The Lawman Meets His Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

to the level of holding a gun on someone.
    However, even more surprising than her comment was his reaction to it.
    The impact on him was visible and startling. Something desperate and frightened flashed in those variable eyes of his. Not anger, precisely, but somehow she had touched a very raw nerve.
    “No,” he told her. “No. It’s…”
    His voice trailed off, and he waved his free hand in a dismissive oh-what’s-the-use gesture. “It’s not what you think,” he finished, offering no more.
    “Mr. Henning, please, I don’t—”
    “It’s Quinn Loudon, not George Henning.”
    “Well who ever you are, I don’t understand. You say it’s not what I think it is. I assure you, I don’t know what to think.”
    He still stood outside in the newly gathering darkness. Instead of answering her, Loudon cast a nervous glance back toward the road. The temperature was going down with the sun, and she saw him shiver in his business suit.
    “Come with me,” he told her.
    Alarm made her pulse race. “Where…where are we going?”
    “Look, just get a grip, would you? We’re not going anywhere. I’m not a rapist or a killer, and believe me, I don’t want you here any more than you want to be here. Right now I just want to hide the cars behind the cabin, and I want you in my sight while I do it,all right? Do you think both vehicles will fit back there?”
    “I really couldn’t tell you,” she said cautiously. “Hiding cars from the law isn’t my specialty.”
    “Who said I’m hiding anything from the law? Maybe I am the law.”
    She looked at the gun in his hand. “No you’re not. You’re just a criminal swaggering around like a big man, frightening unarmed women. What’s next, a raid on a daycare center?”
    Now anger did indeed spark in those compelling eyes of his. But he slipped the gun back into its holster under his jacket.
    When she still refused to move outside, he seized her under one elbow and tugged her out into the yard. His grip felt strong as a steel trap and intimidated her into passivity. He could do plenty of damage without a gun, she had to admit to herself with a chill inching down her spine.
    “Get in,” he ordered her, opening the passenger door of the Jeep.
    The moment she did, she remembered the keys were in the ignition. By the time he’d limped around to the driver’s door, she had managed to lock both doors and scoot behind the steering wheel.
    She keyed the ignition and the engine coughed to life. She ground the gearshift into reverse just a moment before he smashed out the driver’s window with the butt of his gun.
    She went nowhere. The parking brake held. His hand like a warm vise pressed into her throat.
    “ Don’t test me,” he growled in a low, rough voice. “I’m a very desperate man, Miss Adams.”

    Only one question looped through her mind: Would he really hurt her?
    One part of her didn’t think so—some things about him just didn’t seem to tally up as criminal—a violent criminal, at any rate. His speech, for one thing, and his appearance.
    Then again, she recalled bitterly, he wouldn’t be the first callow man who fooled the decent with good tailoring. Doug, too, had been a natty dresser with impeccable manners. And face it, she admonished herself. He’d played her like a piano.
    Closing her eyes, she surrendered the need to fight. The crime playing out now wasn’t about credit cards and sweet lies of love. She knew nothing about the man before her. The only thing she did know was that he was at least giving her a warning—something Doug had never done. If she was a fool and underrated the man’s evil capacity, she could end up dead. So she had to take heed. She had to.
    He leaned one meaty shoulder through the window and took the car keys. She moved over into the passenger’s seat as if he burned her.
    Noticeably favoring his hurt left leg, he climbed in and drove the Jeep around back. He parked as close to the cabin as he could.
    “Should be just