The Outlaw Bride by Kelly Boyce Read Free Book Online Page B

to think there wasn’t one. Brothers, maybe? Possible, though she couldn’t see any hint of a resemblance between the two men. It would be just her luck if they were.
    When Grant had told her to tell “Con” he was sorry and pass along the letter he’d given her, she assumed “Con” was a shortened form for Constance, that she was searching for the girl he mentioned, for a wife or sweetheart. She never dreamed there would be two separate people she needed to track down.
    Or that one of them would have a sheriff’s badge pinned to his chest.
    The horse’s easy gait carried them away from town. Even in her acceptance, Katherine had never once considered she and Connor would be this close. She kept her arms wrapped securely around Connor’s middle. Her fisted hands rested against the hard ridges of his stomach while her body burned from the friction of bouncing against his back. Heat melted into her and the total effect left her senses reeling. A fact she found more than a little disconcerting.
    The harder she tried to keep her mind on other things, the more her traitorous thoughts drifted to the days ahead. What would it be like spending her days alone with this man? She had little experience in that regard. Though married for eight years, Rogan rarely stayed home for more than a few days at a time, leaving her alone for long stretches. The loneliness had been unbearable, but being with him had been even worse.
    The rhythm of the horse and the warmth from Connor’s body slowly lulled her into a doze. She tried to keep her eyes open, but it felt as if lead weights had been tied to her lashes. She told herself she’d close them for only a moment. That was the last thing she remembered until Connor’s voice penetrated the fog clouding her mind.
    “Miss Stockdale?”
    She heard a throat clearing but it seemed far off in the distance. The fading warmth of the sun acted like a blanket, tucking her in for the night. She ignored the sound, quite content with where she was. She snuggled in further.
    “Miss Stockdale?”
    A hand touched hers, rough yet comforting. It squeezed and she stretched slightly, nuzzling further into her pillow, taking a deep breath. Lord, it smelled good. She wondered if this Miss Stockdale knew someone was calling her.
    “Hannah?”
    The hand squeezed again, harder this time, dragging her unwilling mind back to the surface. Was he talking to her? Her name wasn’t Hannah.
    “Kate,” she mumbled, attempting to burrow back into the comforting warmth, to recapture the sleep that had eluded her for days. “My name is Kate.”
    “What?”
    The sudden crack of the tone broke through her sleeping brain with the effectiveness of a dash of cold water. Her head shot up and heat burned her cheeks when she realized she’d been resting it on the sheriff’s back. “What?”
    He turned his head just far enough to give her an appreciative view of his profile. Dark lashes contrasted with the pale blue of his eyes, the golden tone of his skin the perfect backdrop to set it all off. Lord liftin’, but he was one handsome man.
    “You said your name was Kate.”
    The tiny voice inside her head that had known taking this job was a bad idea came back to mock her now. Her mama always said when it came to lying she didn’t have a lick of talent. Why hadn’t she taken that into account before assuming another woman’s identity?
    “It’s—I—that is to say—” Her mind worked furiously to concoct a plausible explanation, grasping at any wisp of an idea that spun through her brain. “Kate is my nickname…uh, short for…Kathleen. Which is my middle name.” She forced her smile wider, hoping that would make her words more believable. She should have stopped there, but words kept tumbling out. “Hannah was my mother’s name too. So they called me Kate to…to avoid confusion.”
    There. That wasn’t so hard.
    Connor nodded slowly and turned to face the small clapboard house in front of them. “Alright