“You okay, princess?”

Jonah threw the words over his shoulder as he set a swift pace through the trees that lined the creek.

“I’ve been better,” she mumbled against his back. “I’m sorry I’m responsible for getting you shot at during your vacation.”

She shivered as the remnants of icy fear spiraled through her body.

To her stunned amazement, Jonah leaned toward her to kiss her squarely on the mouth. His scorching kiss caused an explosion of her senses and sent hot sensations sizzling through her body. Maddie was still savoring the taste of his full, sensuous lips—and the delicious feelings he aroused—when he withdrew abruptly. Bewildered, she licked her lips and stared goggle-eyed at him.

Then, in a gruff voice that was a direct contradiction to the passionate kiss he’d just bestowed on her, he asked, “Do I have your attention now, princess?”

Praise for Carol Finch

“Carol Finch is known for her lightning-fast, roller-coaster-ride adventure romances that are brimming over with a large cast of characters and dozens of perilous escapades.”

—Romantic Times

Praise for previous titles

Bounty Hunter’s Bride

“Longtime Carol Finch fans…will be more than satisfied.”

—Romantic Times

Call of the White Wolf

“The wholesome goodness of the characters…will touch your heart and soul.”

—Rendezvous

“A love story that aims straight for the heart and never misses.”

—Romantic Times

Texas Bride
Carol Finch

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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This book is dedicated to my husband, Ed,

and our children—Jill, Christie, Kurt, Jeff, Jon

and Shawnna. And to our grandchildren, Kennedy,

Blake, Brooklynn and Livia. Hugs and kisses!

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter One

Coyote Springs, Texas, 1880

J onah Danhill eased his injured left shoulder against the edge of the bathtub and sighed heavily. After spending eight grueling months with his company of Texas Rangers battling Mexican cattle thieves near the Rio Grande, he was more than ready for this hiatus. The gunshot wound he’d sustained had earned him a month of rest and relaxation. Jonah couldn’t remember the last time he didn’t have somewhere he needed to be—immediately. It felt good to have time to himself instead of spending night and day tracking criminals and remaining on constant guard to ensure he didn’t get his head blown off.

He glanced at the mending wound on his arm and smiled wryly. Could’ve been his head—the bullet had come damn close.

Jonah surveyed his bare torso to note the scars that were souvenirs of his death-defying battles against the worst elements of society. He definitely needed to associate with a better class of people. The ones he dealt with on a daily basis kept trying to kill him. But then, he reminded himself as he reached out to grab a cheroot, even regular folks were twitchy about associating with half-breeds.

Arms and legs draped over the rim of a bathtub way too small to accommodate his six-feet-two-inch frame, Jonah lit the cheroot, then took a drink of whiskey. While blowing lopsided smoke rings in the air he assessed his lot in life and decided he was probably destined to ride with the Rangers until a well-aimed bullet caught up with him. There was nothing to do but enjoy and appreciate his recuperation before riding back to the Rio Grande to track down another gang of desperadoes.

This was his life, he mused cynically. He was stuck with it so he might as well accept the fact that his worth was measured by how well he served and defended folks who were incapable of protecting themselves from murderers, rustlers and thieves.

Lifting the whiskey bottle, Jonah took another drink. “To life,” he mumbled sardonically. “Fool that I am, I expect more from it. If the Hereafter isn’t an improvement I’m sure as hell gonna be disappointed.”

Jonah set aside the whiskey, clamped the smoking cigar between his teeth and grabbed the bar of soap. He’d just gotten himself all lathered up when the door flew open and a woman barged in unexpectedly. A wild tangle of curly golden-brown hair billowed around the woman’s face—a bewitching face that flamed with embarrassment when she noticed Jonah’s naked form sprawled in the tub. The private parts of his anatomy were concealed in sudsy water, but everything else was there for her to see. And she looked her fill, he noted.

Although her face blazed like a torch, she shook her finger at him. “Don’t you dare tell the two men chasing after me that I’m here,” she ordered hurriedly.

And then, to Jonah’s amazement, the woman dived under his bed and curled up in a tight ball in the shadowy corner.

“What in the hell—?” Jonah grumbled around the cheroot that was still clamped between his teeth.

An abrupt knock rattled his door. Without awaiting an invitation, two men filled the entrance.

“Shut the damn door!” Jonah barked gruffly. “I’m bathing!”

The two men—cowboys, Jonah presumed—closed the door behind them. Colorful bandannas encircled their necks and rawhide vests covered their faded shirts. Holsters, equipped with well-used six-shooters, rode low on the men’s hips.

“We’re looking for a woman,” one of them announced. “She stole money from us in Fort Worth and we followed her to Coyote Springs.”

“We thought we saw her come in here,” the other added as his assessing gaze panned the crudely furnished room.

“There’s no one here but me, and I plan to keep it that way.” Cautious by nature and by habit, Jonah reached down with his left hand to grab the Colt revolver that was concealed behind the bathtub. During his thirty years of existence he’d learned never to go anywhere or do anything without keeping his pistol within easy reach. “You’re intruding,” he snapped ominously. “Now get out. If I’d wanted an audience while I bathed I’d have sold tickets.”

“Are you sure you haven’t seen…?” The cowboy’s gravelly voice trailed off when Jonah’s pistol suddenly appeared. The deadly click of the trigger filled the silence.

“Out!” Jonah thundered in his most intimidating voice.

He continued to give the cowboys the evil eye until they’d backed from the room and shut the door. When the woman tried to wriggle out from under the bed Jonah made a slashing gesture with his good arm, demanding that she stay put until the two sets of footsteps faded into the distance.

When the coast was clear Maddie Garret came to her feet and willfully battled down the blush that left her face throbbing in rhythm with her pulse. Although her admiring gaze kept drifting up and down Jonah’s brawny body, she jerked her attention to the shaggy black hair that framed his rugged face. His bronzed skin, high cheekbones and chiseled features indicated Indian heritage, but his eyes were a startling shade of green and they showed curiosity and mistrust. It was difficult to maintain her composure while he kept his six-shooter pointed directly at her chest.

Six months earlier Maddie would have turned tail and run from such an awkward situation, and likely burst into tears after such a harrowing day. But she’d been tested repeatedly and forced to face one difficult situation after another. In addition, she was in need of immediate assistance and this man was the only person she could come remotely close to trusting.

“I’m dreadfully sorry about this interruption,” she blurted out. “But I need your help.”

He snorted and narrowed those intense green eyes at her. The smoke from his cigar drooped around his dark head like a fallen halo. This hard-edged law officer didn’t seem the least bit receptive or interested in her problems. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected from a member of the legendary Texas Rangers, but Jonah Danhill wasn’t it. Even unclothed he looked invincible, intimidating and unapproachable. Yet he was the most magnificent study of masculinity that she’d ever laid eyes on and she couldn’t help but be fascinated by him.

“My name is Maddie Garret,” she said, introducing herself nervously. “And I most certainly did not steal money from those two men. They are trying to steal money from me!”

Her comment drew very little reaction from the powerfully built man sprawled in the tub. When Maddie’s betraying gaze darted to the sudsy water that concealed his hips, her face went up in flames—again. Damnation, it was humiliating enough to plead her cause, but pleading to a naked man whose physical attributes kept distracting her—to the extreme—was even worse. She couldn’t help but admire the rippling muscles, sleek contours and dark skin that glistened with water droplets.

Maddie gave herself a mental slap for gawking, grabbed a quick breath and hurried on. “I heard you were a Texas Ranger so I came to find you, hoping for your protection.” She shifted uneasily from one foot to the other and stared over his head—anywhere except at that incredibly masculine body. “The hotel proprietor refused to give me your room number because he knew that you didn’t want to be disturbed.” Her gaze darted to Jonah momentarily, then skittered away once more. “With those two men hot on my heels I was frantic to find a safe haven—and I needed to find one fast. I told the proprietor that I was your wife and if anyone was allowed to disturb you then it definitely should be me.”

Jonah’s dark brows nearly rocketed off his forehead. He sucked in his breath so abruptly that he choked on cigar smoke. “My wife?” he wheezed incredulously.

