A Wolf in the Desert by Bj James Read Free Book Online Page A

game. Even the bikers seemed innocuous from this perspective. Comic, toy soldiers scattered by a petulant child, waiting to be put away at the end of a hard day of play.
    Appearances were misleading, the handsome man standing in front of her was proof of that. “Snake, Custer, Blue Doggie, the one called Hogan. The others.” Her arm fell heavily to her side. She returned her gaze to him. “You. Why would it matter?”
    He showed no reaction to her scorn. “Then consider this. When all choices are evil, isn’t it wise to choose the lesser?”
    â€œSomething else your grandfather taught you?” She sneered.
    â€œNo.” His grandfather would have fought to the death. It was his way. The Apache way. Indian didn’t want that choice for her. He wouldn’t want it for any innocent, but especially not for Patience O’Hara.
    â€œThen you thought up this tidbit of wisdom all by yourself?” Patience taunted recklessly. “In your tiny, screwed-up little mind?”
    A muscle flickered in his jaw, his teeth clenched as he silenced a reply. “We will discuss the size and condition of my mind another time,” he said instead. “And, yes, the tidbit was mine.”
    â€œLet me guess. The lesser of the multitude of evils I seem to have attracted would be...” She pointed a finger at his chest, as if it were a gun. “Of course! You.”
    â€œFor a woman who has more guts than brains, yes.”
    â€œMy choice is a man who gives his word, most solemnly, then waffles and bends his promise to suit his needs?”
    â€œEnough!” The command underscored an imperious gesture. “It’s no wonder you have no husband! You would talk a man to death.”
    â€œYou don’t know that I’m not married,” Patience lashed back at him. “You know nothing about me.”
    â€œYou wear no ring.”
    â€œNeither do you and for all I know, or care, you could have a dozen wives.”
    â€œI have no wife. When I do, there will be only one.”
    â€œOnly one, huh? And you would wear her ring?”
    Indian didn’t hesitate. “If she wished, yes.”
    â€œHave you, in your great wisdom, considered that perhaps my husband is a modern man? A man not bound by ancient symbolism, who doesn’t wish it?”
    â€œNever.” He wondered if she knew how mysteriously beautiful she was in the half-light. How magnificently courageous. “The man who becomes your husband will put his ring on you,” he said thoughtfully, “to show the world that such a woman is his.”
    The response startled her, catching her with no caustic reply. “But you said—”
    â€œI know what I said.” He cut her short, exasperated with himself. He wasn’t a man who revealed his thoughts, a natural trait and habit that had saved his life many times. He would need to watch carefully with this woman. She had the skill to draw from him more than he wished. More than was wise.
    â€œCome.” Catching her by the shoulder, he pulled her to his side. “We’ve wasted too much time. By now the last of the beer from the saddlebags will be consumed. I should see that they move along before their mood turns ugly.”
    When he meant to return to the road with her in tow, she resisted, digging her heels into the sand. “No!”
    He spun around, his face a dark visage. “Don’t try me more. You’ve pushed your luck as far as it can go.”
    â€œSo?” She glared at him when he would not release her arm. “What do I have to lose? What have I ever had to lose?”
    â€œA fight, then? To the bitter end?”
    â€œIt’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”
    â€œAt given and appropriate times.”
    â€œOn cue?” She laughed, a sound completely lacking humor. “In your dreams, chief.”
    He raised a sardonic brow. “I’ve been promoted? Good. Perhaps you’ll be