Lawman by Lisa Plumley Read Free Book Online

the
ample curves of her breasts, hidden beneath her stiff-starched
clothes.
    "You're a right fine looker," he said
softly, giving her hair one last, smooth stroke before lowering his
hand. "Too bad you're a wanted man's daughter."
    Too bad he wanted her himself.
    He couldn't think about that. Not with a
case at hand. But it had silenced her well enough, and that would
have to do. He couldn't afford to turn mush-hearted now.
    Putting behind thoughts of wanting for
wanted, Gabriel surveyed the room and decided the chest was the
most likely hiding place for the stolen money he sought. With an
ache of regret he didn't care to consider, he went first to the
scratched wooden trunk at the foot of the cot.
    He didn't expect to find the loot stored in
such an accessible place, but the criminals he'd tracked had done
stupider things in the past. It wasn't his practice to overlook any
potential lead. Bending to one knee on the soft rag rug, he peered
closely at the latch.
    "Too bad you're insane!" she cried.
    Ahhh. She'd recovered.
    With a rush of displaced air that smelled of
soap and sage, Megan Kearney came toward him. Before she could
reach him, he grabbed for the cold iron latch, wrenched it
upward...and felt the whole chest shudder as she heaved herself on
top of it, rear-end first.
    It slammed shut.
    "And you're the one calling me insane?" he
asked.
    "Yes."
    Looking indisputably un convinced of
her father's guilt—and extremely satisfied with the loud thunk the
lid had made when it came crashing down—she glared at him from her
perch on top of it. "You can't look in here,
you—you— madman !"
    "Madman?" Gabriel watched her blow a wisp of
hair from her eyes, and fought the urge to grin. "I've been called
worse."
    "I'll just bet you have."
    He shrugged.
    She narrowed her eyes, transforming them
from the warm, caramel brown he'd admired earlier into something a
shade darker—and miles more dangerous. Nothing appealed to him more
than a woman with grit, a woman with the courage of her convictions
and the gumption to back them up.
    "Unfortunately," she said with a toss of her
head, "whatever it was, it wasn't nearly bad enough to describe a
man like you."
    "Probably not." He shrugged and flipped her
scratchy brown skirt hem out of the way, then wedged his fingers
along the lid's seam and tried to lift it. It rose an inch...a
little more...then the little hellion bounced harder.
    "Youch!" He snatched his fingers back,
narrowly missing having seven or eight of them crushed flatter than
her station hand Mose's head. "Careful. This is official
business."
    "It's official bunk! My father hasn't done
anything."
    "Ma'am, as you read on that poster, somebody
stole ten thousand dollars from a Kearney express shipment last
week. If that's what you call bunk, you've got a mighty sobering
idea of what's a crime and what's not."
    Her expression turned serious. Then
defiant.
    "Well, since we haven't had any
thefts reported, and you're chasing the wrong man, it's
still bunk," she said. "But I guess a common trespasser like
yourself wouldn't care about things like what's right and
wrong."
    Ahh, yet another tactic. An accusation,
followed by a change of subject. If you don't have the answers,
change the questions . His estimation of Megan Kearney went up a
notch.
    "Trespasser, hmmm? I've heard that around
here, a man could get strung up for such a thing," Gabriel said,
echoing her earlier remark. "Even one who has a pretty daughter to
hide behind."
    With a murderous look, she flung something
small and shiny at his head. He ducked just in time to hear it ping
against the wall and drop to the floor.
    His Pinkerton badge. He left it where it lay
and caught hold of her wrists instead, meaning to haul her off the
trunk lid by force. Instead, the incredible sensation of having so
much softness in his grasp stopped him before he could move. Warm
and pliant, her skin felt like silk beneath his callused
fingertips.
    Like warm outlaw's silk, Gabriel
reminded