“I was desperate,” she said righteously. “I made a hasty trip from my West Texas ranch to Fort Worth to request a loan against my trust fund. My inheritance won’t be available until my twenty-first birthday. I can’t wait another three months to gain control of the money, because my younger sister has been kidnapped and she’s being held for ransom.”

“Kidnapped?” Jonah parroted as he surveyed the attractive female standing before him.

She reminded him of a pagan goddess in living flesh. Her pale yellow gown accentuated her feminine curves and swells. Golden highlights glinted in her hair. Amber shimmered in her thick-lashed eyes. The texture of her skin reminded him of honey. Jonah had seen a few strikingly attractive women in his time, but this female radiated beauty, spirit and determination, and his body involuntarily responded to the appealing sight of her. Jonah was damn glad the sudsy water concealed his stirring arousal.

Although it was obvious that Maddie was uncomfortable carrying on a conversation with a naked man, she seemed to be on an unswerving mission to present her side of the story.

“Yes, kidnapped,” Maddie confirmed as she began to pace restlessly. “Christina is fifteen years old and I’m sure she must be terrified by this ordeal. Worse, she is uncommonly attractive and I fear she will be set upon by the band of cattle thieves who spirited her away.”

Maddie halted abruptly and glanced in his direction. “Evidence indicates that renegade Comanches have escaped from their reservation and have returned to their former homeland to raid, rustle and terrorize ranchers. If I don’t pay the ransom within a week I might never see Christina again. I’m in urgent need of your help.”

Jonah inwardly winced when she mentioned the Comanche. Fifteen years earlier he had lived with his father’s people in West Texas—before the land was taken from the Indians and opened for settlement. Because of his bitter past Jonah had refused to take arms against his people in that part of the state. Aware of his mixed heritage, Jonah’s commander had not forced him to patrol the area. Instead, Jonah had been sent to subdue white outlaws and Mexican desperadoes who stole Texas cattle and drove them south of the border.

The very last thing Jonah wanted was to revisit his old stomping grounds and stir up bittersweet memories.

“Not interested,” he said abruptly. “I’m in town to recuperate from an injury.” He directed her attention to his mending shoulder. “I’m taking a long-awaited furlough. You need to speak with the sheriff who has jurisdiction in the county where your ranch is located.”

Her luminous eyes threw off molten sparks. “I have to cross a wild frontier, carrying a considerable amount of money, to even get the opportunity to ask for the sheriff’s assistance,” she countered irritably. “Reaching Fort Worth unscathed was difficult enough. Returning home will be worse because I’ll have those two thieves breathing down my neck.”

“If they are actually thieves.” Jonah smirked skeptically. “I’ve been around long enough to know better than to be taken in by a pretty face and a wild tale of kidnapping, rustling and robbery.” He rinsed the soap from his arms and chest, then puffed on his cheroot. “Now, make yourself scarce, Miz Garret. I’d like to get dressed.”

She tilted her chin to a defiant angle, braced her fists on her shapely hips and said, “I am not leaving this room until you promise to help me rescue my sister from death—or worse. You have an obligation as a ranger to aid and protect citizens in need.”

She was stubborn and determined, he’d give her that. But who was to say which side of the law she was really on?

“Lady,” he retaliated gruffly, “I don’t get paid enough to go haring off to West Texas with a mending arm. Besides, I’ve learned to take nothing at face value. Why should I protect a woman who has been accused of theft? And why should I believe a female who is probably feeding me a wild tale to prey on my sympathy?”

“Because I’m an innocent victim! I will pay you to escort me home and deliver the ransom,” she insisted sharply.

His bathwater was getting cold, but her temper was getting hot, he noticed as she glowered, trying to scare him into submission. Before he could reject her request again—and he certainly intended to—she flounced on his bed, jerked up her skirt and tugged at the hem.

Jonah gaped at her well-shaped bare legs and silky skin for a long, appreciative moment before he forced his attention to the bundles of paper currency she had stitched into her skirt. He nearly swallowed his cigar when she stamped over to the tub, grabbed his hand and slapped a bundle of money onto his palm.

“It appears that the only way to gain your trust is to pay you up front,” she muttered angrily. She dropped the remainder of the bundles atop the stack in his hand. “I am entrusting my inheritance to you, as well. If I wind up dead—and with two thieves on my trail that is certainly a possibility—I expect you to rescue my sister. Surely even the meager amount of sympathy and conscience you possess won’t allow you to ignore the welfare and safety of a terrified girl!”

When Maddie whirled toward the door, Jonah reflexively came to his feet. “Wait just a damn minute, lady. I’ve been saving lives left and right for a decade—”

She whipped her head around—to fling a sassy retort, no doubt—and saw Jonah standing there in all his splendor and glory. Her face exploded with color as she gasped for breath, shrieked, then lunged for the door.

Her departure was as spectacular as her grand entrance had been. She was gone as quickly as she had intruded into his room and into his life. Thank goodness.

Jonah chuckled in amusement. If he’d known that unintentionally exposing himself would have gotten rid of her so quickly he would have stood up earlier.

Dripping wet, he stared down at the small fortune curled in his fist. If handing him money was supposed to be a gesture of faith, he still wasn’t buying it. He was a man who did not trust easily. Those who did usually wound up dead and buried. For all he knew Maddie Garret was one hell of an actress, willing to do and say anything to ensure her protection and his cooperation. Even if it meant giving a melodramatic performance and leaving him holding what could very well be stolen money.

“Damn.” Jonah scowled. “And all I had asked of the first day of my recuperation was a nap, a bath and a meal that didn’t resemble trail rations.”

While it was true that finding sexual gratification was also on his agenda, he hadn’t expected to have a supposed wife barrel into his room. Not that he would mind a tumble with that disturbingly attractive female, but he’d be damned if he’d pay for it by being manipulated, betrayed and maybe murdered in his sleep. Maddie Garret, he predicted, would bring him nothing but trouble. Jonah had endured more than his fair share of it, thank you very much.

He hurriedly dried off, then pulled a clean set of clothes from his saddlebag. He rolled his dirty laundry around the bundles of money, crammed them in his leather pouch and stuffed it under the mattress.

For a few moments he contemplated the impulsive urge to turn his back on his profession, ride off to buy himself a few acres in an isolated area of Texas and avoid the complications of so-called civilization.

It was a tempting thought.

After a decade of battling cutthroats and inclement weather he was burned out and fed up with being a guardian angel for folks who wouldn’t give him the time of day if he weren’t saving their incompetent necks.

Jonah had volunteered to join the Texas Rangers for two reasons—one idealistic and one realistic. Given his mixed heritage, it wasn’t easy to find work, and the Rangers were anxious to recruit sharpshooting survivalists who had few obligations that tied them down. In addition, Jonah had been taught to respect the fearless battalions of Rangers who had become the epitome of law enforcement on the frontier.

It was said that Rangers could ride like Mexicans, track like Indians, shoot like mountain men and fight like the very devil. The Mexicans referred to them as Tejanos Diablos—Texas devils—and the Comanches held a grudging respect for them.

When Jonah was a young warrior of twelve his father had led him through some rugged terrain and told him to observe the impressive tactics of the Rangers. Jonah had watched and learned that day when outnumbered Rangers had pitted themselves against ruthless outlaws that preyed on Indians and whites alike. To his amazement, the courageous Rangers had won a decisive battle. The small battalion of hard-bitten, eagle-eyed crack shots had stared death in the face with fearless defiance and charged full steam ahead.

“Rangers don’t fight like white men,” Jonah’s father had said. “More like Comanches. They make dangerous enemies. Never forget that.”

The incident had made a strong and lasting impression on Jonah.

Jonah strapped on his holster, tucked a dagger in his boot—and one in his shirtsleeve—and wondered as he had before if his departed father would be pleased to know his son had become a Texas devil. For certain, his father would be relieved to know that Jonah had not been confined to the hated reservation, forced to depend on the army to feed and clothe him, and left with his pride in tatters.

Guilt slammed into him, as it did on too many occasions. He was free to choose his profession, while his oppressed people were left to the mercy of the government and the army.

