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  He chuckled. “And you’re basing your conclusion on that?”

  Maddie bolted to her feet before she humiliated herself more than she already had. Jonah provoked too many emotions inside her. If she didn’t leave right now there was no telling what idiotic comments she might blurt out.

  Before she could exit the café Jonah was beside her, taking her arm to escort her onto the street. “Pay attention, hellcat,” he growled in her ear. “You might be on familiar ground, but your friends still want your money.”

  Maddie pulled up short and gathered her composure. Jonah was right. She shouldn’t barrel across the street after dark without paying strict attention to those around her. After the incidents in Coyote Springs and the Flat she knew trouble lurked in the shadows, waiting to pounce.

  Her sharpened gaze darted down the street and she jerked upright when she saw Avery in conversation with one of the cowboys who had followed her back from Fort Worth.

  “Son of a bitch,” Jonah muttered beside her, then jerked her back inside the restaurant. He stared grimly down at her before he turned on his heel and shepherded her through the kitchen, as if he owned the place. Then he tugged her through the back door to the alley.

  “This is beginning to make sense,” Jonah murmured as he towed Maddie along. “I’m thinking your would-be fiancé might have sent a couple of his men to make sure you didn’t return with the ransom money.”

  She stopped in her tracks, only to be uprooted and dragged along at his swift pace. “My God, do you think Avery would stoop that low, to get his hands on my ranch and force me to turn to him for help?”

  “He’s your acquaintance. You tell me. But I suspect he would be ready and willing to hand over the needed money if you agreed to marry him.”

  “Why, that devious, manipulative—”

  Jonah clamped his hand over her mouth when her voice rose to a near shout. “Quiet down. The whole idea here is not to draw attention to ourselves. For sure, you aren’t going through the front door to the hotel.”

  With a sense of urgency, Maddie hurried alongside Jonah.

  Avery Hanson seethed as he watched Jesse Gibbs swagger toward him. “I hope you know that I’m not paying you until you handle this situation I entrusted to you.”

  Gibbs shrugged off Avery’s fuming glare and propped himself negligently against the supporting post of the dry goods store. “And I hope you know this situation didn’t turn out to be as simple as you said it would be,” he countered insolently. “You are definitely going to pay me for my time and trouble. And by the way, Maddie has a husband. Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  “I didn’t know it myself until a few minutes ago,” Avery muttered sourly. “That ruins everything! I already have my hands full trying to keep my impatient creditors at bay. I had my plans for financial recovery laid out nice and neat, and everything falling into place. I was certain that Maddie would turn to me and her ranch would be under my control.” Avery huffed out a frustrated breath. “And now this new development!”

  “She still has the money she brought back from Fort Worth,” Jesse reported as he tugged at the grimy bandanna that encircled his neck. “But the bad news is that she also has a husband and another bodyguard hovering around her. It won’t be as easy to snatch that money with those two men around.”

  Muttering, Avery paced back and forth on the boardwalk. “Easy or not, this is your only chance to steal that money before she returns to her ranch.” He halted and swung his bulky body around to confront Jesse. “And get rid of her husband while you’re at it. It has to be tonight or I’m going to have to devise another plan, pronto. Damn it!” he exclaimed irritably, then dragged in a deep breath and told himself to muffle his voice before someone overheard him. “I’m sure Maddie is staying at the British-owned hotel. Saxon Hotel has the best accommodations and that’s always where she stays when she comes to town.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Jesse said as he pushed himself away from the post. “But I want half my pay now.”

  Scowling, Avery dug into his pocket and handed Jesse all the cash he had on him. “This is all you’re going to get until Maddie’s husband is out of the way and I have that money.” He glanced cautiously around, then stepped into the shadows near the door of the store. “Make damn certain there are no witnesses. I don’t want the blame to come boomeranging back to me. I’ve taken a chance just being seen on the street with you.”

