Gunslinger Read Online Free PDF Page B

smile faded. What in the hell was wrong with him? When he was around the enticing Miss Chloe Sommers, all he could think about was sex and how he’d like to peel those trousers down her long legs and awaken the woman hiding within her masculine attire. Unfortunately, lusting after the woman he’d been paid to ruin wasn’t a good idea.
    Then again, what could it hurt?
    Her full red lips lured him. Seduced him. He leaned in for a stolen kiss and felt the cold barrel of a gun poking him in a place so vital he blanched. His brows shot upward and he slowly backed away, his hands flung upward in surrender.
    “Whoa, lady, take it easy. Point that gun elsewhere. I’m kinda fond of the family jewels.”
    “Ours is strictly a business arrangement, Mr. Jones. I do not like to be touched, is that clear? Keep that in mind and we’ll deal well with one another. You can take your gear to the bunkhouse. If you’re hungry, go to the cookhouse. Randy will rustle you up some grub to hold you over till supper.”
    Desperado heard little beyond her remark about not wanting to be touched. Had he mistaken the interest in her eyes when she gazed at him?
    “I’m not hungry. I’ll take my gear to the bunk-house and have a look around, talk to some of the drovers, see what’s going on.” He started to walk away, then whirled around to face her. “By the way, just so you’ll be prepared, I’ll be touching you again. Only the next time I’ll make sure your guns are lying on the ground beside your clothes. And the only thing primed and loaded will be me.”
    The battle Chloe waged to keep herself from raising her gun and shooting the smirk off Desperado’s face was a fierce one. She feared she’d made a terrible mistake. She had troubles enough without butting heads with a half-breed gunslinger with a hankering for her body. Men were all alike. They were base creatures driven by the appendage that hung between their legs. They took what they wanted from a woman without so much as a by-your-leave and didn’t care who they hurt to satisfy their needs.
    It wasn’t Desperado she saw when she’d pulled her gun. It was Tate Talbot, despoiler of innocent women. At one time she had been enamored of Tate. He’d come calling on her, and her mother had approved of the courtship. But she’d learned the hard way that Tate wasn’t the man she thought he was. He could be cruel and vicious when he wanted something he couldn’t have. It galled her to think she had fallen for his line of bull. One night Tate had taken her to a dance in town. He started to drink, and when he drove her home he—
    “Miss Chloe, is that the gunslinger everyone in town is talking about?”
    Chloe slapped her gun back in her holster and discarded her painful recollections long enough to answer the young towheaded cowboy who had trotted up to join her.
    “His name is Desperado Jones, Cory,” Chloe said. “I hired him to guard the herd during the trail drive.”
    Cory’s young face took on a belligerent look. “Don’t know why we need a hired gunslinger. Me and the boys can take care of trouble.”
    “You and the boys will be busy tending to the herd. Hiring Mr. Jones was a precautionary measure. I need to get those cattle to the railhead safely, and you all know the dangers involved. I explained about Calvin Talbot before you hired on. He’ll do anything to keep me from selling the herd.”
    “I reckon,” Cory said sullenly. “But there’s some who won’t like having a hired gun around. Take Rowdy for example, he’s hotheaded and rattlesnake mean when riled. I hope Jones don’t think because we’re young we ain’t capable.”
    Chloe had had no idea her drovers felt like that. She’d thought they’d be pleased as punch to have an experienced gunman along on the trail drive. Not only would she have to keep Desperado Jones under control, but now it looked as if she had to keep peace between the cowboys and the gunslinger.
    Desperado Jones walked into the