The Sheriff (Historical Romance) by Nan Ryan Read Free Book Online

replacing the globe. She gave him an apologetic little smile and said, “I told you the house…”
    “I had no idea this place had fallen into such bad repair,” he said, shaking out the match. He rose to his feet. “Are you out of your mind? You can’t stay in this house. I can’t leave you here alone and unprotected. Get some things together and I’ll take you back to town. You can sleep in a vacant cell at the city jail.”
    “Thank you, no.”
    “I don’t want to argue, Miss VanNam. Get your clothes. You’re coming with me. You’ll be safe at the jail.”
    Travis stood with his feet apart, his hands at his sides. The lamplight cast eerie shadows on the mansion’s walls. And on the marshal’s scowling face. He looked angry.
    “What an absurd proposal.” Kate swiftly vetoed the idea, uncaring how angry it made him. “Have I done something illegal? You don’t own me, Marshal. You can’t tell me what to do.”
    Travis exhaled heavily. “I’m trying to help you here.”
    “I don’t need or want your help, Marshal. All I want is for you to leave. Now. And in the future, if you’ll kindly stay out of my way, I promise I’ll stay out of yours.”
    Travis gazed at the gorgeous golden-haired girl standing there with her hands on her hips and her chin raised, speaking to him as no one else dared.
    “Do you have a gun, Miss VanNam?”
    Kate raised her right arm. From the drawstring reticule dangling from her wrist, she withdrew her Colt revolver. “I am armed, Sheriff.”
    “You know how to use that thing?”
    “Certainly,” she lied. “I’m an excellent shot.”
    “Fine, you hear anything moving, shoot and ask questions later. Anything comes around here, be it bear or panther or man, shoot to kill.”
    “Does that include you, Sheriff?” The minute she’d said it, Kate wished she could take it back.
    His dark eyes blazed and he took a menacing step toward her. “Try it, sweetheart.”
    Kate swallowed hard. She started raising the revolver. In a flash he was next to her and had taken the gun away from her. He grabbed the sashed waistband of her dress and yanked her up against him. His face was now inches from her own. “Never aim a weapon unless you mean to fire it. You hear me?”
    “Yes.”
    “Damn it to hell, I knew it.”
    “Knew what?” she asked, intensely aware that his slim hips and long legs were pressed flush agains thers. She could feel the power and heat radiating from him.
    “That you’d be trouble. You are trouble. You’ll have trouble. You’ll cause trouble. For yourself. And for me.”
    “That’s a lot of trouble, Sheriff.”
    “Too much trouble.” He released her, stepped back and placed the revolver on the sofa. “Why don’t you be a good girl, pack up and leave before anybody gets hurt?”
    “You must have a hearing disorder, Marshal,” Kate said acidly. “My uncle Nelson was hard of hearing, so I’m used to having to raise my voice to be heard.” She then shouted loudly, “I am staying in Fortune, and if you don’t like it I’d suggest you stay out of my sight.”
    Both annoyed and amused by her determination, Travis raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, Miss VanNam,but I catch you anywhere near a saloon or out on the streets after dark and you’re going to jail.”
    “Fair enough, Marshal,” Kate said. “And if I catch you anywhere near this house after dark, I’ll be forced to shoot you.”

Eight
    T ravis muttered to himself as he walked back to Fortune.
    Damn her to hell!
    Of all the gold camps in all the mountains in all the world, why did she have to wind up in his? Protecting Kate VanNam would be a twenty-four-hour-a-day job, and just himself and his deputy, Jiggs, wouldn’t be enough manpower to keep ten thousand desperate miners at bay.
    Impossible.
    He’d be damned if he’d spend all his time worrying about a woman who didn’t have enough sense to know what she was in for. She’d confront all sorts of problems up there all alone in