  When Jesse sauntered away, Avery swore foully. He hated having to alter his plans on short notice once he had them all laid out. It made him twitchy, wondering if he had remembered to cover all his tracks. But a sizable fortune hung in the balance and he needed the money to keep afloat and to expand his ranch operation. That new husband of Maddie’s had to go!

  Avery double-checked the supplies in the wagon, then paced nervously, still lost in thought. There was something fishy about this sudden marriage, he mused. It was too convenient. And why would Maddie up and marry a man who was obviously a half-breed when she was a wealthy heiress?

  Avery couldn’t answer that puzzling question, but he reminded himself that it wouldn’t matter after tonight. Jesse Gibbs was handy with a pistol and, for a price, he would eliminate any obstacle that stood in Avery’s way.

  Comforted by the thought, Avery tossed his worries aside and smiled in anticipation of returning home to that certain someone who knew how to help him relax. And tomorrow, all his financial worries would be over, he assured himself. Of course, he would be there to console the young widow and convince her to marry him. He would promise to protect her from future harm—and put himself in position to expand and take control of this entire area of Texas.

  Once he had Maddie in hand he was going to focus on ruining Ward Tipton’s ranch the same way he had undermined the Bar G Ranch. That uppity Brit needed to go back to England where he belonged, Avery decided. The man’s haughty airs annoyed him, and Avery was tired of the rival attention Ward bestowed on Maddie. If Ward Tipton didn’t back off and go away he might find himself staring down the barrel of Jesse Gibbs’s pistol.

  “How do you propose that I return to the hotel without being spotted?” Maddie asked as Jonah emerged from the alley to scan the street.

  “The same way Gibbs and Newton sneaked into your room in the Flat.” Jonah shielded Maddie from view as he bustled her across the street, then ducked into another alley.

  “So you finally believe what I’ve been telling you?” she asked as she hiked up her skirts and sprinted down the alley.

  “Yeah, I guess I do, princess,” Jonah admitted. He grabbed her arm and directed her attention to the windows above them. “Which room is yours?”

  Maddie gestured to the left. “There, but we don’t have a convenient stack of crates at our disposal.”

  Jonah appraised the situation, then scooped Maddie into his arms. Before she realized what he was about to do he had lifted her over his head, planted his hand on her derriere and boosted her upward. Maddie balanced herself on the narrow ledge above the first-story window, grabbed hold of the edge of the building—and lost her footing.

  Swearing, Jonah repositioned himself beneath her. She dropped into his arms, then he set her back to her feet. “Bad idea,” he grumbled as he grabbed her hand and jogged down the alley. “Do you have the money with you?”

  “Yes, it’s tucked in the hem of my skirt…. Now where are we going?”

  “To my room. We have a better chance of sneaking you in there, even if it isn’t the fanciest place in town.” He halted behind one of the saloons that rented rooms on the second floor. “It isn’t much,” Jonah warned her.

  “At this point I don’t care. As long as I don’t have to wake up with a pistol in my throat again.”

  “Boone rented the room beside me, so if trouble arises, he’ll be close at hand,” he assured her.

  Finding an abundance of whiskey crates behind the saloon, Jonah fashioned steps for Maddie to climb. Once she had thrust her leg through the windo
w and disappeared inside, he disassembled the makeshift steps, then strode around the corner.

  The four men that he and Boone had spotted earlier that evening were nowhere to be seen, but Hanson’s loaded wagon still stood beneath the street lantern. The stocky rancher was pacing back and forth on the boardwalk, glancing expectantly around him.

  Jonah had the unshakable feeling that Maddie’s would-be fiancé had a hand in the trouble she’d encountered. Jonah felt like an overly suspicious fool for mistrusting Maddie. He suspected she had been set up to fail on her crusade. Unless Jonah missed his guess—and he doubted that he had—Avery Hanson had sent his henchman to steal the money so Maddie would have to turn to him in desperation.

  “The sneaky bastard.” Jonah scowled, clinging to the shadows as he slinked into the saloon. Tinkling piano music and rowdy laughter filled the room. A cloud of stale smoke hovered over the gaming tables, where calico queens cozied up to the men who had the largest stack of winnings sitting at their elbows.

