Montana Man by Jillian Hart

Author:Jillian Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2000-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Coppery blood filled her mouth. She could smell it in her nose, where pain split a sharp line from cheekbone to cheekbone. She wiped her face with her torn sleeve, and the fabric came away red.

Head wounds bleed a lot. It was nothing serious. That was what Father had said. How could he say something like that?

The carriage jostled hard, and her teeth clacked together. The right-side molars hurt when they touched. Hurt from the blow Lewis had given her.

Lewis is the greatest man I’ve ever known. Father’s words, too. Once she’d believed them. Now she didn’t know how to make him see the truth.

She only knew that she couldn’t marry Lewis. Not even if the wedding date was already set, the gown measured and the church reserved.

She heard the clip-clop of an approaching horse, faster than the others on the road. She twisted around, careful of her injured shoulder, and peered out the window.

Miranda fought her way out of the dream. She woke up struggling for breath, but the fear didn’t seem to overwhelm her. She was warm and not afraid. She struggled to open her eyes.

Bam. Bam. A hard bang rattled the front door in its frame. It wasn’t the wind.

“Let me up, please.” Trey moved, his hard male body scooting out from beneath hers.

No wonder she felt safe. She’d fallen asleep in his arms, lying on his chest. Heat lingered in her body, strange and tingling. Confused, she listened to Trey’s step as he crossed the room, the howling blizzard and the rhythmic pounding at the door.

Fear sluiced over her like a hard rain. Was it a bounty hunter? Had the sheriff been wrong?

Trey threw open the door. A big man’s frame shadowed the threshold, eerily silhouetted by the pitch blackness behind him.

Light flickered as he lit a lantern. Flame illuminated the carved wonder of Trey’s shoulder and the sheriff’s lean, hard face. Snow covered his fur coat, and his voice sounded grim. The lawman stumbled inside, half frozen.

Trey struggled to close the door. “Miranda, I’m heading out. The sheriff says a little girl wandered out of her bed and managed to get outside.”

“In this cold? A small child could freeze to death in minutes.” She slipped out from beneath the warm blanket, worry coiled tight. This time the fear wasn’t for herself. “I’m going with you.”

“It’s too cold. Josie can’t be alone—”

“Sheriff, how is the child?”

“Bad enough.” The lawman shrugged out of his coat and knelt before the fire. He added wood, shivering so hard his teeth rattled.

“Then I’m going, too. Trey, you’ll need all the help you can get.” She climbed to her feet and tried to avoid the sheriff’s curious gaze. “What about Josie?”

“She can’t be left alone.” Trey looked as if he was figuring out how to keep her here and safe.

“I’ll stay with the girl.” The sheriff chattered from the hearth. “It’s going to take me a while to warm up enough to head back home. By then, one of you will be back.

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.