02 Madoc by Paige Tyler Read Free Book Online

his back, his arm pillowed behind his head, his expression unreadable as he stared up at the ceiling. She was going to stuck in this cabin with him for at least a day or two, she thought, which made him a captive audience of sorts. Perhaps she could find a way to turn that to her advantage. But as much as wanted to jump right in with both feet and plead her case with him, she knew he wouldn’t be very receptive if she did. Which meant that she would have take it slowly.
    “What’s your name?” she asked after a moment.
    He gave her a sidelong glance, his golden-brown eyes narrowing suspiciously. “My name?”
    She shrugged. “Call me old fashioned, but I like to know a guy’s name when I climb into bed with him,” she said dryly.
    Though his mouth quirked slightly at her lame attempt at humor, he made no reply, and she was about to think he wasn’t going to answer her question at all when he finally spoke.
    “It’s Madoc,” he said. “Madoc Cutler.”
    Madoc. It was an unusual name, but strong sounding, like a hero in a romance book might have, she thought.
    Somehow, it fit a guy that hunted down fugitives for a living.
    Deciding that talking about the weather would be non-productive, Shayna fell silent again. Despite the fact that she knew she had to take her time with him and get him to slowly let down his guard, she couldn’t think of a single thing to talk about that wasn’t related to her being a fugitive.
    “So,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant. “How did you find me?”
    His jaw tightened at her question. “It wasn’t that difficult once I picked up your trail in the snow,” he said.
    Her brow furrowed when she realized he thought she meant how he’d found her at the cabin. “No, I meant how did you find me in Flint Rock?” she clarified.
    “Oh,” he said. “I remembered seeing you on a wanted poster, and recognized you.”
    Shayna’s frown deepened at his words. “So, you really were just passing through town and decided to stop for something to eat at the diner?” she asked incredulously. “I thought you had come there specifically to arrest me.”
    The Marshal turned his head to look at her. “I’m actually supposed to be on vacation. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he said, and then when she scowled, added, “Or not, I guess, depending on your point of view. You know, you really should have dyed your hair or something. The glasses aren’t much of a disguise.”
    “I’ll remember that the next time,” she said sarcastically, only to realize that there wasn’t going to be a next time.
    Not unless she could manage to escape from Madoc Cutler.
    She rested her head on her hand and gazed down at the handsome Marshal. “I didn’t steal that money, you know,” she said softly. “And I certainly didn’t murder anyone.”
    “The police back in Denver think you did,” he said.
    “Well, they’re wrong,” she insisted. “I’m innocent. I was framed.”
    Shayna held her breath, waiting for him to tell her once again that he wasn’t interested and that he didn’t want to hear her going on and on about how innocent she was. But to her surprise, the Marshal simply said, “Then why did you run?”
    “Because even my lawyer thought I was guilty. He told me that we would never win with the evidence they had against me, and that I was going to go to prison for a very long time,” she said. “He advised me to take the deal the district attorney offered, but I couldn’t. Not only would I have gone to jail for ten years for something I didn’t do, but part of the plea bargain was that I would have to return the money. I didn’t have it, so I couldn’t very well accept the plea bargain.”
    Shayna waited for Madoc to say something, but when he didn’t, she knew she was going to have to make herself more sympathetic in his eyes. “Even my family told me that I should run,” she said. “They knew I hadn’t done what the police said, and that