by My Desperado
In the corner of the room Daisy spoke to Finch. “But we need us a mayor. And after you saved the day like you done, turning the hound loose to find Miss Katherine and all. Coo, it was right smart of you. And brave, ‘oldin’ off the crowd so’s Ryland could get free.”
“You think so?” Finch was smiling into Daisy’s face, looking rather dazed with the possibilities ahead.
Shadow lifted a paw to scratch at Katherine’s pant leg. She lowered a hand to stroke his ear, but Ryland was already outside, and she strode after him.
On the boardwalk, Kat was surprised to learn the sun was high. The birds had not ceased to sing, and apparently the earth still revolved on its age-old course.
Blackfeather sat his horse, his expression unreadable and his rifle resting across the pommel of his saddle. Beside him stood Soldier, who lifted his tawny head and nickered at her
“Thank you, Cody.” Kat’s voice was soft, and sounded strange to her own ears.
“I take it you’ve recovered from the deadly woman’s disease.”
Despite everything, Katherine blushed. “It was the best lie I could come up with.”
“Ryland would have been suspicious of anything more conventional. As fabrications go, it wasn’t bad.”
Katherine bit her lip with a scowl, not quite strong enough to address Travis yet. “He’s leaving, isn’t he?”
“You might want to ask him that.”
With a lurch of her heart Kat turned her gaze to Travis. He stood stiff and silent. Above his right brow was a blackish bruise.
“I’d only bring you trouble, lady,” he said. “Trouble and death.” His hands clenched to fists, and for a moment she thought he would say more, but he turned away, striding to Soldier and mounting smoothly.
“Don’t go.” She couldn’t stop the murmured words that conjured up a hazy image of this very scene played out in the dark an eternity ago.
He didn’t speak, but sat very still atop the buckskin stallion.
Present and past seemed to meld and swirl in her mind. “Take me with you,” she said.
Someone had given him a hat. It hid his expression, reminding her very much of a shadowy stranger she had once met.
“I ride alone, lady.”
How many lifetimes ago had she run down this very street after him? And had it truly been she who had caught his stirrup and refused to let go?
“I’m not going to run after you, Ryland.” She raised her voice slightly. “Not this time.”
His back was very straight as he pressed Soldier away from the hitching rail.
Tears filled Katherine’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. She swiped them aside. Something bumped her elbow, and she turned.
Finch stood not two feet away, extending his Colt to her. “Hold it firm, but gentle,” he suggested.
She delayed just a moment, not daring to breathe, before she launched herself from the boardwalk and into the middle of the hard-packed street. “Come back, Ryland!” she yelled.
All eyes watched her, but no one spoke.
“Damn you, Ryland. Come back here.” She raised the Colt. “Or I’ll shoot. I swear I will.”
But Soldier still trotted on.
Katherine bit her lip and aimed. Her first shot spattered dirt not six inches from the buckskin’s hoof.
The stallion snorted, twisting sideways, and Travis spun him about to face Kat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Didn’t mean to scare Soldier,” she said. “But I’m new at shooting men.” She braced her legs wide and raised her brows. “Get down.”
“The hell I will!”
She smiled. “The hell you won’t, Ryland.” Putting her tongue in the corner of her mouth, Kat closed one eye, and cocked. “Sit really still now. I wouldn’t want to hit your horse.”
“Take a hair off his belly, I’ll tan your hide, woman.”
Katherine raised her chin and laughed out loud. “You’d have to come here to do that, Ryland. And I don’t think you have the nerve.”
She fired again. The bullet slammed between Soldier’s front hooves. Travis was out of the saddle and on his feet before they came to a complete halt.
“Woman!” he called out to her. “Me and Soldier been through a lot together.”
“And you and I haven’t?” she challenged, heading toward him.
“I won’t stay with you and ruin your life, lady.”
“The next one goes through your right arm.” She said the words with flat finality. “I swear it. I don’t mind patching you up.”
“Don’t you know better than to shoot a man when the sun’s in your eyes?” Travis scolded. “Ain’t you learned nothing? Ain’t you learned to stay away from me? That death surrounds me?”
“I think life surrounds you,” she yelled back. “Only you’re afraid to admit it. It’s time you faced the facts.”
His eyes narrowed, watching her as she continued to approach.
She was directly in front of him now.
“You’re about one bean short of a full pot,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
He clenched his fists. “And I don’t deserve you.”
“It seems like you make a habit of being wrong.” She smiled slowly. “I’m afraid we deserve each other.”
“I’m not what you need, Katherine. I’m no knight in shining armor. I’m no hero. No preacher.”
