Wanted Read Online Free

single glance.
    Morgan sighed. He’d known this wasn’t going to be easy. It was never easy to take someone with kin around, but he’d never encountered a woman like this, one who so readily defied a man so much larger and better armed than herself. He had hoped …
    Hell, he didn’t know what he’d hoped. He only knew what he had to do now.
    He gazed around the cabin, looking for what he needed. There was a man’s shirt hanging on a peg in the corner. That would have to do.
    Holding on to her bound wrists, he moved over to the peg, forcing her to follow. He took the shirt and momentarily released her while he reached down swiftly and picked up the knife she had dropped.
    She turned, watching him with those hostile golden eyes, as he cut the shirt into strips. She obviously sensed what was coming, because her jaw set stubbornly, and her wide mouth firmed into a straight, angry line.
    She was tall, but the top of her head still came below his chin. She had to look up at him, and he felt the waves of enmity radiate from her. Strands of her honey-blond hair had come loose from the ribbon during their brief struggle and fell alongside her face.
    â€œOpen your mouth,” he ordered, balling a piece of material in his hand.
    She didn’t say anything, refusing to give him the opportunity to stuff the gag into her mouth. She just stood there and looked at him, her lips firmly pressed together.
    He shrugged. “We’ll do it the hard way, then.”
    Just then her leg reached out again for his one still-aching vulnerability, but this time he was ready and stepped back. She was barely able to regain her balance, but she did so, and stood quietly.
    Morgan didn’t kid himself. If he tried to force her mouth open, she would bite. This woman was oblivious to the fact that she was bested, by strength if nothing else. He was irritated by the admiration he was beginning to feel for her, and damned annoyed she was making things so confoundedly difficult.
    How long before Braden returned? If he had heard the shot, he would probably be back by now. At least that was one thing that hadn’t gone wrong.
    â€œI want your brother alive,” he said, “but if you make that impossible, I won’t hesitate to kill him. Do you understand that?”
    She nodded.
    â€œThen open your mouth, Lori. Or so help me God, I’ll leave you here hog-tied, and you can yell as much as you want. I’ll just wait and ambush him as he rides in.” He paused, allowing the words to echo in the room, in her mind, then added, “I don’t miss, Lori, and I don’t shoot to wound.”
    At the blatant threat to kill her brother, her eyes measured him and openly found him contemptible. But even as her gaze burned holes through him, there was a question in them. What would he do if she did as he ordered?
    Did she really care for her brother that much?
    â€œI want him alive,” Morgan said again.
    â€œAnd then what?” she asked suspiciously.
    â€œI’m taking him back to Texas for trial.”
    â€œThat’s a long way.”
    Morgan didn’t say anything. Texas was a long way. A lot of things could happen between Wyoming and Texas—but not if her brother was dead.
    â€œHe didn’t murder anyone,” she said suddenly, an unexpected plea in her face.
    â€œThat’s not my affair. My job is taking him back.”
    â€œLew Wardlaw owns that town. Nick won’t have a chance.”
    Morgan shrugged. Everyone was innocent.
    â€œYou don’t even care?”
    â€œA judge and jury decide that.”
    â€œNot in Harmony.”
    He realized she was stalling for time and he forced himself to look away from her golden-amber eyes. God, a man could get lost in them. It would do him well to remember that this particular flower had sharp thorns. The pain in his crotch made remembering easy.
    â€œEnough, Lori. Open your mouth.”
    â€œYou won’t …