Taken By Storm by Donna Fletcher Read Free Book Online

to make certain he freed himself of the heat that had set his blood on fire and had him readyto crawl out of his skin. And all because of a woman who obviously was familiar with naked men.
    He dried himself off and marched back over to her. “How many men?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “How many men have you seen naked?”
    “I don’t see what business that is of yours,” she said calmly.
    “I don’t either but I’m curious,” he admitted.
    “Your honesty at times amazes me.”
    “My father taught me to be an honorable and honest man.”
    “Do you wonder if your brother is like you?”
    Burke tossed his wet shirt aside and sat down beside Storm. “I have wondered since first learning about him when I was young. Had anyone helped him? Was he still alive? Had he had a harsh life? My father searched tirelessly for him and blamed himself for what had happened.”
    “He couldn’t have taken a babe to America with him. He did the right thing. It wasn’t his fault his sister-in-law died.”
    “Tell that to a grief-stricken father who beyond death continues to search for his son, through his other son. I don’t intend to fail my father. I will find Cullen and bring him home.”
    “What if he doesn’t want to go?” she asked.
    “When he discovers the wealth that awaits him, he’ll go.”
    “Tell me of this wealth,” Storm said, reaching for the clean shirt and handing it to Burke.
    A cool autumn wind had suddenly interruptedan otherwise warm day, and she offered him protection against it, handing him the clean shirt.
    He accepted, slipping it over his head. “The Dakota Territory can be unforgiving and generous at the same time. My father claimed over three hundred acres. Longton Ranch raises the best cattle in the territory, not to mention the horses we train and sell. The town of Longton prospers also, thanks to my father’s generosity. He built the town, started the first bank, brought a doctor there, built a church and a school, all while remaining friends with his Sioux neighbors.”
    “That must have been a feat.”
    “If you knew my father you would know it was his nature to treat everyone fairly and honestly. He believed that a man was nothing without integrity. He lived it every day of his life. That was the attribute my mother so loved and admired in him, and, as she had often told me, made her feel so very safe with my father.”
    “How lovely that she should trust him so unconditionally.”
    “She told me he had earned it. He was a good man, a good husband, and a good father. She couldn’t have asked for more.”
    “Your mother has also passed?”
    “She died one week after my father. I expected it. They were too much in love to live without each other.”
    “How sad for you.”
    Burke shook his head. “No. I’m happy that they’re together. And once I find my brother, I know theyboth will be at peace. My mother had looked forward to raising Cullen as her own and was just as disappointed as my father when he was not found.” He turned to her. “What of your parents?”
    “Not worth talking about.”
    “That bad?”
    Storm shrugged. “I barely remember my father. He left when I was young. My mother thought I ate too much and was too much of a burden. She gave me away to a family, but after a couple of months they gave me to another family, who treated me decently enough.”
    “That’s horrible,” Burke said, appalled at Storm’s loveless childhood. Was that why she rescued people? Had she felt so abandoned that she reached out to others suffering the same fate?
    “It is the way of things here. You survive or you surrender. I prefer to survive.”
    “I can see where you got your courage.”
    She smiled. “Life gave it to me many times over.”
    “What of the future?” he asked. “You can’t remain an outlaw all your life.”
    “I don’t think of the future.” She turned to stare at the creek.
    What she really meant was that she believed she had no future. She was an outlaw and