Wanted Read Online Free PDF Page A

being; he hadn’t known until he had done it.
    He tried to push the feeling away, though he knew it would always be with him. Nick had done a lot of things as a kid, conned and cheated and even stolen, but he’d never felt as if he’d really hurt someone, taken from someone who couldn’t afford it. And now, feeling the responsibility for Andy and Lori, he was trying his damnedest to mend his ways.
    The cabin looked peaceful, welcoming. He spurred his horse into a trot and rode up to it. As he tied the horse to one of the new fence railings, he felt its sturdiness with no little satisfaction.
    He strode to the door, smiling. Lori would be pleased with his catch. She excelled at rabbit stew, using wild chives and potatoes and the spices she hoarded.
    He opened the door and stopped suddenly. Instead of Lori, he found himself looking at a man sitting relaxed in one of his chairs, a six-shooter pointed straight at him.
    The man’s face was covered with a week’s growth of beard, and a mustache sat above his lips. Nick had once grown a mustache, then shaved it off.
    But he realized in that split second that if he had allowed it to grow, he might well have been looking at himself in a mirror.
    And he saw that same, stunned knowledge in the cold, hard eyes of the man holding a gun on him.

CHAPTER TWO
    Morgan studied the other man with wary interest. He had known from the poster, of course, that Nicholas Braden resembled him, but he hadn’t expected a likeness this remarkable.
    Braden was probably five pounds heavier, his hair a little longer. While more tidily cut than Morgan’s, it curled slightly in the same unmanageable way.
    Most startling was the color of Braden’s eyes, almost the same dark indigo-blue under thick dark eyebrows. Morgan had more lines around his, engraved there by many hours in the sun, and his mouth had a harder look to it, a slight twist that reflected his own deep cynicism. Braden’s eyes appeared a degree lighter, but that might have been the light in the room, and they were more curious than cynical. His skin wasn’t as weathered, as sun darkened as Morgan’s, and Morgan noted instantly that Braden wore his gun on the left rather than the right, as Morgan did.
    But other than those slight differences, seeing Nicholas Braden was like looking in a mirror. An involuntary shiver snaked down Morgan’s back as he registered all the details. He could almost believe kinship if he hadn’t known it impossible. He had the odd feeling that he was about to arrest himself.
    He shook the notion from his mind. “Drop those rabbits on the table,” he said curtly, “then your gunbelt.”
    Braden didn’t move. “Where’s my sister?”
    â€œThe little hellion? Safe enough, Braden, if you do as you’re told.”
    Anger flushed Braden’s face. “If you’ve hurt her …”
    â€œYou’re in no position to make threats,” Morgan said, his gaze lowering for just a second to his Colt Peacemaker.
    â€œWho in the hell are you?”
    â€œMorgan Davis. Texas Ranger. And now you have five seconds to drop that gunbelt.”
    Morgan watched as Braden hesitated, obviously weighing his options and finding them wanting. Morgan half expected to find the rabbits thrown in his face, and he prepared himself for just such an attack.
    Finally Braden carefully set down the rabbits and unbuckled his gunbelt, lowering it to the floor. “Lori?”
    â€œLike I said, safe enough.” Morgan stood. “Step away from the gun.”
    â€œWhat are you going to do?”
    â€œTake you back to Texas.”
    Braden’s face darkened, his body tensing. “I’ve dropped the gun,” he said grimly. “Now where’s my sister?”
    â€œSafe,” Morgan said. “Not far from here.”
    Braden moved a step toward him. “You haven’t hurt her …”
    â€œI think it’s the other