for the Rangers. Now that Yankee Reconstruction had finally released its stranglehold on Texas, the legislature had proudly reactivated the state's legendary law force. Cord suspected half the rowdies in town were eager recruits.

Main Street was bustling with people, most of whom were headed for the hotels or the saloons. The rare exception seemed to be the women from the stage coach. The belles of Fort Gates set

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.