Wanted! by Crooks Pam

Author:Crooks, Pam
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-10-31T05:00:00+00:00

Lark sat on the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. She stared at the Maple River flowing in the distance, numb, unable to bear another look at the lifeless young man lying in the grass behind her.

It was her fault Jo-Jo Sumner was dead. It didn’t matter that Ross’s finger pulled the trigger or that Catfish Jack had bribed him to hunt her down. It didn’t even matter that Jo-Jo wanted her hurt. Or Ross dead. The fault came back to her in the end.

The immensity weighed heavy on her. She’d been all kinds of a fool to think burying the loot from the Muscatine County Treasury would make the consequences of stealing it go away. Now, Jo-Jo was dead before his time. She’d have to account for her part in it.

The grass rustled behind her. Without turning, she knew that Ross approached, paused, stood over her. Watching her. She didn’t have to look at the hard set to his jaw, the grim line of his mouth, to know the condemnation he’d be feeling.

“Lark.”

His low voice penetrated the despair that all but made her physically ill. She didn’t move, couldn’t speak. It was all she could do to keep breathing.

He squatted down behind her, and her skin prickled at his nearness. Odd she’d be so aware of him when the grief burned inside. The warmth of his body soaked into her back, though he’d yet to touch her.

“I’ll find a way to help you,” he said. “I’ll do everything I can.”

Her eyes misted that he wanted to help her at all. Considering the man he was, and all he stood for, she didn’t deserve it. “It should be me lying back there dead.”

“It almost was.”

“He was only a boy, just barely—”

“He was a man, with a man’s gun in his hand, Lark,” Ross said roughly. “How many times did he need to shoot at you before you can understand that?”

She rebelled against his logic. The thinking of a bounty hunter. “I was his age when you shot me at the Turf Club. Remember?”

Ross’s arm slid around her shoulders, pulled her back against him. His jaw pressed at her temple. “Sweet mother, yes.”

His chest rumbled with the admission. Did the memories haunt him still? As they did her?

She shuddered. God, but she wanted him to hold her. To scoop her up into his embrace and surround her with his strength. She had so little left of her own.

Instead, she sat stiff in front of him and curled her fingers around his forearm, satisfying her need for his touch. “I know the glamour of riding with a gang, Ross. I found it exciting. And I felt invincible. All of us did. Jo-Jo felt the same way. I know it.”

“Don’t make excuses for him.”

She twisted toward him. “I’m not.”

“What he did was wrong.”

She let go of Ross’s arm. “He was young and impressionable, like I was at that age.”

“Damn it, Lark!” Abruptly, Ross released her and straightened to his full height in one fluid, angry motion.

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