Frustration and resentment put him in a sour mood. Jonah strode over to chug a drink of whiskey. He couldn’t help his vanquished people any more than he could change his mixed heritage. Life, he’d discovered, wasn’t a damn bit fair. But a man had to play the hand fate dealt him. Jonah had cheated death several times and counted himself lucky to be in one piece—more or less.

He stepped into the hall and locked the door behind him. If he’d thought to do that before he’d trudged wearily up the steps and collapsed in exhaustion, he could have avoided Maddie Garret’s unwanted intrusion. Now he was stuck with her money. He was certain he hadn’t seen the last of that animated and highly articulate female.

The answer was still no, he decided. Maddie could find herself another guardian and protector. Jonah inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he ambled down the hall. Maybe a decent meal would relieve his black mood. He’d be damned if he’d spend this hiatus sulking, wishing there was more to life than what he’d gotten. For sure, he was going to find a willing female who cared more about a few moments of pleasure than she did about the color of his skin. As long as the room was dark it didn’t matter who appeased a man or woman’s needs. Only that both walked away satisfied.

He set his mind on forgetting that the feisty Maddie Garret existed, but even as he crossed the street to enter the barbershop, a beguiling vision loomed large in his mind. He wondered where she was, wondered if she was concocting another fantastic tale of woe to feed some unsuspecting pigeon that might be lured in by her arresting beauty and her sharp intelligence.

She was probably devising a scheme to steal more money to add to the stash of cash she’d thrust at Jonah for safekeeping. If Maddie Garret turned out to be a shyster and con artist, he would derive tremendous pleasure in herding her to jail.

Furthermore, he didn’t approve of the way his body reacted to her, didn’t appreciate the immediate physical attraction. It made him feel vulnerable and defensive. She was a distraction of the worst sort. Jonah refused to get involved because he doubted she was telling him the whole truth—and nothing but.

The sooner she left town the happier Jonah would be.

Maddie crawled beneath the loose boards near the foundation of the livery stable, then sank down beside her satchel. Legs drawn up, she rested her elbows on her knees and covered her flushed face with her hands. Seeing Jonah Danhill rise from the tub like a mystical Greek god had shattered her composure completely. She was certain the sight of his muscular body would be emblazoned on her mind for all eternity.

How could she ever gaze at him again without remembering the way he looked naked? But she had to confront him again, because she had left the ransom money in his care.

Inhaling a bracing breath, Maddie glanced around the shadowy confines of the livery. She suspected she wasn’t the first unfortunate soul who had taken refuge here.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since she had stepped down from the coach and dined at the crude stage station west of Fort Worth the previous afternoon. The meal had been inedible and the companionship lousy. The threat of those two men hovering around like vultures, waiting to separate her from her money, had kept her in a nervous state of constant alert.

Maddie marshaled her resolve by reminding herself that her fear and frustration were nothing compared to the frightening nightmare Christina was enduring. Her sister was all the family she had left in this world, and despite the disheartening obstacles in her path, Maddie vowed to stand strong.

Even while the noble thought blazed through her mind, she felt her body slump in exhaustion. She had been operating on raw nerves for days on end. It would have been so easy to throw up her hands in defeat and fall apart, right where she sat. But her concern for Christina refused to allow her to give up this crusade. Her sister was counting on her.

Hold your head up high, daughter, her father used to say. Garrets don’t mope around with their chins scraping their chests. No one promised life would be easy. You just keep placing one foot in front of the other and don’t let the troubles that come your way get you down.

The quiet voice that whispered in her heart usually provided inspiration, but today it brought only tears and a lost, empty feeling that tugged at her soul. Maddie sniffled, wiped the tears from her cheeks, then curled up in the straw. Sighing heavily, she closed her eyes and forced herself to unwind emotionally and allow her tense body to relax.

After giving herself an hour to rest, and ensuring that gathering darkness would work to her advantage, Maddie eased between the dangling boards and slithered from the livery. Clinging to the shadows, she stepped onto the boardwalk to return to the hotel to confront Jonah again. She intended to leave town at daybreak, and that bullheaded Texas Ranger was going to be riding horseback beside her, she vowed resolutely. He could come willingly—or not. His choice. But he was definitely accompanying her to West Texas to save Christina.

Maddie recoiled in alarm when an unseen hand snaked out to clamp over the lower portion of her face. She was jerked roughly back against a foul-smelling body.

“Gotcha,” one of the scoundrels sniggered in her ear.

Helpless frustration hammered through Maddie when her captor hooked his free arm around her waist, left her feet dangling in midair and carted her into the alley. She battled for all she was worth to escape imminent disaster, quickly discovering that it wasn’t fear that ruled her chaotic emotions, it was fury. She struck her heels against the man’s shins and bit a chunk out of his hand, forcing him to release her.

Once she was free to snatch a quick breath, Maddie screamed bloody murder, ducked her head and plowed into the second man, who stood directly in her escape route to the boardwalk. She was not going down without a fight, she promised herself as the top of her head collided with the man’s soft underbelly.

Maddie darted sideways when he swore foully and stumbled over his feet. She thought she was home free as she sprinted toward the street, but his partner tackled her from behind and sent her pitching forward in the dirt. Arms flailing wildly, Maddie kicked like a mule and screamed again at the top of her lungs. Expecting to be clubbed on the head with the butt end of a pistol any moment now, she flopped this way and that, hoping someone would hear her shouts of alarm and come to her rescue.

And sure enough, a hard thump connected with her skull, causing a starburst of color to explode around her. Maddie wilted in the dirt.

The world spun out of focus and swallowed her in silence.

Chapter Two

J onah was in the restaurant, savoring a bite of juicy steak that had been cooked to his specifications, when he heard a feminine shriek in the distance. Although the other customers merely glanced curiously toward the door, Jonah drew his Colt and was on his feet in a single bound.

The second shriek put Jonah in a dead run, and he followed the sound to an alley that was two doors down from the restaurant. The instant he spotted the downed female being dragged deeper into the shadows by two men, Jonah charged like a one-man army. He sent one of the men to his knees with a well-aimed kick to the groin. A doubled fist to the jaw left the other spinning like a top before he collapsed in the dirt.

Jonah reached down to grab a handful of Maddie’s soiled gown and hoisted her up beside him. When her legs folded up like a tent, he curled his injured arm around her waist to lend support. Despite the pain that was throbbing like a son of a bitch in his shoulder he gave her a shake to rouse her to consciousness.

Big mistake, Jonah realized. She came to, fighting to escape. “Hold still, damn it,” he growled. “It’s just me.”

“About time you showed up,” she muttered as she sagged heavily against him.

“You’re welcome,” he snapped sarcastically.

The feel of her full breasts meshed to his chest and her lower abdomen pressing against his hip were vivid reminders of his unwanted response to this troublesome woman. Hell and damnation, she affected him worse than a rattlesnake bite.

Despite the ache in his left arm, he didn’t nudge Maddie away as he should have, just steadied her against him. He vented his frustration on the two men, who were staring warily at the speaking end of his Colt.

“If you boys lay your hands on my wife again I’ll blow them off at the wrists,” he snarled—and wondered why he had claimed she was his wife. Dealing with Maddie had obviously made him crazy. It was the only explanation.

“Your wife?” the men echoed in unison.

“That’s right,” Jonah confirmed. “If you go near her there will be hell to pay. Do we understand each other?”

Both men nodded, then one of them said, “But Maddie is still a thief and she has our money. We’ll let the town marshal deal with her if she doesn’t give it back!”

The familiar use of her name and the challenging remark triggered another round of uncertainties in Jonah. Maybe Maddie was the world’s biggest con artist and she had stolen their money, but these two rascals weren’t going to drag her off by her heels, search her person and spitefully use her to appease their lust. No matter who or what she really was Jonah refused to stand aside and see her mauled.

“It is not their money,” Maddie muttered as Jonah drew her backward toward the street. “I don’t know who they are. I swear it. They are nothing but clever—”

When her voice evaporated and she slumped against him, Jonah grimaced at the excessive pressure on his injured arm. He glanced down to see Maddie’s head loll against his chest and her uncoiled hair cascade over his wrist. She’d fainted, he realized. And most likely at her convenience.

Muttering at the constant inconvenience this female caused him, he scooped her up in his arms and pivoted toward the hotel. The bystanders who had congregated in the alley parted like a curtain as he carried her across the street.

