The Devil's Own Desperado by Lynda J. Cox

Author:Lynda J. Cox [Cox, Lynda J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, Western
ISBN: 9781612176284
Google: tiZoGxGRd2oC
Amazon: B0153Q7NIM
Goodreads: 16074143
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Published: 2012-09-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Colt sat on a granite boulder high atop a ridge, staring down at the small cabin. Smoke curled from the chimney, which meant Amelia was awake and had started breakfast. The early morning sunlight took the chill of the night from the land and beat down on his back, warming him.

He pulled his gaze from the house to settle on a hawk rising into the brilliant azure dome. The raptor screamed at regular intervals, Colt knew, to try to scare some small game into bolting from a hiding place. The bird of prey circled lazily, soaring higher and higher until it was little more than a tiny speck of black and its cries were whisper-quiet.

The faint, acrid scent of burning tobacco made Colt look around but he didn’t see anyone. Any man trying to get the drop on him wouldn’t be smoking. Colt allowed himself to relax and remain seated on the granite boulder.

He shut his eyes. Did Amelia know what she had offered him? Not just herself, not just her heart, but the chance to finally stop looking over his shoulder, to maybe make a life for himself.

What kind of a fool was he for refusing her offer? No, he wasn’t a fool, but he also wasn’t a blackguard or a conscienceless cad as those damn dime novels Saul read made him out to be. What kind of fool was he to even hope he could accept her offer and put his past behind him? He knew better.

He smiled at the irony of it all. All those years he’d been packing iron, dodging his past and dreaming of hanging up those guns, he never would have imagined something like this would be offered to him. And his dreams of a house in a small mountain valley, a couple of kids, a few head of cattle…he had never really thought about a wife until the other night in the barn when he talked with Jenny. He knew having kids most of the time involved a woman’s contribution, but a woman like Amelia?

Ladies like her had never looked at him as a prospective husband. Oh sure, a few of those respectable ladies had shot him sidelong, encouraging glances, especially once he had finished growing and filling out. The one time he’d made the mistake of thinking those encouraging glances meant anything more, the “lady” had made it abundantly clear he had merely been a way to satisfy an itch, and that was all. He had steered clear of respectable ladies ever since.

He never would have dreamed that a woman like Amelia would look at him in any manner other than disdain or pity. That she regarded him with open, undisguised love rocked the foundations of what he thought he knew of humanity.

“Sitting out in the open without a gun is a good way to get yourself killed when you’re a shootist.”

Taylor’s voice forced Colt’s eyes open. He shook his head. “If you were trying to sneak up on me, you didn’t succeed, Marshal.

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