Bounty Hunter Read Online Free PDF Page B

bravado until that last part of her admission, which had come out on
     more of a waver.
    Kane felt a tug in the middle of his chest which he steadfastly ignored. Just as he
     ignored the sudden urge to pull her into his arms and tell her it would be all right,
     that he’d protect her.
    What in the hell had gotten into him? He clenched his fists at his sides to keep from
     reaching for her, his blunt nails digging into his palms. “Did someone hurt you? Is
     that why you came here?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet and soft. But when she
     turned her soft brown eyes to his, he reached up to touch her chin without even realizing
     he was doing so.
    Her pupils dilated at his touch. Kane swallowed hard. “Tell me, Annie. Who hurt you?”

THREE
    He watched her pulse vibrate the tender skin below her ear, then he dragged his gaze
     to hers, willing her to answer him with his eyes.
    “No one. I came here to get away.”
    “From what? Who?”
    She looked into his eyes for what seemed an eternity. Her lashes drifted shut for
     several seconds, and Kane knew then that he had lost. She wasn’t going to tell him
     what had happened. Not yet.
    She opened her eyes and said, “No one. I just wanted to be alone for a while.”
    Kane let his fingers drift up along her jaw and tuck a wayward wild red curl behind
     her ear. “Okay,” he said finally. “But can I ask you to do one thing for me?”
    He let his hand drop when she leaned away from his touch.
    “That depends.”
    “When you decide you can trust me, will you tell me what really happened?”
    “But noth—”
    Kane stopped her denial by placing one finger across her lips. “Just don’t lie to
     me.”
    She stepped back so they were no longer touching, staring at him as if uncertain whether
     to break down and confess—or run hard in the opposite direction.
    She did neither, nor did she answer him. She simply walked away. She’d gone about
     ten feet when she turned back to him. “What makes you think someone hurt me?”
    Kane realized he was in trouble. He couldn’t tell her who he was. Who had sent him.
     Shouldn’t want to. But for the first time in his life, he found himself questioning
     his motives. What bothered him even more was the fact that no matter how much he hated
     the unsettling emotions she raised in him, he knew he couldn’t come right out and
     lie to her. Not at this moment. So he told her what he could.
    “My Shoshone name is ‘Eyes of the Hawk.’ It was given to me at age twelve by a tribal
     elder. One of the children had wandered off and become lost. Everyone looked for her
     for hours. I happened to spot her tracks.”
    “How did you know they were hers?”
    “I knew that Lucy always dragged her stuffed dog around with her. I noticed small
     tracks leaving the playground with a drag mark in the dirt between the footprints.
     I followed it and eventually foundher hiding beneath a porch. She’d hidden because she’d torn her dress and thought
     she’d get in trouble.”
    “What does that have to do with me?”
    “I was given the name because I notice things others don’t. Small things most people
     take for granted or are too busy to see.”
    He could tell she hesitated over her next question, and he willed her to ask it.
    “What do you see when you look at me?”
    He walked to stand directly in front of her, but didn’t touch her. He waited until
     she lifted her gaze to his. “I see a woman who needs to be with others. A woman who
     may
need
to be alone, but doesn’t
want
to be alone.”
    A long moment elapsed before she answered him. “You may be right, Eyes of the Hawk,”
     she said in a whisper. “But I don’t want to talk about it. Okay?”
    Kane’s muscles tightened with need. The need to kiss her, to taste her pain and her
     strength, to forge a bond with her that was as physical as it was mental. When she’d
     spoken his Shoshone name, it had moved something deep within him.
    It shook him so badly, he