“I know exactly what you are, Ryland. I know the man. I know the little boy. And I love them both.”
Travis’s fists clenched as if he were waging a terrible battle in his own mind. “I couldn’t bear to disappoint you, Kat.”
She moved a cautious step nearer, her breath held and her gaze fused to his. “You think I’m not scared? You think this is simple for me?” She shook her head. “Did you ever think maybe I’d disappoint you?”
“Never.” His answer came from somewhere deep inside his chest, and his eyes were hard as steel.
“Then let’s give happiness a try.”
Travis drew a deep breath, watching her through narrowed eyes. “It won’t be no simple ‘try’ for me, lady. If you was ever mine, really mine, I’d never have the strength to let you go.”
“Never?”
He shook his head, saying nothing.
“Then God better save a place in heaven for us, Ryland,” she whispered. “Because I’m already yours.”
For one painful moment Travis hesitated, and then, taking the Colt from her hands, he drew her into his arms and kissed her.
THE END
Discover Lois Greiman
“Dangerously funny stuff.”
—Janet Evanovich
American Historical Romance:
Surrender My Heart
The Gambler
European Historical Romance:
Highland Wolf
Highland Flame
Highland Jewel
Highland Enchantment
Highland Scoundrel
The Lady and the Knight
Bewitching the Highlander
Tempting the Wolf
Taming the Barbarian
Seducing a Princess
The Princess Masquerade
The Princess and Her Pirate
Paranormal Romance:
Charming the Devil
Seduced By Your Spell
Under Your Spell
Contemporary Mystery:
Not One Clue
One Hot Mess
Unmanned
Unscrewed
Unplugged
Unzipped
Uncorked
Praise for Lois Greiman
“Simple sexy sport may be just what the doctor ordered.” -Publishers Weekly
“Lois Greiman is a modern day Dorothy Sayers. Witty as hell, yet talented enough to write like an angel with a broken wing.” -Kinky Friedman, author of Ten Little New Yorkers
“What a marvelous book! A delightful romp, a laugh on every page.” -MaryJanice Davidson, NYT bestselling author of the U
ndead series.
“Amazingly good.” (Top Pick!) -Romantic Times
“L.A. psychologist, Chrissy McMullen is back to prove that boobs, brass, and brains make for one heck of a good time…laugh out loud funny…sassy…clever.” -Mystery Scene
“Excellent!” -Library Journal
“Sexy, sassy, suspenseful, sensational!! Lois Greiman delivers with incomparable style.” -Bestselling author of TO THE EDGE, Cindy Gerard
“Move over Stephanie Plum and Bubbles Yablonsky to make way for Christina McMullen, the newest blue collar sexy professional woman who finds herself in hair raising predicaments that almost get her murdered. The chemistry between the psychologist and the police lieutenant is so hot that readers will see sparks fly off the pages. Lois Greiman, who has written over fifteen delightful romance books, appears to have a great career as a mystery writer also.” -thebestreviews.com
“Ms. Greiman makes a giant leap from historical fiction to this sexy and funny mystery. Bravo! Well done!” -Rendevous
“A fun mystery that will keep you interested and rooting for the characters until the last page is turned.” -Fresh Fiction
“Fast and fun with twists and turns that will keep you guessing. Enjoy the ride!” -Suzanne Enoch, USA Today bestselling author of Flirting with Danger
“Lucy Ricardo meets Dr. Frasier Crane in Lois Greiman’s humorous, suspenseful series. The result is a highly successful tongue-in-cheek, comical suspense guaranteed to entice and entertain.” -Book Loons
About the Author
Born on a North Dakota cattle ranch, Lois Greiman graduated from a high school class of sixty students before moving to Minnesota where she professionally trained and showed Arabian Horses for several years. Since that time she’s been a high fashion model, a fitness instructor, and a veterinary assistant. But an incurable case of writing fever put a stop to all those occupations.
Since selling her first book to Avon in 1992, she has sold 22 romance novels, 5 mysteries and the first in her Witches of Mayfair series.
While caring for three children, fifteen horses, and a menagerie of pets on her small farm in Minnesota, Ms. Greiman writes full time, producing two or three novels a year and garnering much praise from readers and reviewers alike.
Her Highland novels have received Affaire de Couer’s Critic’s Choice Award, Romanitc Times K.I.S.S. Award, and have been nominated for Romance Writer’s of America’s prestigious Rita. Her titles have appeared on Barnes & Nobles’ bestselling romance list and won her the Midwest Fiction Writer’s Rising Star Award.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Discover Lois Greiman
About the Author