Jonah made the mistake of glancing down into Maddie’s ashen face when he stepped into the lighted hotel lobby. She reminded him of a fairy princess who only needed a prince’s kiss to revive her. Well, she might be akin to a princess—who knew for sure?—but he sure as hell was no Prince Charming. He was not going to yield to the temptation of kissing her because he didn’t want to know how she tasted. He was afraid he’d like it too much.

“My God, what happened to your wife?” Charley Halbert, the hotel proprietor, asked in concern.

“Too much excitement. She fainted.” Jonah inclined his head toward the door. “Would you trot across the street to pick up my unfinished dinner?” He stared pensively at Maddie, wondering if she’d taken time to eat while she was on the run. As an afterthought he added, “And order a steak for my wife, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure thing, Mr. Danhill. Always glad to help a Ranger, ever since a Ranger helped me out of a scrape once.” Charley darted off while Jonah ascended the steps.

He resituated Maddie in his good arm and retrieved the key from his pocket. She roused with a wobbly moan as he carried her into the room to deposit her on his bed. He watched her blink a couple of times to get her bearings before those mesmerizing, tawny-colored eyes settled on him. She appraised his faded black shirt, breeches and scuffed boots before she gazed at his face.

“You got your hair cut,” she said sluggishly.

“Thanks for noticing. You fainted. When was the last time you ate?” Jonah didn’t trust himself to sit beside her on the bed, so he propped himself against the wall.

Maddie levered herself onto an elbow, raked the disheveled tendrils of golden hair away from her face and said, “Yesterday. And thank you for coming to my rescue. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful earlier. Being mauled, tackled and pounded on the head made me testy.”

Jonah was on the move in one second flat to determine if she did indeed have a knot on her head or if she was using the ploy to gain his sympathy. Sure enough, his fingertips skimmed over a noticeable swelling. Switching directions, he grabbed the pitcher from the commode, dribbled water onto a towel and placed the compress against her head. She winced slightly at the contact, then brushed his hand away to hold the wet cloth against her injury.

She stared him squarely in the eye again. “Why did you tell those men that I was your wife?”

“Damned if I know,” Jonah replied flippantly. “It just sort of popped out of my mouth. It seemed a legitimate reason to demand that they keep their distance from you.”

She cocked her head and studied him for another long, contemplative moment. “You don’t like me very much, do you, Mr. Danhill?”

“It’s Jonah. And no, I don’t,” he said candidly. “But don’t take it personally. I don’t like anyone very much.”

His plainspoken comment caused the corners of her Cupid’s bow mouth to curve upward, and Jonah felt another unwanted jolt of attraction sizzling through his unruly body.

“I’m not particularly fond of men in general,” she admitted. “Most of them seem to harbor ulterior motives. It has been my experience not to trust what they say until I see what they are willing to do, and determine how far they are willing to go to get what they want.”

Jonah decided Maddie’s insight was right on the mark. But natural suspicion made him wonder if this quick-thinking female was simply trying to get on his good side by agreeing with his wary approach to life.

“Half of the men I know try to flatter me while they court me for my inheritance. The other half seem intent on stealing it outright,” she added, then frowned curiously at him. “My money is in a safe place, I hope?”

“You’re lying on top of it,” Jonah informed her. “Whether it’s yours or not, I stuffed it under the mattress.”

She got that determined look on her face again as she leaned toward him. “I am telling you the truth. Didn’t I own up to the fact right off that I lied to the hotel proprietor in order to enter your room?”

Jonah scoffed. “An honest liar. That’s a new one.” He flashed her a sardonic glance. “My faith in your integrity and sincerity is growing by leaps and bounds.”

She jerked up her delicate chin and thrust back her shoulders in offended dignity. Jonah’s attention immediately dropped to the full swells of her breasts and he cursed himself inventively for becoming distracted.

“Fibbing to the hotel manager is the only thing I have lied to you about. And that is the truth,” she declared. “I am the innocent victim here!”

“I’ve heard the same claim of innocence from every lying, cheating criminal I’ve hauled to jail,” he said cynically.

“I am not a criminal,” Maddie maintained. “How many times do I have to tell you that my sister and I are victims before you believe it?” She huffed out a frustrated breath. “If you weren’t so pigheaded you might be able to figure that out…!”

Her voice trailed off as she grabbed her aching head. She continued in a softer tone. “Name your price for escorting me home, Jonah. In addition to paying you in cold hard cash I’ll even promise to be nice to you during the journey.”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest and stared her down. “Given that decent folks are rarely nice to me—except when they want something—and the scoundrels I encounter curse me to hell and back, that might serve as incentive. But I’m not inclined to tramp through West Texas.”

Her perfectly arched brows lifted quizzically and she smiled impishly at him. “Why not? Don’t you like the scenery?”

“I like it fine. It’s just that—”

An abrupt knock rattled the door. Jonah strode over to retrieve the tray of food Charley provided.

“I’ll settle up with you later,” Jonah promised as the man craned his neck around the door to check on Maddie’s condition.

“Glad to see you’re feeling better,” Charley said compassionately. “I know Mr. Danhill was dreadfully worried about you.”

Jonah rolled his eyes in annoyance while Charley poured on the fatherly charm and Maddie left him basking in a radiant smile. Hard-hearted though he was, even Jonah felt himself responding to Maddie’s dazzling expression.

Definitely trouble, he reminded himself. If a man wasn’t careful and vigilant he could become intoxicated by those whiskey-colored eyes and bewitched by that smile.

Jonah planned to be damn careful and vigilant.

When Charley exited, Maddie levered herself upright to dive into her meal like a woman who had been on prison rations for days on end. She was halfway through her steak before she remembered Jonah had been about to tell her why he found West Texas distasteful.

“Why don’t you like my part of the country?” she asked curiously.

He shrugged impossibly broad shoulders, swallowed a bite of fried potatoes and said, “Long story.”

Exasperated, Maddie tossed him a withering glance. “I realize you are a man of few words, but you’ll have to do better than that.”

“Why do you care?” he asked between bites.

“Because I’ll be traveling with you,” she said matter-of-factly.

He glared at her. “I have not agreed to go.”

Maddie smiled confidently. “But you will. You didn’t want to rescue me from those thieves, either, but you did because that’s simply the kind of man you are.”

Jonah set aside his fork and glared flaming arrows at her. “Look, lady—”

“Maddie,” she corrected, flashing another charming smile.

He ignored that. “I’m no do-gooder. I do what I’m paid to do, which is fight outlaws and renegades. I have personal reasons for avoiding your part of the country. I don’t want to discuss them, I’m not going and that’s that.”

Maddie finished her meal, set aside her plate and surged to her feet. The room careened around her momentarily, but she inhaled a steadying breath, then reached beneath the mattress to locate the money. She felt Jonah’s intense gaze drilling into her, but he said not one word as she sorted the banknotes from his clothing. She noticed the moccasins among his belongings. A reminder of the past he’d been forced to leave behind, no doubt.

She stuffed the money inside the bodice of her soiled dress—save a few dollars to compensate Jonah for the meal and his assistance. Resolved to the inevitable, she pivoted toward the door. “Goodbye, Jonah. I hope your shoulder heals without complication.”

“Where are you going?” he demanded gruffly as she clamped her hand around the doorknob.

“Out of your life.” She tilted her head at a dignified angle. “I have obviously misjudged you. My mistake. The past six months have taught me to cut my losses and get on with life. I have learned that I have no one to depend on but myself. Dealing with you has reinforced what I already knew and simply allowed myself to forget while facing all this emotional turmoil.” She drew herself up, inhaled a determined breath and said, “I will handle this myself, as usual. Rest assured that I won’t inconvenience you again.”

And then she walked from the room and left him sitting on his bed with his plate on his lap.

Maddie had finally accepted the fact that she was wasting precious time trying to elicit Jonah’s cooperation. She had pleaded, demanded and even tried to charm him. Nothing had worked on that stubborn, ill-mannered, suspicious Ranger.

Time was of the essence and she had no choice but to gather her carpetbag, buy a horse from the livery and race home. If she departed during the night she might even gain a head start on those two ruffians.

