Taken by the Cowboy Read Online Free PDF

Jessica,
"Come and see me when he releases you. I'll provide you with a
place to stay." He slipped a card to her with his name and address
written on it. “And don’t tell anyone what you’ve just told me.
There’s more you need to know first. I’ll explain when I see
you.”
    Turning away, he tipped
his hat at the sheriff, and left Jessica standing there with her
mouth agape.
    Sheriff Wade unbuckled
his gun belt and hung it on the hook next to his hat. "You can go
home, Dempsey. I'll look after Miss Delaney for the night." He sat
down in the chair and threw his long legs up onto the desk. Jessica
looked at Deputy Dempsey for help, but he'd already disappeared
through the door, which was bouncing on its hinges.
    "Don't expect me to
answer any questions without my lawyer present," she said.
    Sheriff Wade studied
her intently. "I've never met anyone so fixed on having their
lawyer around."
    "I know my rights."
    "You certainly do
advocate that." He looked down at her belted jacket and noticed the
torn pocket. "Do you have any other clothes? You're covered in
mud."
    "No," she replied and
gave a little shiver.
    "I'll see if I can get
something else for you to wear."
    Wade rose from the
chair and crossed the room toward the staircase. The flame in the
kerosene lamp flickered as he passed by, and Jessica breathed a
sigh of relief to be out from under his concentrated scrutiny.
    A few minutes later,
his black leather boots came tapping heavily down the stairs.
Jessica stood up and watched him approach with a pale blue calico
dress and some white cotton petticoats draped over his arm.
    Just before he passed
the garments to her, he ran his hand gently, almost tenderly,
across the lace neckline. "This should fit,” he said, “though it
may need hemming. You're not as tall as...as my wife."
    Jessica reached out to
take the garments from him and pulled them carefully through the
bars.
    She noticed there was
no corset, but he probably assumed she was already wearing one.
"Your wife won’t mind?"
    He leaned one elbow on
the tall cabinet and glanced out the window. "I doubt it."
    Jessica held the dress
up in front of her. It was like something out of an old movie. "I
don’t know about this. Look at this petticoat.
Geez
. I’m
going to get all caught up in it. I'll be tripping all over the
place."
    "Put it on," he said.
"At least you'll look like a lady, even if you can't sound like
one."
    “I assure you, Sheriff,
I'm every inch a lady."
    He gave her a quick
once over from head to foot, as if studying all those inches she
had just referred to, then he lifted the black hat from its hook on
the wall, placed it on his head and buckled his gun belt around his
hips.
    Slowly, with a wildly
sexy lawman’s swagger, he walked toward her.
    A dizzying current of
heat shot through her veins, and she took an instinctive step back,
forgetting for a moment that there were bars between them.
    "Blue's your color," he
said, his voice silky smooth.
    Jessica tried to ignore
the sudden rush of adrenalin that fired her blood. "I appreciate
the compliment,” she said. “But I have a question for you, Sheriff
Wade.”
    He lounged casually
against the bars and waited.
    “Are you a
gentleman?”
    He paused. “I like to
think so.”
    “Then how about looking
the other way?” she suggested. “I’d like a little privacy before I
unbutton my blouse, if you don’t mind."
    For a brief second, his
eyes seemed playful. Then he chuckled. "Everybody wants privacy
tonight. What a shame, in your case.” He politely fingered the brim
of his black hat, then turned to go. “I'll be right outside."
    Jessica paused a
moment, her mood softened by the warm blush of heat that rose to
her cheeks.
    Sheriff Wade was one
seriously handsome man—and as she’d just discovered, a bit of a
flirt, too.
    She had best be careful
around him, because she always did have a thing for gorgeous hunks
in cowboy boots.
    "No peeking through the
window," she said.
    “I’ll try to