The Untamed Heart by Kit Gardner

Author:Kit Gardner [Kit Gardner]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459268234
Publisher: Harlequin

Chapter Eleven

About two miles outside of Deadwood Run, Sloan pulled Edgar to a stop in a small grove of trees and dismounted. Beau skidded behind him, chest lathered, sides heaving.

“We can rest them here,” Sloan said, tugging off his gloves.

Willie looked over her shoulder. “They could be following us.”

“Not likely.” Stuffing his gloves into his coat pocket, Sloan slipped Edgar’s reins over his head. “Rather ardent admirers, aren’t they?”

Willie’s head snapped around. “They weren’t admirers. You know that. They were warning us to stop asking questions.” She slipped from her saddle. One hand clutched the rifle in its saddle holster. The other gripped the saddle horn. She stared out over Beau’s back into the endless stretch of moon-washed prairie grass. “They’ve got something to hide-something worth killing for. They killed my family. Now they want to kill me.”

Sloan looped Edgar’s reins around a tree and moved toward her, ignoring the warnings in his mind to keep safe distance. A woman in need didn’t know what she was doing in her vulnerability. And he—true, he considered himself a gentleman incapable of exploiting vulnerabilities to suit his own purposes. But he didn’t think he could maintain his head alone in the moonlight with her.

He stopped at her back. The breeze stirred, lifting her scent to him. His arms ached to wrap around her. “They could have killed both of us on that street and they didn’t,” he said softly. “They just didn’t want us to talk to that cowboy.”

“He was going to kidnap me.”

“Probably for a few hours.”

“But who knew we were going to Deadwood Run?”

“Tom Lansky. Cochran.” He hesitated. “Harkness.” She seemed to draw up stiffly. “Anyone could have seen us ride out.”

She sagged against Beau. And then she turned and curled into Sloan’s arms. Her hat slid from her head. Her hair fell like a thick copper curtain around them. Sloan drew her deep against him, tucking her head under his chin and stroking the curls from her face. He stared over her head and felt her heart thumping madly against his.

“They murdered my family,” she whispered. “And they let my pa take the blame. They let everyone believe he was a fool. They let me believe it, too—I didn’t want to—but I did, Devlin. Part of me believed that he’d blown that mine out of his own reckless need to find silver that was never there. I wanted to blame him for that, for everything he’d done to my mama…for the dreams he stole from my brothers, from me—” Her voice cracked, deepened. “I was the fool.”

“No,” Sloan murmured.

“I’m just going to give it to them…whatever they want. The farm, the mine, the house. It’s lost all its worth to me—” She lifted her eyes and moonlight shimmered in her tears.

Sloan’s chest felt tight. “Listen to yourself.”

“I am. I can’t live like this. I can’t expect Gramps to. I’ll sell out to the next cuss who walks up the road. I mean it—” She blinked and tears spilled to her cheeks and quivered on her lips.

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