The Outlaw and the Lady Read Online Free PDF

and the world that she didn’t need anyone in order to survive. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
    Of course, the fact that she was in this predicament to begin with might detract from her victory, should she ever achieve it.
    “ Señorita , we don’t have all day!” Roberto yelled.
    “I’m trying to hurry,” she sang back, laying out her last row of cards.
    She heard footsteps growing louder, then fainter, as though someone was pacing a short distance behind her—no doubt Raven, waiting for her to announce she was finished. She turned over the top card.
    The ultimate satisfaction would reside in capturing him herself. Although even if she somehow managed to meet that goal, she wasn’t certain how she would deliver him anywhere.
    More often than not, she considered her blindness a minor inconvenience, but sometimes it proved a definite disadvantage. The most she could realistically hope for was escape. The sooner the better, because the farther she traveled from home, the less likely she thought it that he would keep his promise and return her to her family.
    Why would a notorious outlaw even bother to make such a promise? He obviously put his needs first; otherwise, he would never have abducted her.
    As for Raven’s concern about her welfare…she didn’t trust him. He had another motive inmind, no doubt the ransom he’d mentioned earlier. Her father would pay handsomely for her return, and her mortification would be complete with the undeniable evidence that her independence was little more than an invisible thread tethering her to family and home.
    As she placed the eight of hearts on the nine of spades, she heard a pop and froze. It couldn’t be Raven. No approaching footsteps had provided warning of his imminent return, and she’d definitely heard his retreat. Her active imagination was running wild. Slowly releasing her tension, she turned over another card.
    “The black jack—” Raven began.
    She yelped at his irascible voice, near enough that the air shimmied.
    “Goes on the red queen,” he finished.
    He plucked the card from her fingers. Anger shot through her with the intensity of a thunderstorm. “You promised me privacy.”
    “You swore you were going to ruin my saddle.” He snatched the deck from her hand.
    “Give those back to me! They’re mine!”
    “I think you have played enough, señorita , with the cards and with me.”
    For the first time, she actually heard rage slithering through his voice as though he’d spoken with his teeth clenched.
    “Get up!” he ordered in a voice that announced he’d brook no argument.
    Still, she licked her lips and decided to try to squirm her way out of his bad favor. “I can explain. You see, I have to relax before I can—”
    She shrieked as he unexpectedly grabbed her arm and jerked her to her feet. “You will have the remainder of the day to relax.”
    The fury shimmering off him was palpable as he marched her away from her sanctuary, his hold on her arm firm but not bruising. She felt his gun brush against her leg. He was left-handed. Another tidbit of information to store away and share with Kit Montgomery, who she was certain would welcome anything she could add to his knowledge regarding this outlaw. She swept her free hand across her stomach, closer to his hip. If she could just grab his gun…she knew she wouldn’t have much time, but if she caught him unawares—
    “Hey, Lee, what is that cloud of dust rising up behind us?” Jorge asked.
    She was jarred as Raven turned, no doubt to look over his shoulder, and provided her with an unexpected opportunity to fall, seemingly innocently, against him. She curled her fingers around the smooth handle, twisted her body to block any attempt he made to stop her, and managed to draw the revolver from his holster. He swore harshly as she broke free of his grasp and backed up quickly, gripping the handle with both hands as she pointed the barrel toward the last place where she