Taken by the Cowboy by Julianne MacLean Read Free Book Online Page A

the
street. She followed, but glanced back at Virgil, who was still
groaning and rolling around. One by one, folks popped up from
behind hay bales and barrels, and scuttled into the street with
caution.
    "Sheriff Wade...your
horse," Jessica said.
    “He’ll follow."
    They hurried down Front
Street, and Jessica had to scramble to keep up. When at last they
turned the corner towards Angus's house, Truman finally slowed his
pace.
    "You all right?" he
asked.
    "Yeah, I'm fine.” She
brushed some dirt off her shoulder. “He was a real butthead."
    Wade glanced at her
with amusement again, and Jessica found herself staring at him in
fascination, trying to understand what lay behind those deep
turquoise eyes of his. With the strong noon sun overhead, she was
able to take in the finer details of his profile—the square,
chiseled jaw and full lips over a dimpled chin, and the straight,
patrician nose. Her eyes dipped to the gun belt at his hips and the
loose fit of his black trousers, visible when the wind blew his
coat open.
    There was no point
denying it. He was by far the most incredible man she’d ever
met.
    Or maybe that was just
a reaction to the way he helped her back there. In a place where
she had no friends or family to call upon, besides Mr. Maxwell, it
was nice to know
someone
was watching out for her.
    "You sure do like to
call attention to yourself, don’t you?" he said.
    She sighed. "Yeah,
well… I didn't start that. Virgil was the one looking for
trouble."
    "I'm going to have to
ask you, Miss Delaney, to make a more sincere effort not to get
people all riled up. I've worked mighty hard to keep gun firing to
a minimum in this town."
    Jessica halted. "Hey, I
wasn't the one who fired the gun back there. You were."
    He continued walking,
as if he hadn't heard a word she said.
    Thinking it absurd that
she was capable of
riling people up
, Jessica stood for a
moment and watched him walk, his spurs jingling with each
uncompromising stride.
    A gentle breath of a
breeze blew her hair across her face. She closed her eyes briefly,
then pushed the hair away, hoisted her skirt up to her knees, and
hurried to catch up with him. "I can make it the rest of the way on
my own,” she said. “You don’t have to escort me."
    "Yeah, I do. I need to
make sure you go straight home to Maxwell's, and I suggest you stay
there until this gossip cools down."
    The thought had crossed
her mind that it would be far less dangerous to hide away in
Angus's pretty blue parlor. But how would she find a way home from
there?
    "Look," she said, "I
didn't start any of this. I did nothing wrong, so you have no
authority to put me under house arrest, if that’s your intention.
Besides, I have some business to take care of, and it’s
important."
    Wade stopped in his
tracks.
    Jessica continued
walking until she realized he wasn't beside her anymore. "What’s
wrong?”
    He approached and
stared at her with narrowed eyes, then removed his hat and wiped
his forehead with the back of his sleeve. "I'd like to know more
about this alias of yours –
Junebug Jess
. How long have
you had it?"
    She practically
laughed. "Are you kidding me? It’s not an alias. The newspaper made
that up."
    Squinting into the
sunshine, he placed his hat back on his head. "How about answering
this, then? Where'd you come from? Home must be somewhere."
    Jessica suddenly felt
like the shopkeeper had tied the laces on her new shoes too tight.
What should she tell Truman? She couldn't say she'd just arrived
from the future. She'd end up in an asylum.
    "I’m from Topeka," she
casually replied and started walking again.
    He walked beside her,
watching her face the whole time, but she resisted the urge to look
at him.
    "So what are you doing
in Dodge?" he asked.
    "Just passing
through."
    “Where to next?”
    She paused. “Not
sure.”
    "You don't know where
you're heading?"
    The sun beat down on
the top of her head, and she could feel her nose beginning to burn.
The rest of her face,