The Bounty Hunter and the Heiress Read Online Free

Eva then, just as this man intrigued her now.
    â€œWell? What’s it gonna be?” he said, jostling her from her pensive thoughts. “In my bed or out the door?”
    â€œNeither,” she replied. “My sister fell for the wiles of a conniving swindler who professed his undying love and devotion. They were supposedly on their way to elope when he took a share of her inheritance and left her afoot. I want the bastard tracked down. I want the money returned to my sister and I want retribution for her humiliation and heartbreak.”
    Raven stood there, his hands on his lean hips, shaking his coal-black head. “No, I just returned from three hard weeks of tracking thieves. They shot my horse out from under me and I need time to train a dependable mount. Get someone else to help you.”
    â€œThen name someone reliable and trustworthy,” she demanded. “And he better be as good as you’re reported to be.”
    â€œThere’s…” He paused, frowned then flicked his wrist dismissively. “No, he’s too trigger-happy. But you might try…” He shook his head again. “Never mind him. He’s a drunk.”
    Eva elevated her brow and stared pointedly at the whiskey bottle on the nightstand. “Seems to me that the pot is calling the kettle black.”
    â€œI’m lamenting the loss of a good horse and celebrating the end of three weeks of exhausting hell,” he defended righteously. “That’s different from a man who has whiskey for breakfast, lunch, supper and a bedtime snack.”
    Eva crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently. “Who then, if not you?”
    Raven raked his hand through his long hair then shrugged impossibly broad shoulders. “Try the Rocky Mountain Detective Agency.”
    â€œThat is not an option,” she said in no uncertain terms.
    He studied her curiously. “Why not?”
    She refused to meet his green-gold eyes and stared over his wide shoulders. “I have my reasons. I want you and apparently you can’t think of anyone good enough, either, so it’s settled. We will leave in the morning and I’ll pay you half your fee then. You’ll receive the second half when the fugitive is brought to justice.”
    â€œWe?” He barked a laugh. “That wouldn’t happen. If by some remote chance it did, it would cost you double because I’d have to babysit a tenderfoot sissy like you. No thanks. I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
    Frustrated, Eva stamped her foot. “You are exasperating and infuriating!” she muttered.
    He flashed a mischievous grin. “Part of my charm.”
    â€œCharm?” She scoffed as she raked him up and down, trying exceptionally hard not to become sidetracked by his rippling muscles and bronzed flesh. Not to mention those fascinating eyes and the seductive gap at the waistband of his breeches. Try as she may, she couldn’t keep her gaze from straying to the dark furring of hair that disappeared into his buckskin breeches.
    He unstrapped the dagger tied to his thigh and tossed it on the nightstand. She watched him cautiously, wondering if he was going to drop his breeches in front of her, wondering how she was going to react to seeing her first naked man.
    Despite her bravado, the only person she had seen naked was herself and she didn’t think it was going to be at all the same.
    â€œI’m not taking your case,” he declared as he heeled off his moccasins. “I’m going to bed because I’m about as worn out as a man can get. So take a hike.” He bent at the waist to untie his leather leggings. “I’m through talking to you.”
    Eva noticed the scars on his muscled back. Two long, deep strips of discolored skin resembled claw marks. The other scars must have come from a whip, she speculated. It left her to wonder at the torture he’d endured as he passed