High Mountain Drifter by Jillian Hart Read Free Book Online Page A

very cute. "I did the crime, so I'll take the consequences."
    "I'm trying not to be stressed by all of this, but unfortunately it's not a mind over matter kind of a thing." She heaved out a troubled sigh. The unhappiness twisting across her face said more than her words ever could. She bit her bottom lip, perhaps not knowing what more to say. "This is affecting me more than I'd like."
    "Perfectly natural." He held out his hands to the fire, let the heat wash over him, feeling sorry for the girl. "You took quite a beating judging by the bruises all over your face."
    "Right." One hand flew to her face, as if she'd tried to forget about them, block them out. Her fingertips brushed at a particularly bad bruise along the line of her sculpted jawbone. The shadows in her eyes deepened. "That was a bad night."
    "I've been filled in." He turned around in front of the fireplace, heating up his back. "I know Craddock and a second man attacked the guards around the house at night, left one for dead, but the other escaped and went for help. Craddock broke in and took you and a sister. You wound up in a line shack just up the mountain from here, where they found you just in time."
    She squeezed her eyes shut. The hand at her jawbone began to shake and she let it fall to her lap, seemed to pull herself together. She did a good job, she was steady in spite of what she'd gone through. When she opened her eyes, no sign of tears. "Yes, he would have raped and killed me. He said that he'd never go anywhere without me unless he sent me there first."
    "Milo was right to bring me in." That much was clear. Craddock had followed the sisters all the way to Montana, he'd hid successfully from intense searches, he'd escaped Milo twice--and Milo was a fine lawman. "I promise you, Miss McPhee, I'll catch this Craddock fellow. I won't let him hurt you again."
    "That's a relief." Her throat worked, as if she were wrestling with emotions and trying to hold them back. "I'm very grateful."
    "Don't be. I hunt criminals. It's what I do," he said gruffly, with an off-hand shrug, because he didn't want anyone to be beholden to him. And, if he let himself admit it, it was the best way to ward off the twist of something deep in his chest--something that felt strangely like softer feelings. He'd given up on those long ago. "No thanks necessary. I'll get this taken care of for you. I have a few questions--"
    "You must be cold," she interrupted, standing abruptly, tears glimmered in her eyes but did not fall. She looked like a woman with complicated emotions, so he didn't dare guess why the tears. He just watched her seize her cane and limp around the couch. Her mouth twisted upwards in the corners, an attempt at a polite smile. "I'll be right back."
    "Sure." She needed a minute, and he was good with that. He tried to avoid crying women. Nothing made him more uncomfortable and in truth, feel more inadequate, than a lady's tears. He had no notion what to do, no practice in the fine art of comforting. His life was too rough and harsh to have learned anything like that--and always would be.
    While she was gone, he took a minute to glean what he could about the family. He'd never seen so many books, lining those walls of shelving, including dime novels and that made him almost grin. He was prone to reading those, too. Frilly little pillows decorated everything--the chairs, the sofas, the window seats. Spotlessly clean. Everything perfectly in place. The ladies' voices from across the hall rang pleasantly--a merry drone of lilting conversations and occasional laughter. Whatever threat the women felt, they weren't cowering in fear. That said something, too.
    "Here, this will help warm you up." Verbena ambled into the room gripping a small tray with her free hand. The china rattled with every step. "I brought you a tin mug, I hope that's okay. My sister Daisy's fiancé isn't much for china. He doesn’t like drinking out of flowery cups."
    "I can't argue that." It just wasn't