Desperate Hearts by Alexis Harrington Read Free Book Online Page B

she
recalled seeing him at the Magnolia Saloon two days before. Surely
it was only the worst possible luck that had brought him and his
partner to Cord.
    That Jory or Hardesty would send men to
capture her was something she had not once considered. No one knew
where she had gone except for a few of the Midnighters. Now she had
been tracked all the way to Silver City—God, this was a hundred
times worse than she’d thought.
    So Gracie had realized Kyla’s true
gender during that incident at the Magnolia. Oh, damnation, she
thought. Who else would the woman tell?
    During the confrontation at the general
store, she’d seen the bounty hunter’s face under the brim of his
hat—icy, controlled. He never raised his voice. The universal
respect and fear he roused in people made her wonder why anyone
would dare cross him. Drunk or sober, McIntyre had to have been a
complete fool to challenge Jace Rankin.
    And she had challenged McIntyre, so who
was the bigger fool? But the reaction that made her draw on him had
been purely instinctive. She didn’t know why she hadn’t done the
wise thing and hidden in the corner, instead of staying close to
the danger and Rankin. But it required far too much energy to
figure out now. She remembered the feel of Jace’s arm around her
when he pulled her up from the floor. For a second, it was almost
comfortable to lean against him. But even in her shock she’d known
she couldn’t give in to it. She didn’t want to be touched, and Kyle
wouldn’t permit such mollycoddling. And anyway, she didn’t like
Jace.
    “ How are you holding up?”
she heard him ask.
    She glanced at him and shivered hard enough
to make her teeth chatter. “I—I’m okay. B-but it’s so cold.”
    He swore, as if she’d said something
wrong.
    Jace knew Kyle was not okay. He was cold and
sleepy—he could see that in the kid’s face, hear it in his voice.
He had to get him to a warm fire and check his arm. The hankies
he’d wrapped around him in Cord were only makeshift. He hoped the
bullet hadn’t gone in too deep—he’d dug out his share of lead but
never from a kid.
    Added to that, the clouds that had rolled
into the sky earlier were now producing a fine, soaking drizzle. He
twisted in his saddle and peered through the gray veil, searching
the broken limestone formations for a sheltered place.
    “ We’ve got to get out of
this rain. It’ll be dark soon and I don’t want to be riding around
after sundown.”
    He led them along a creek until they came to
a spot under a rocky overhang that was dry and out of the
weather.
    Jace dismounted, then stood at Kyle’s foot.
He looked bad, Jace thought, still sickly white and a little
disoriented. But maybe a sip of whiskey and something to eat would
put the color back in his face. He sure as hell hoped so, anyway.
Beneath his open coat lapels, the boy looked as blood-soaked as a
soldier wounded on a battlefield.
    “ Can you get down by
yourself?”
    Kyle nodded but for a moment he didn’t move.
Then with obvious effort, he slowly swung a leg over his dun. Just
about the time it cleared the pommel, his eyes rolled back and he
fell into Jace’s arms.
    Jace carried him to the wall under the
overhang and opened his coat. Jesus, his shirt was so red, he must
have been hit someplace else. Who could tell in the confusion of
gunfire and their flight from Cord? The kid himself was probably
too stunned to realize the extent of his injuries, and Jace hadn’t
had time to look.
    He yanked off his gloves. Without hesitation
he grasped the front of Kyle’s blue shirt and ripped it open.
Beneath, he encountered blood-stained binding that was working
loose. Baffled, he sat back on his heels and pushed up his hat.
God, he was nursing broken ribs, too?
    No. Something was wrong. Something—
    Pulling out his long-bladed hunting knife,
he grabbed the bunched binding in one hand and cut it open with a
single slice. He stared down in stunned disbelief at full, rounded
breasts that