For certain, she wasn’t waiting for the afternoon stage, knowing those two riders would follow closely behind it, awaiting the chance to attack and divest her of the money. Furthermore, Maddie was not going to risk involving other innocent victims in her problems. There was no telling how many stage passengers might be accidentally injured because of her. She couldn’t bear the thought of carrying more guilt on her conscience. She had plenty of emotional burdens trying to drag her down as it was.

Maddie made a quick transaction with the owner of the livery, who kept sleeping quarters near the front door of the barn. Within a few minutes she had a horse, saddle and tack at her disposal. Leading the mount around the barn, she wiggled between the dangling boards to fetch her satchel. She nearly leaped out of her skin when she emerged to see a looming shadow off to her left. She shrank back so quickly that she conked her tender head on the board.

“Ouch!” She hissed in pain.

“Nice accommodations.” Jonah smirked as he reached down to assist her to her feet. “You do travel in style, princess.”

She could have sworn she heard a hint of amusement in that deep baritone voice. Mr. Hard-hearted Texas Ranger had a sense of humor? She wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t heard it with her own ears.

“Kinda makes a man wonder if you’re the wealthy heiress you’ve implied that you are.”

Ah, the sarcasm was back. Now that she recognized.

Gathering her dignity around her like a fur cloak, Maddie tied her satchel behind the saddle and pulled herself astride the horse. She deeply regretted that Jonah wouldn’t be accompanying her, but that adage stating that you couldn’t lead a jackass where it didn’t want to go certainly applied. Mule-headed Danhill had only followed her this far so he could harass her one last time for good measure.

Nudging the mare, Maddie veered around the barn and circled through the small residential area behind Main Street to reach the trodden path west. Behind her she heard the clip-clop of hooves and she twisted in the saddle to see Jonah sitting atop a horse that looked as black as the devil’s heart. Of course, it was dark, so she couldn’t be positively certain the horse was solid black, but that’s just the way she would have pictured Jonah’s mount—coal-black in color, irascible in disposition and as independent as a polecat.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” she commented when she reached the open road.

“I’m not. Just checking to see if this is another of your spectacular exits to milk my sympathy,” he said as he eased his mount up beside her. “Did you pack trail rations?”

“No, I’ll chew on my fingernails if I get hungry,” she said smartly.

“No canteen of water?”

“I’ll suck on a pebble if I get thirsty,” she assured him aloofly.

“Are you armed?” Jonah asked as she urged her mount into an easy canter.

“Yes, I can shoot off my mouth with lightning speed,” she insisted. “Now go away. I’m sure that soft mattress at the hotel is calling to you. You’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t like me and don’t believe me.”

Maddie was inordinately pleased and enormously relieved that he continued to ride beside her rather than reversing direction. She felt as if the heavy yoke of responsibility and desperation that had been bearing down on her shoulders had eased slightly.

Two miles later she glanced at Jonah and asked, “What made you change your mind?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out,” he said sourly.

She smiled in the darkness as a sense of comfort and satisfaction stole over her, easing her nervous apprehension somewhat. Jonah hadn’t turned his back on her, after all. Despite his surly disposition, he had a good heart.

“Don’t get cocky,” he warned darkly. “I’m not here because I’m starting to like you or because I believe your story. I’m only here to see that you complete the first leg of your journey without mishap.”

“So…” she said, biting back a pleased grin “…you are going no farther than Fort Griffin?”

“That’s right. After that you’re on your own. I’m only doing this for the money. So don’t think you can gallop off without paying for my escort service.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Maddie frowned, bemused, when she realized her manner of speech had become as condensed as his. She would have preferred that something else about him might rub off on her. Such as his impressive fighting and survivalist skills. Fortunately, she was no slouch when it came to riding. Her father had taught both of his daughters to be accomplished equestrians.

The thought of her father melted the smile from her lips and caused the empty ache to expand in her chest. Six months ago Maddie hadn’t been overwhelmed with responsibility and hadn’t had a care in the world, except for dodging marriage proposals that didn’t interest her.

Now her father was gone, cattle rustlers were depleting ranch profits and Christina had been snatched up while she’d been taking an afternoon ride on her favorite mount. The world had caved in on Maddie, testing her spirit, her emotions and her strength of character. She was almost afraid to ask herself what else could possibly go wrong, for fear that it would sound like a defiant challenge and more tormenting blows she’d be dealt would send her reeling.

The prospect that her life might get even worse before it got better was a depressing thought that caused Maddie to slump in the saddle. In addition, the dull throb in her skull tempted her to close her eyes and catch a catnap. Willfully, she thrust back her shoulders and tilted her chin. She was not stopping to rest until she’d placed several miles between herself and those scoundrels.

A few miles later Maddie felt her eyelids drooping and her rigid posture sagging. She was exhausted, and the adrenaline high that had sustained her the past two days was fizzling out. Despite her firm resolve, her chin bobbed against her chest and she fell asleep in the saddle.

Jonah grabbed Maddie’s arm the split second before she cartwheeled to the ground. Although this headstrong female annoyed him to no end, he reluctantly admired her determination—misguided though it probably was. With more gentleness than he realized he possessed, he eased Maddie’s limp body forward until she was draped over the saddle, her cheek resting against the horse’s neck. Keeping a watchful eye on her, Jonah led her horse off the beaten path toward a creek lined with cottonwood and willow trees.

Leaving Maddie where she slept, he unrolled his pallet. When he pulled her from the saddle she didn’t wake up, just cuddled against him and sighed against his neck. The whisper of her breath was like a lover’s caress, and Jonah inwardly cursed when his contrary body responded and his imagination tried to run away with him.

Thoroughly aggravated at himself, Jonah laid Maddie on the pallet and covered her with the quilt. If he had been a gentleman he would have bedded down on the ground a respectable distance away. But he was a practical kind of man who saw no need to freeze his tail off for the sake of propriety. Just because he intended to share the makeshift bed with Little Miss I’ll-Go-It-Alone-If-You-Won’t-Help-Me Garret didn’t mean they were going to gain intimate knowledge of one another.

No, Jonah promised himself. He was not going to become physically or emotionally involved with this woman, even if his male anatomy was cursing his vow of abstinence.

At Fort Griffin, he planned to hire a guide to take her deeper into what had once been the Comanchería. If she got herself in trouble on the far side of the fort, then she was someone else’s problem. Jonah was going to head back to Coyote Springs, check into the hotel and hibernate like a grizzly until he was functioning at full capacity once again.

After unsaddling the horses and canvassing the campsite Jonah eased beneath the quilt. It occurred to him a few minutes later that he had never officially spent the night with a woman. Yes, he had shared a bed for an hour or two, but never actually slept beside a temporary lover. That implied a commitment Jonah was not willing to make.

He cast a quick glance at Maddie’s shadowed face and told himself that the only commitment he felt toward his pretend wife was to get her out of his hair—for good.

Wife? Jonah smirked caustically as he made the very practical and sensible decision to cuddle closer to Maddie to share warmth. Mrs. Jonah Danhill? That’d be the day, Jonah thought as he drifted off to sleep.

Serenaded by chirping birds, Maddie came awake the next morning to see the first colorful rays of dawn spearing through the overhanging trees. Propping herself on her elbow, she glanced sideways to see her mare tethered to a tree. The dark horse and its rider were nowhere to be seen.

Disappointed but hardly surprised, Maddie presumed Jonah had changed his mind about escorting her. His reluctance had been obvious in the way he behaved and spoke to her. And he had made no bones about the fact that he didn’t like her or trust her. Jonah Danhill was nothing if not plainspoken and straightforward.

Pushing herself upright, Maddie raked her tangled hair from her face, then stared longingly toward the stream. She needed a refreshing bath to wash the fuzzy cobwebs from her brain and a clean set of clothes to restore her sense of self.

The instant she sank into the stream a sigh of relief tumbled from her lips. She immersed herself completely, allowing the water to work its magic on her stiff neck and sore muscles. She allowed herself a few precious moments of pleasure by swimming in midstream before she brushed the matting of wet hair from her eyes and headed to shore.

