Outlaw's Bride by Nicole Snow Read Free Book Online Page A

wouldn't hesitate to hurt me, Norm, or – God forbid – my Caleb. I thought about shadows descending on his crib late one night, all while a dark hand smothered me, pulled me away from my son, an ice cold knife pressed to my throat.
    Jesus, no. I can't let it happen. I won't.
    Swallowing the lump in my throat, I boxed up everything, and then pushed the crap back into the spider hole. I flipped the door shut, listening to the loud bang as it hit the frame.
    Norm threw his hands up. “Dammit, Sally, you've gotta be more careful than that! Just looking at that stuff might tip somebody off. We've been poking our noses where we shouldn't, and if those bastards find out...”
    He didn't need to say it, and he knew it. We'd both imaged about a dozen brutal possibilities by now.
    “I'm just following your example, cousin. You said yourself you'd looked in there before I did. Maybe you should take your own advice before you decide to get up my ass.”
    He opened his mouth, and then promptly closed it. He hated being wrong, especially when it was the family's black sheep who pointed it out.
    If I'd learned anything about growing up here since Uncle Ralph took me in, it was Norm's twenty years on me hadn't really made him any wiser. Of course, his mistakes were little ones. He'd hit the bottle and gotten a couple DUIs after Jenny died, a tragic end to a barren, strained marriage.
    I was the reckless bitch who'd screwed up big time and gotten myself knocked up by an outlaw. That was far worse, and everybody except my dearly departed Uncle made me feel it every fucking day.
    “Fair enough,” he said at last, deciding to let it go. “Still, we need to be very careful here. This is serious business, Sally. This could get us killed.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Uh, yeah, you're repeating yourself, Farmer Obvious. Should we both go to the police, or do you want me to make the run by myself? I'm not letting anybody here get their head cut off. I'm dealing with it.”
    We'd almost reached his truck when I said it. Then Norman froze, glaring at me like I'd just said the stupidest thing imaginable.
    “ What? Don't give me that look – not unless you've got some awesome plan from your years of dealing with Mexican drug lords.”
    My sarcasm tightened his face. “Look, it's not that easy. Going to the police is just as bad as taking that shit out of the ground and pouring concrete in the hole. What do you think they'll do out here exactly, Sally? Assign us a national guard platoon to guard the ranch?”
    “Of course not! But they'd at least look into it, wouldn't they? Maybe send a few guys on patrol at night to catch anybody prowling around?” I paused and shook my head. “Am I just speaking a different language?”
    Norm's lips twitched in a bitter smile. “Yeah, Sally. You're speaking Pollyanna. I don't think you realize we're dealing with stone cold criminals here. You've seen the news. These guys chop entire family's heads off just because they looked at one of their goons the wrong way. Greg says –“
    “Greg says a lot of shit,” I snapped. “He's not an expert anymore than you, Norm. Jesus, I've hung around more dyed in the wool outlaws than any of you. Remember who Uncle Ralph always sent to see the Grizzlies when one of these old rigs needed a repair?”
    I slapped the truck on the side before climbing in. Norm slowly joined me, hauling himself up into the driver's seat. Turning his head to face me, he gave me the dark look I'd seen a thousand times. Oh yeah, the Grizzlies. You mean the biker bastards who knocked you up.
    I'd never admitted anything. I never would. FATHER UNKNOWN was listed on Caleb's birth certificate, and I'd hold to it for the rest of my life.
    Especially when it looked like Roman wasn't coming around anytime soon.
    Truthfully, it was nobody's fucking business except my own. But that didn't mean Norm and everybody else couldn't put two and two together. Or maybe just one naïve, virgin farm girl plus one