Lone Star Loving Read Online Free PDF

scare tactics.”
    â€œYe’ll think of something.”
    That had been Fredericksburg; this was the aftermath of Laredo. His curiosity had been appeased. As for keeping her virginity intact, there was a good chance Charity was no flower of purity, given that she’d run off after that Blyer character, then had taken up with Gonzáles and his lot, which spoke chapters about her nature.
    Spunky might have its allure, but an outlaw woman went against the grain of a man who fought for right, not wrong.
    Anyway, the Old One would get her descendant to an attorney. Hawk squinted at the stars before he strode into the physician’s shack. All he had to do was get Charity to the powwow point in Uvalde, then escort the two women to the Four Aces Ranch.
    Then Hawk would be done with her.

Chapter Four
    A minute or so after vowing to be done with Charity McLoughlin posthaste, Hawk entered the sleeping room that was lined with the paraphernalia of medical science. But his eyes didn’t linger on the stoppered bottles, nor the shelves of medical books, nor the instruments of Sam’s trade.
    Hawk eyed his captive. A lantern cast a soft glow over her shapely form. Her hands shackled to the rungs of an iron bedstead, she lay dressed atop a worn quilt. Her skirts had worked their way up to her knees, displaying worn velvet slippers and curvaceous legs.
    â€œNot bad,” he murmured to himself. “For a hellcat.”
    His gaze moved upward. Wavy hair, long and luxurious, cascaded across her shoulders and down to her nipped waist, and his fingers strummed the air in a rhythm suddenly and irrationally impatient to twine through those locks. His glance settled on cheeks tinged with roses, then on a lush mouth opened slightly as if in invitation. His head moved downward.
    Back off. She’s trouble you don’t need.
    Were the situation different, though–if Charity were a different sort, or if he were nothing more than a kidnapper out for his own gain–Hawk would crawl in bed with her and find out just how much was spunk and how much was bluster.
    He grew hard just thinking about it.
    Hard and hot.
    Gulping a couple of drafts of air to ease his engorged lower region, Hawk shucked the fringed jacket, leaving his torso clad in a cotton shirt. He felt somewhat relieved. He turned from the sleeping woman; when he did, he heard the bedclothes rustle.
    â€œYou dirty, low-down polecat,” he heard her mutter.
    Keeping his eyes on the door and his back to Charity, he stopped his retreat. “You’ve awakened.”
    â€œBrilliant deduction.”
    â€œAre you feeling all right?”
    â€œWhat a question. Of course I’m not all right.”
    From the venom spewing from her tongue, Hawk figured the chloroform hadn’t upset her stomach.
    The iron posts protested as she tried to get free. “Unlock these blasted shackles,” she ordered.
    â€œAre you hungry?”
    â€œI said unlock these manacles!”
    â€œNot a good idea. But I am willing to feed you some dinner, Miss Charity McLoughlin. There’s a pot of venison stew simmering. Sure you wouldn’t like a bit of supper?”
    Silence descended; it didn’t take glancing over his shoulder to know she was skewering him with a look of loathing.
    He decided to get the rules of the warpath straight. “Charity, you are my captive. And I give the orders. You can make it easy on yourself. Or you can make things difficult. Take your pick. Now, I’m not going to unlock the handcuffs. Understand? But I am willing to feed you, and I suspect you may be hungry, so do you want the stew, or not?”
    He wondered what would win out, her hunger or her defiance.
    â€œI . . . I do.”
    â€œGood girl.”
    He quit the room.
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    Those turquoise eyes were half closed, yet the anger in them was full-blown when Hawk carried a bowl of stew into the sleeping room. “Charity, I’ll have to prop you up with