Maddie gasped in shock when she noticed the towering figure on the creek bank. She instinctively sank down until nothing but her head appeared above the surface of the water. Wiping her eyes, she recognized Jonah—and not, thank goodness, one of the two men who were anxious to part her from her money.

“I thought you went back to town,” she said awkwardly.

He frowned curiously. “Why would you think that?”

His gaze was so intense that Maddie squirmed, wondering if the clear water made it as easy for him to appraise her as she had assessed him when he’d stood up in his bathtub. Modesty might not be a problem for him, but it was for her. She didn’t gad about unclothed in front of anyone.

“Why would you think I left for good?” he prompted impatiently. “Answer the question.”

“First off,” she said, reeling in her wandering thoughts, “you don’t like me. Secondly, I’m interfering with your vacation. I simply presumed that you’d changed your mind.”

“No, I went to fetch breakfast.” He gestured toward the small campfire, where a rabbit roasted on a spit. “I don’t have all day, princess. Come eat so we can hit the road.”

Maddie raised her arm and flicked her wrist in a shooing motion. “If you’re in a hurry, then turn your back so I can come ashore.”

One thick black brow arched and he grinned scampishly. “No. You’ve seen me naked. Turnabout is fair play.”

“Very amusing,” she muttered. “If I thought for one minute that I could shock you as speechless as you shocked me, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I’m willing to bet the ransom money that nothing shocks or surprises you. And if this is some kind of test to determine my integrity or my habit of prancing around naked in front of men, you might as well know that I don’t. Ever. You aren’t going to be the first, either.”

Maddie was pretty sure that it had been a test of some sort, because Jonah stared at her for a long, pensive moment before he turned and walked uphill to the campfire. She glided sideways to come ashore near the bush where she had draped her clean clothes. Dressed in the riding breeches, boots and linen blouse that she’d hurriedly purchased in town—when it had become apparent that she’d have to make a hasty ride on horseback to outrun the two men—she hiked up to join Jonah.

When his assessing gaze flooded slowly and attentively over her Maddie’s breath jammed in her throat. This man had a unique and unsettling way of looking at her that provoked unfamiliar stirrings inside her. For reasons she couldn’t begin to explain she was attracted to this abrupt-mannered, distrustful Ranger.

It would have done wonders for her self-confidence if she thought he was the least bit attracted to her. But with Jonah it was difficult to tell, because he wore an unreadable expression. He could be coldly furious or uproariously amused and she doubted she’d ever know which.

“You gonna stand there woolgathering or are you gonna eat?” Jonah waved a skewer of meat at her. “By the way, those skintight clothes are not a good idea,” he added grouchily.

“Why am I not surprised that you object to my wardrobe?” she mumbled before tasting the tender meat. “There is very little about me that you do approve of or appreciate.”

“I would have appreciated seeing you naked,” he replied, the barest hint of a smile on his chiseled mouth.

With a bite of meat poised a few inches from her lips, Maddie glanced bewilderedly at Jonah. It seemed that he was teasing and flirting with her. He wasn’t very good at it, but it pleased her to realize that he wasn’t an accomplished womanizer whose goal in life was to charm every female out of her petticoats.

It also made her wonder about his background and upbringing. Given his heritage she imagined his life had not been easy. Maddie decided to overlook his lack of social skills, because the simple truth was that Jonah Danhill intrigued her and she wanted to get to know him better.

“So you like seeing women naked,” she said belatedly. “What else do you like, Danhill?”

“Being left alone, for the most part,” he said dismissively. “Enough chitchat, Garret. Let’s hear it.”

Completely bemused, she gaped at him. “Let’s hear what?”

“Your story.” He chewed and swallowed another bite of meat. “That whole abduction, cattle rustling, thieves hot on your heels thing.”

“You said you weren’t interested in my problems.”

He shrugged indifferently. “Not interested, just curious. If I’m aiding and abetting a fugitive I want to know. So, get on with it, Garret,” he demanded in an impatient voice.

Chapter Three

M addie quickly organized her thoughts and began her explanation. “Since my father mysteriously disappeared six months ago, I’ve been responsible for running our ranch and caring for my sister. Until then I admit that I was a pampered rancher’s daughter whose only challenge was to avoid the marriage proposals that were aimed at acquiring control of my property and dowry. Suddenly I was overwhelmed with responsibilities and decision-making, and left to face the alarming realization that my father might never return, because he might have encountered the rustlers who have been stealing our livestock.”

Maddie drew in a shuddering breath, blinked back tears and picked at her food. “I formed search parties and contacted the sheriff, but to no avail. I have tried to hold on to the hope that Papa is still alive, but so much time has passed that I have had to accept the fact that I might never discover what happened to him….”

When her voice disintegrated she ducked her head and clenched her fists in an attempt to gather her crumbling composure. It was a long moment before she felt confident to speak without her voice failing her again. “Rustling has been on the rise the past few months, depleting ranch profits. A few days ago Christina vanished, very much like Papa had. But this time a ransom note was left hanging from a tree limb, demanding money for her return. I was given a week.”

Jonah assessed her carefully, trying very hard not to notice those trim-fitting clothes that accentuated her shapely physique. He could ignore her effect on him better, he decided, if she’d dress in a shapeless feed sack.

Muttering at the distraction she presented, he willfully concentrated on the tale she was pouring out to him. If her family truly had been taken from her, then he could identify and sympathize. He wanted to believe her because, despite his strong-willed resistance, he was getting attached to her. She amused, annoyed and aroused him—simultaneously. She made him feel sensations and experience emotions that he’d kept in cold storage for years. In his profession, emotion was a dangerous distraction. Jonah had to rely on sharpened instincts, hard facts and unerring logic.

And then along came Maddie….

“Two of the men who have been pressuring me into marriage offered to loan me money to pay ranch expenses and the ransom,” she continued as she stared off into space. “I refused to be beholden to either of them. My only option was to consult our family lawyer in Fort Worth and request a loan that I can repay when I gain control of my trust fund.”

Jonah wondered how much money they were discussing—or whether this was a fictitious fund that she kept harping about—but he didn’t ask. He preferred to hear her out.

“When I left the bank with the money in my satchel, I saw the same two cowboys that I had encountered twice while I was in Fort Worth,” she explained. “I had even convinced myself that I was being followed long before I arrived by stage.” She shrugged helplessly. “Wild imagination and too much stress, perhaps. In any event, the men approached me a few minutes before I caught the stage to Coyote Springs, and I managed to elude them because there were dozens of passersby on the busy streets.

“When we stopped at a stage station for lunch the men appeared on horseback, and I realized that they intended to steal my money the first chance they got.” She glanced somberly at Jonah. “And you know the rest, since I came knocking at your door.”

Jonah knew that Maddie could easily have twisted the truth, that she could have been in cahoots with the two men and tried to double-cross them. This entire tale of woe, with the addition of a few tears and a crackling voice, could have been a melodramatic performance to prey on his sympathy and gain his cooperation.

It wouldn’t be the first time, he reminded himself. He’d seen several clever scams in his day. He had also heard such convoluted and conflicting testimonies in previous cases that it was damn near impossible to sort out the truth. He had no intention of taking Maddie Garret strictly at her word, even if she did fascinate him and tug at his emotions. He did, however, intend to hear her version of the story before he confronted her two attackers.

Jonah knew for a fact that the men were still following like shadows because he had seen them in the distance this morning. Without his protection Maddie wouldn’t be allowed safe passage to Fort Griffin. Her ex-partners in crime—or would-be thieves—weren’t backing off.

“Now what’s your story, Jonah Danhill?” Maddie asked, jostling him from his suspicious thoughts. “I’d really like to know.”

Jonah came to his feet, kicked dirt on the fire and headed toward his horse. He wasn’t in the mood—or in the habit—of discussing his past with anyone, and he wasn’t about to start now.

“Let’s go, Garret. We’re wasting daylight and your two friends are following us.”

He hoped that would be the end of the conversation about his past, but knowing how relentless and determined Maddie Garret could be when she was on one of her crusades, he doubted it.

Maddie strode toward the horses, then reflexively ducked when she heard the crack of a rifle and felt a whizzing bullet rush past her ear to plug into the tree beside her. Wild-eyed, she tried to scramble onto the mare, which was prancing in a nervous circle.