  Well, so much for trying his hand at the poker tables and inviting the nearest female upstairs to help him forget the woman who had tempted him to the very limits of his restraint. Jonah panned the saloon in search of familiar faces. Gibbs, Newton and Selmon were nowhere to be seen. Of course, Jonah hadn’t met Rance Lewis, so he couldn’t guarantee the man wasn’t lurking about. Boone knew Lewis on sight, but Jonah had no idea where Boone had gotten off to.

  Zigzagging among the tables, Jonah headed upstairs to his room—and to the woman who awaited him. Damn, he’d been so close to getting Maddie off his hands, but fate, that damnable devil, kept tossing her back in his lap.

  And sure as hell, she was going to demand to know why he’d purchased that gold band that he’d placed on her finger while Hanson watched.

  “What’s this for?” Maddie asked the instant Jonah entered his compact room.

  “Protection,” he explained as she waved the ring under his nose. “I figured if you had a wedding band on your finger it would discourage the wanna-be fiancés who keep hounding you. All the better that I had the chance to meet one of your eager beaus in person. He can verify that I actually exist.”

  With a pensive nod she slipped the band back on her finger. It was a bit large, for Jonah had had to guess at the size. An odd feeling settled inside him when he glanced at her hand and that ring. Their pretend marriage didn’t seem such a hoax since he’d made the purchase. It seemed as if she truly did belong with him.

  Jonah gave himself a mental shake when the ridiculous thought jammed in his mind. He might not be the smartest hombre on the continent, but he had enough brains to know that he and Maddie were completely mismatched. He was a nomadic tumbleweed of a half-breed who only commanded respect and courtesy when folks noticed his badge. Maddie, however, was a land baroness who had men champing at the bit to claim her and take control of her property.

  Not a bad bargain, Jonah mused. And despite what Maddie thought, she was more than enough incentive to entice a man into marriage—with or without her valuable property and trust fund.

  Just not Jonah Danhill. He didn’t deserve a woman of Maddie’s wealth and obvious good breeding. Furthermore, he had not one damn thing to offer her. Except himself. And God knew that he was no prize.

  Maddie smiled appreciatively as she twisted the ring on her finger. “That was very thoughtful of you, Jonah. I’m sure I can count on Avery to spread the word that he’s met my husband.” When she glanced up at Jonah another shaft of desire struck below his belt buckle.

  “When the right man comes along, you can shed that band and announce that you’re recently widowed or divorced,” he suggested.

  “The right man already came along.” Her smile faltered as she stared at him. “He just doesn’t want me.”

  “Maddie…” he said warningly. “If you’re referring to me, I—”

  Jonah’s throat closed up when she walked purposely toward him and halted close enough for her unique scent to bombard his senses. Damn it, he’d made dozens of bargains with himself, trying to keep his distance from temptation. But he’d become a sentimental softy when he faced the realization that this was the last time he’d see this golden-eyed beauty who had an uncanny knack of getting under his skin—repeatedly.

  “What is it about me that you find so lacking?” she asked somberly. “Not pretty enough? Too sassy and independent?”

  Not pretty enough? Hell! She was the most bewitching, alluring female he’d ever encountered. Too sassy and independent? He liked that about her—even if she exasperated him occasionally with that willful mind of her own.

  “Too unskilled in the art of pleasing a man?” she questioned when he didn’t choose answer A or B. “If that’s the case, perhaps I should hire you to teach me how to please you,” she suggested impulsively.

  Her comment sucked the breath clean out of his lungs and rendered him speechless. His heart slammed against his ribs and stuck there. He stared down at her luscious mouth and wanted it like nothing he’d ever known. He glanced up at the knot of curly hair that she’d coiled atop her head and he burned to get his fingers in the golden strands, knowing they would feel like silk sliding over his hands.

  And that wasn’t all he desired, he mused as his all-consuming gaze drifted over the swanlike column of her neck and dropped to the full swells of her breasts. He itched to touch her familiarly, to learn every shapely contour of her body by taste. And more than that, he wanted to mold her body against his, bury himself in her womanly softness and savor the tantalizing pleasure he had envisioned so often in his dreams.

