LITMIR.BIZ

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nothing compared to the frightening nightmare Christina was enduring. Her sister was all the family she had left in this world, and despite the disheartening obstacles in her path, Maddie vowed to stand strong.

      Even while the noble thought blazed through her mind, she felt her body slump in exhaustion. She had been operating on raw nerves for days on end. It would have been so easy to throw up her hands in defeat and fall apart, right where she sat. But her concern for Christina refused to allow her to give up this crusade. Her sister was counting on her.

      Hold your head up high, daughter, her father used to say. Garrets don’t mope around with their chins scraping their chests. No one promised life would be easy. You just keep placing one foot in front of the other and don’t let the troubles that come your way get you down.

      The quiet voice that whispered in her heart usually provided inspiration, but today it brought only tears and a lost, empty feeling that tugged at her soul. Maddie sniffled, wiped the tears from her cheeks, then curled up in the straw. Sighing heavily, she closed her eyes and forced herself to unwind emotionally and allow her tense body to relax.

      After giving herself an hour to rest, and ensuring that gathering darkness would work to her advantage, Maddie eased between the dangling boards and slithered from the livery. Clinging to the shadows, she stepped onto the boardwalk to return to the hotel to confront Jonah again. She intended to leave town at daybreak, and that bullheaded Texas Ranger was going to be riding horseback beside her, she vowed resolutely. He could come willingly—or not. His choice. But he was definitely accompanying her to West Texas to save Christina.

      Maddie recoiled in alarm when an unseen hand snaked out to clamp over the lower portion of her face. She was jerked roughly back against a foul-smelling body.

      “Gotcha,” one of the scoundrels sniggered in her ear.

      Helpless frustration hammered through Maddie when her captor hooked his free arm around her waist, left her feet dangling in midair and carted her into the alley. She battled for all she was worth to escape imminent disaster, quickly discovering that it wasn’t fear that ruled her chaotic emotions, it was fury. She struck her heels against the man’s shins and bit a chunk out of his hand, forcing him to release her.

      Once she was free to snatch a quick breath, Maddie screamed bloody murder, ducked her head and plowed into the second man, who stood directly in her escape route to the boardwalk. She was not going down without a fight, she promised herself as the top of her head collided with the man’s soft underbelly.

      Maddie darted sideways when he swore foully and stumbled over his feet. She thought she was home free as she sprinted toward the street, but his partner tackled her from behind and sent her pitching forward in the dirt. Arms flailing wildly, Maddie kicked like a mule and screamed again at the top of her lungs. Expecting to be clubbed on the head with the butt end of a pistol any moment now, she flopped this way and that, hoping someone would hear her shouts of alarm and come to her rescue.

      And sure enough, a hard thump connected with her skull, causing a starburst of color to explode around her. Maddie wilted in the dirt.

      The world spun out of focus and swallowed her in silence.

       Chapter Two

       J onah was in the restaurant, savoring a bite of juicy steak that had been cooked to his specifications, when he heard a feminine shriek in the distance. Although the other customers merely glanced curiously toward the door, Jonah drew his Colt and was on his feet in a single bound.

      The second shriek put Jonah in a dead run, and he followed the sound to an alley that was two doors down from the restaurant. The instant he spotted the downed female being dragged deeper into the shadows by two men, Jonah charged like a one-man army. He sent one of the men to his knees with a well-aimed kick to the groin. A doubled fist to the jaw left the other spinning like a top before he collapsed in the dirt.

      Jonah reached down to grab a handful of Maddie’s soiled gown and hoisted her up beside him. When her legs folded up like a tent, he curled his injured arm around her waist to lend support. Despite the pain that was throbbing like a son of a bitch in his shoulder he gave her a shake to rouse her to consciousness.

      Big mistake, Jonah realized. She came to, fighting to escape. “Hold still, damn it,” he growled. “It’s just me.”

      “About time you showed up,” she muttered as she sagged heavily against him.

      “You’re welcome,” he snapped sarcastically.

      The feel of her full breasts meshed to his chest and her lower abdomen pressing against his hip were vivid reminders of his unwanted response to this troublesome woman. Hell and damnation, she affected him worse than a rattlesnake bite.

      Despite the ache in his left arm, he didn’t nudge Maddie away as he should have, just steadied her against him. He vented his frustration on the two men, who were staring warily at the speaking end of his Colt.

      “If you boys lay your hands on my wife again I’ll blow them off at the wrists,” he snarled—and wondered why he had claimed she was his wife. Dealing with Maddie had obviously made him crazy. It was the only explanation.

      “Your wife?” the men echoed in unison.

      “That’s right,” Jonah confirmed. “If you go near her there will be hell to pay. Do we understand each other?”

      Both men nodded, then one of them said, “But Maddie is still a thief and she has our money. We’ll let the town marshal deal with her if she doesn’t give it back!”

      The familiar use of her name and the challenging remark triggered another round of uncertainties in Jonah. Maybe Maddie was the world’s biggest con artist and she had stolen their money, but these two rascals weren’t going to drag her off by her heels, search her person and spitefully use her to appease their lust. No matter who or what she really was Jonah refused to stand aside and see her mauled.

      “It is not their money,” Maddie muttered as Jonah drew her backward toward the street. “I don’t know who they are. I swear it. They are nothing but clever—”

      When her voice evaporated and she slumped against him, Jonah grimaced at the excessive pressure on his injured arm. He glanced down to see Maddie’s head loll against his chest and her uncoiled hair cascade over his wrist. She’d fainted, he realized. And most likely at her convenience.

      Muttering at the constant inconvenience this female caused him, he scooped her up in his arms and pivoted toward the hotel. The bystanders who had congregated in the alley parted like a curtain as he carried her across the street.

      Jonah made the mistake of glancing down into Maddie’s ashen face when he stepped into the lighted hotel lobby. She reminded him of a fairy princess who only needed a prince’s kiss to revive her. Well, she might be akin to a princess—who knew for sure?—but he sure as hell was no Prince Charming. He was not going to yield to the temptation of kissing her because he didn’t want to know how she tasted. He was afraid he’d like it too much.

      “My God, what happened to your wife?” Charley Halbert, the hotel proprietor, asked in concern.

      “Too much excitement. She fainted.” Jonah inclined his head toward the door. “Would you trot across the street to pick up my unfinished dinner?” He stared pensively at Maddie, wondering if she’d taken time to eat while she was on the run. As an afterthought he added, “And order a steak for my wife, if you don’t mind.”

      “Sure thing, Mr. Danhill. Always glad to help a Ranger, ever since a Ranger helped me out of a scrape once.” Charley darted off while Jonah ascended the steps.

      He resituated Maddie in his good arm and retrieved the key from his pocket. She roused with a wobbly moan as he carried her into the room to deposit her on his bed. He watched her blink a couple of times to get her bearings before those mesmerizing, tawny-colored eyes settled on him. She appraised his faded black shirt, breeches and scuffed boots before she gazed at his face.

      “You got your hair cut,” she said

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