“Give me your hand,” Jonah ordered.

Maddie flung up her hand and then winced when Jonah nearly jerked her arm out of its socket in his haste to hoist her behind him on the saddle. When another bullet whistled past them she pressed herself against the solid wall of Jonah’s back. Maddie wrapped her arms around his waist and prayed for all she was worth.

Being shot at was a new, unnerving experience for her, but it didn’t seem to faze Jonah. He leaned sideways to grab the mare’s trailing reins, then took off like a cannonball. While they rode hell-for-leather, Maddie wondered how many consecutive days of dodging flying bullets she would have to endure before she could remain as unflinching and focused as Jonah.

My God, how did he deal with this kind of fear without having the living daylights scared out of him on a regular basis?

“You okay, princess?” Jonah called over his shoulder as he set a swift pace through the trees that lined the creek.

“I’ve been better,” she mumbled against his back. “I’m sorry I’m responsible for getting you shot at during your vacation.”

When they encountered the dense underbrush that grew along the creek bank, Jonah reined the gelding to a walk, then drew the mare up beside them. Using his good arm, he grabbed Maddie around the waist and deposited her on her own horse. Her feeling of security vanished when she was no longer wrapped around Jonah’s sinewy form. She shivered as remnants of icy fear spiraled through her body.

To her stunned amazement Jonah leaned toward her to kiss her squarely on the mouth. His scorching kiss caused an explosion of her senses and sent hot sensations sizzling through her body. Maddie was still savoring the taste of his full, sensuous lips—and the delicious feelings he aroused—when he withdrew abruptly. Bewildered, she licked her lips and stared goggle-eyed at him.

“Do I have your attention now, princess?” he asked in a gruff voice that was a direct contradiction to the passionate kiss he’d just bestowed on her. When she nodded mutely, he said, “Good. I don’t care how scared you think you are, you’re still going to be fine.” He moved his horse in front of hers, zigzagging through the maze of trees and brush. “Your friends—”

“I keep telling you that they are not my friends,” she interrupted emphatically.

“—will have a hard time taking potshots at us if we use the trees as shields,” he said implacably. “They might decide to follow the road so they can be ready and waiting to confront us. But we’re going to avoid the road entirely. It will take longer to reach Fort Griffin, but at least we won’t be sitting ducks.”

Jonah picked his way northwestward and silently cursed himself for yielding to the need to kiss Maddie. She’d looked so shaken and terrified that he’d wanted to comfort and console her. He should have given her a consoling pat on the back instead. Now the sweet taste of her was on his lips and her clean scent invaded his senses—feeding his forbidden desires, tormenting him until hell wouldn’t have it.

Jonah had sworn he was about to suffer heart seizure when bullets started flying earlier and Maddie had almost been shot. He was accustomed to facing personal danger, but it had unnerved him when her safety was threatened. Jonah had accepted the inevitability of his own death years ago, but he hadn’t been prepared for the possibility of watching Maddie die while she was under his protection.

She had a lot of living left to do. She had a life and family to return to, would-be fiancés waiting in the wings—if her story was to be believed. All Jonah had to his name was a well-trained horse and an arsenal of weapons. His only connection was to a company of Rangers who were careful about getting too attached to each other for fear of losing a dear friend when a gun battle broke out.

“You’ll have to find yourself an experienced guide at Fort Griffin,” Jonah said a few miles later. “A novice won’t do you a damn bit of good. Your two pistol-packing friends mean business.”

“Would you please stop referring to those bushwhackers as my friends?” She scowled at him. “And for your information, I am not going to hire another guide or take the stage. I refuse to involve anyone else in my problems or become personally responsible for causing someone else’s injury or death.”

Jonah swiveled in the saddle to stare disapprovingly at her. He wasn’t surprised to see her chin elevate a stubborn notch when she met his gaze head-on. The woman had cornered the market on stubborn and defiant.

“And furthermore, you are fired,” Maddie decreed. “You have an injured arm already. I have to get used to taking care of myself and I’m sorry I made the selfish mistake of involving you in this affair.”

“One kiss does not make an affair,” he said dryly.

Maddie flung him another irritated glance. “Don’t practice your rarely used sense of humor on me, Danhill. I am not a simpleton whose attention is easily diverted. I will not be listed as the cause on your death certificate.” To make her point she drew the mare to a halt, then hitched her thumb over her shoulder. “You’re off the hook. Go back to Coyote Springs. You didn’t want to come in the first place.”

He had expected her to stick to him like a sand burr after the ambush, but he’d forgotten to take into account her independent nature. Every mishap she had encountered since he’d met her served to stiffen her resolve about confronting her problems alone. He admired that—in a frustrated sort of way—but he’d made a promise he intended to honor.

“Damn it, Jonah,” she railed at him when he nudged his steed forward. “What does it take to get rid of you?”

“I would have left if you had walked naked from the water. That would’ve evened the score between us,” he teased, straight-faced. “Now that’s what it’ll take to get rid of me. Go ahead, strip naked and I’ll backtrack to town.”

Maddie’s disbelieving snort transformed into a chuckle. “You are, without a doubt, the most outrageous, perplexing, disagreeable and impossible man I have ever met. I swear, it seems you have made it your mission to deliberately shock and provoke me.”

“Sticks and stones, Garret,” he said with a careless shrug. “But regardless, I’m going to take the roundabout route to Fort Griffin so we can avoid your cohorts.”

“How is it that you know this area so well when you claimed you never trekked across it?”

Her question convinced Jonah that she had finally given up her objections to his friends-and-cohorts comments. “I didn’t say I wasn’t familiar with the area,” he corrected grimly. “I said that I preferred to avoid it.” He stared stonily at her. “I’m half Comanche. The half that counts. This is where I grew up. This was the Comanchería, until the army descended like hornets to slaughter Comanche warriors, old men, women and children, and march the survivors to Indian Territory.”

Maddie flinched when she noticed the hard expression that settled on his rugged features. She had unintentionally hit an exposed nerve. Quite frankly, she was surprised that he had opened up to her, since he had refused to do so earlier. Jonah was a prickly man who had built walls around himself and rarely let others close enough to know and understand him.

“I was fourteen when I watched my father die,” he muttered as he stared into the distance. “I was fifteen when I was herded onto a train with the rest of the Comanche children and shipped to Pennsylvania to a boarding school designed to train us to think and behave like whites. I was seventeen when I sneaked away, took a new name and made my way back to Texas to work any job I could get in order to survive.”

His gaze swung back to her and she could see bitter emotion shimmering in those emerald depths. “When I look across this frontier I see ghosts of the past and hear the anguished cries of a people who were forced off their sacred land. It’s like walking over graves, princess. There are too many painful memories, too much resentment.”

“All the more reason for you to turn back,” Maddie murmured as tears of compassion clouded her vision. “If this ordeal with Christina ends badly, I’ll be tempted to walk away from a host of bad memories, too.”

Maddie curled her arm around Jonah’s neck and pulled him forward to press her lips gently to his. She kissed him because her heart went out to him, because the swift taste she’d had of him earlier hadn’t lasted long enough to appease her. In addition, this rapidly developing craving to make emotional and physical contact with him overwhelmed her.

Her senses filled to overflowing as his mouth moved upon hers. Sensual lightning flickered through her as she breathed him in, tasted him, savored the tantalizing sensations she had never experienced in her limited encounters with men. His darting tongue delved deeper, stealing her breath, then returning it to her in the most arousing manner imaginable. Desire intensified until her mind was reeling and her body was burning with unfamiliar need and simmering with erotic pleasure.

Suddenly he jerked away and retreated into his own space—long before she was ready to give him up. Maddie was so unprepared for his abrupt withdrawal that she nearly dived off her horse before she could regain her balance. She clutched at the pommel of the saddle and dragged herself upright.

Sweet mercy, when Jonah Danhill decided to let loose and kiss a woman senseless he could knock her world completely off-kilter!

“Why’d you do that?” he demanded in a strangled voice.

“Why’d you kiss me earlier?” she retorted promptly.

“To snap you out of your fear-induced trance and get you moving,” he said reasonably. “So why’d you do it?”