  He yearned for her to be his wife—pretend or otherwise—for just one night. He wanted the right and privilege to teach her what passion was all about. But she deserved better than that, deserved a man who didn’t come with an unflattering stigma. A man who knew how to stay in one place and put down roots.

  Jonah wouldn’t know the first thing about that. He’d been raised with the Comanche, who followed the buffalo, then pulled up stakes to find winter campgrounds before moving on in the spring. He served with the Rangers, who rode from one trouble spot to the next. Jonah wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he couldn’t drift with the wind.

  Maddie wanted to shake Jonah until his teeth rattled for simply standing there, staring down at her with those penetrating green eyes. She had brazenly asked him to make love to her one time before he went away. What did a woman have to do to tempt this invincible warrior?

  Suddenly she recalled the teasing remark Jonah had made days ago. He’d said he would reverse direction and leave after he’d seen her naked. Determined of purpose, she veered around Jonah to lock the door. He arched a wary brow as he glanced over his shoulder. His gaze settled intently on her as she pivoted to snuff out the lantern.

  “This is what you asked for,” she reminded him as she unfastened the tiny buttons on the bodice of her gown.

  “Damn it, Maddie, don’t,” he choked out.

  The moonlight that filtered through the window provided more than enough light for Jonah to see her tapered fingers moving over the buttons. He swallowed against the boulder that had somehow lodged in his throat as the pale green fabric gaped to reveal the thin chemise clinging to her breasts. He was hard and aching in the time it took to swallow with a strangled gulp.

  “Name your price, Danhill.” She pushed the gown to her hips, then stepped away from the pool of fabric that encircled her feet.

  She stood before him in the flimsy chemise and pantaloons, and Jonah groaned at the enticing sight. “Maybe it would be best for both of us if you took this matter up with Boone,” he chirped, his intense gaze flooding helplessly over her.

  “But Boone isn’t who I want.” She stepped toward him. Her arms glided over his rigid shoulders as she tilted her head back to stare directly at him. “It’s you, Jonah. I’m only asking for one night. Is that too much to request of you?”

  When she cupped her hand around the back of his neck and brought his head steadily t
oward hers Jonah knew he was going to buckle to the forbidden fantasy that had been dancing in his mind since he’d first met Maddie. His tormenting desire was going to lead him straight to hell. He’d resisted maddening temptation for as long as he could stand, and he was quickly losing the ability to reason. For this one night he was going to savor the passion and emotion she called from him, and cast common sense to the wind.

  “Damn, but you drive a hard bargain,” he growled as he nipped at her petal-soft lips and gathered her in his arms.

  “That’s because I know exactly what I want,” she whispered between steamy kisses. “What I need right now is you to help me forget the hellish day we’ve had.”

  “All I want is to get you naked,” he rasped as he tugged impatiently at the chemise. “And to keep you that way until dawn.”

  “I’m glad we finally agree wholeheartedly on something,” she teased as she pushed the shirt from his shoulders.

  The instant her hands and lips coasted over Jonah’s laboring chest the frayed threads of his noble restraint snapped. He’d never felt so desperate and needy in his life, but he’d be damned if he’d rush through this night with Maddie. He vowed to savor her, to revel in every moment that she was in his bed. If he was going to make a colossal mistake, then it was going to be the best one he’d ever made.

  He scooped her lush body into his arms, pulled back the quilts and bent his knee to lay her gently on his bed. In the dim light he could see the enchanting smile that played on her lips, and he grinned back at her.

  “What?” he asked as he stepped back to unfasten his holster and drop it within easy reach of the bed. He pulled the dagger from his boot and unfastened the sheath on his arm. His gaze never left hers as he laid his weapons on the end table.

  “It occurs to me that I should be thoroughly ashamed and demoralized that I have to pay a man to make love with me,” she murmured as she reached out to draw him down beside her.