She smiled mischievously as she took the lead, though she had no idea where in the devil she was going. “Because I have seen you naked already.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Maybe it means that, having seen all there is to see of you, I find you irresistible.”

“I doubt it. And for the record, two kisses is two too many. From now on, this is strictly a business arrangement. You’re paying me to escort you on the first leg of your journey. Simple and as temporary as that.”

“I thought you said you were tagging along, just for the chance of seeing me in the altogether.” She tossed a cheeky grin over her shoulder, finding that she enjoyed saucy flirtation—with Jonah, specifically. “I’ve got news for you, Danhill. I’m not going to bare my body and soul until long past Fort Griffin.”

“My loss, Garret. I’ll be long gone by then.”

And he would, too, Jonah promised himself as he trotted past Maddie to ensure she didn’t lead them in the wrong direction. He was not tramping deeper into Comanche territory to revisit sacred ground that might stir up another caldron of bubbling resentment.

He would convince Maddie to hire an experienced guide—or at the very least, take the stage—because she was not going to go it alone, no matter what she said to the contrary.

On that determined thought Jonah picked up the pace and headed due west. He didn’t slow down until they had galloped across a wide-open meadow and took cover in the thicket of cottonwoods and oaks that lined the meandering river. He knew of one place in particular that provided a natural fortress where they could bed down without worrying about being set upon by the bushwhacking duo.

Jonah kept a close eye on Maddie, bewildered by his sudden sensitivity and consideration of her needs. Each time her face became flushed and she squirmed uncomfortably in the saddle, he halted to let her rest and sip from his canteen. She held up well, all things considered, and she matched his relentless pace without complaining, not even once.

Her only near brush with disaster in eight hours came when her mare, spooked by a coiled bull snake, bolted and tried to run away with her. Being an experienced rider, she managed to rein in her horse before it tried to leap the creek and head for higher ground.

Maddie sent Jonah a questioning glance when he veered toward an oversize briar patch. It stood in the shadows of a rugged stone cliff beside the stream they had been following.

“As a boy, we camped here many times while hunting buffalo,” Jonah explained as he dismounted. “It doesn’t look like much—”

“I’ll say it doesn’t.” Maddie stared dubiously at the outcropping of rock on the cliff. “Looks like the perfect place to meet up with rattlers, mountain lions or wolves.”

Jonah tethered the horses, grabbed his gear and gestured for Maddie to follow him up. He climbed a winding trail that was camouflaged by the briar patch and led upward to an inconspicuous spring tucked into a deep crevice of the ridge. Setting aside his rifle, pallet and saddlebags, he waited for Maddie to make her way up the steep incline.

“You have to know where this secluded spring is or you’d never find it.” He directed her attention to the inviting pool when she stepped onto the flat stone cliff top.

Maddie sighed appreciatively as she assessed the hollowed-out basin of rock tucked beneath a jagged sandstone bluff. It resembled a gigantic bathtub. She pivoted beside him to admire the panoramic view of the lush valley below, alive with colorful wildflowers and spring grasses.

“Spectacular,” she commented as she sank down cross-legged to rest. “You could see a herd of buffalo coming from five miles away.”

Jonah stared out over the land—and remembered too much. “Yeah, if the buffalo weren’t practically extinct after the army ordered their slaughter to starve out the Comanche, Kiowa and Apache.”

Maddie could tell that this trek down memory lane was taking its toll on Jonah. Had she known what she was asking of him she never would have gone to him for assistance. Impulsively she came to her feet and walked up behind him to glide her arms around his waist, then glanced around his broad shoulder, wondering what he saw that she didn’t.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

To her surprise, he tugged her in front of him and rested his chin on the crown of her head while he stared through time and space. “It was a different way of life,” he murmured. “A peaceful coexistence with nature. Never taking from Earth Mother without giving something back. The problem was we stood in the way of white expansion. Our people paid the sacrifice so that you, and others like you, could lay claim to this land.”

“Jonah, I’m sorry,” she whispered as she rubbed her shoulder consolingly against his chest. “Fifteen years ago I was just a child in East Texas who thought her parents were being terribly unfair by uprooting her and dragging her away from the only home she’d known. I can’t even begin to imagine the violence, resentment and confusion you endured.”

“What happened to your mother?” he asked after a moment.

“She died giving birth to Chrissy. And your mother? How did she come to be with the Comanche?”

“A captive from childhood. She taught me to speak English, but she had no wish to return to her abusive father. She became Comanche, lived as a Comanche and died from complications of the bullet wound she sustained when our clan was captured and taken to the reservation.”

For the life of him Jonah couldn’t fathom why he was confiding in Maddie. Even his commander didn’t know the details of his life before he’d joined the Rangers. Jonah had kept his own counsel for half a lifetime.

And this certainly was not the time to become sentimental and talkative, he chided himself. He and Maddie were merely strangers who had crossed paths temporarily. By this time tomorrow she’d go her way and he would go his. That would be the end of it.

Clinging to that sensible thought, Jonah released her—and wondered what in the hell he’d been thinking by holding her possessively to him in the first place. That kind of physical contact was tempting and dangerous. It was as if he had needed her warmth and her gentle touch while he faced the onslaught of memories triggered by stopping at this old Comanche campsite.

She pivoted toward him, then flicked a glance at the rolled pallet on the stone ledge. He could practically see her mind churning with curiosity when her gaze returned to him.

“If you have only one bedroll, and I slept on it, then where did you sleep last night?”

He’d wondered when she would ask that question. He’d expected it earlier, but he supposed getting shot at had dominated her thoughts.

“I slept beside you, under the same quilt,” he said, expecting her to start ranting about propriety. But she surprised him by staring inquisitively at him.

“I was so exhausted last night that you could easily have taken advantage of the situation.” Those amber eyes drilled into him. “Why didn’t you?”

“Good question. Maybe because I was plumb worn-out, too.”

“Or maybe because you don’t like me and you don’t find me desirable.”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

That was not it, but he’d be damned if he’d let her know she was getting under his skin and that getting naked with her was a fantasy that was occupying too much of his thought processes.

Jonah scooped up his rifle. “You can enjoy a leisurely bath while I hunt down supper.”

“No rattlesnake steak. Tried it once. Didn’t like it.”

“You’d be surprised what you can eat when left with no choice, princess,” he assured her, more gruffly than he intended. “Believe me, I’ve had worse.”

Jonah descended the trail and vowed he was going to be his old self again when he returned. Sharing his thoughts and emotions made him feel uncomfortable and exposed. He related better to Maddie when he relied on taunts and sarcasm. If he kept this up she might come to mean too much in the short span of a few days. He planned to leave her without regret, because he had regrets aplenty already and revisiting the outer boundaries of the Comanchería was getting him stirred up.

She was getting him stirred up, too.

It was amazing how quickly he had reached the point where just staring at those clingy clothes that accentuated her curvaceous figure made him want her—badly.

He just needed a woman. Any woman would do, he tried to convince himself. He could relieve that problem at the bustling town that had sprung up beside Fort Griffin. The Flat, as the raucous community was called, was known for its saloons, dance halls and harlots. Simple sexual pleasure was what he craved.

Maddie Garret was to be cautiously avoided because she came with all sorts of complications. Hell, he couldn’t even guarantee that she wasn’t feeding him some fantastic lie.

Oh, certainly, he wanted to believe her, wanted to think that he wasn’t that bad a judge of character. But he’d heard too many nightmarish tales of men who were enticed and betrayed by a beautiful woman. Maddie, with her hypnotic golden eyes, sun-kissed hair and honeyed lips could lead him into disaster like a sea siren luring a doomed ship into the eye of a hurricane.

“Well damn,” Jonah muttered as he stalked off to hunt. He was getting allegorical and philosophical all of a sudden, wasn’t he? If this wasn’t an indication that a tempting woman could tie a man up in knots and leave him waxing poetic, he didn’t know what was.

Right there and then, Jonah promised himself that he would be back on solid mental footing by the time he returned to the campsite. He was not going to let Maddie Garret get to him worse than she already had.

As soon as he dumped her off at Fort Griffin he was as good as gone. And you could write that down in stone because he was not going to change his mind. Fort Griffin was the end of the line for him.

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