Wanted Read Online Free PDF

way around,” Morgan said ruefully, moving the gun slightly in warning. He threw the pair of wrist irons over to Braden, who let them drop to the floor.
    â€œPick them up and put them on.” Morgan’s voice was like the handcuffs he’d thrown—hard, merciless.
    Braden eyed them as a man might look at a rattlesnake.
    â€œDo it, Braden. I don’t have to take you back alive.”
    â€œI’m worth as much dead as alive, am I?” Braden said bitterly.
    â€œFive thousand dollars, either way.” Morgan watched Braden’s face pale. Apparently the man hadn’t known.
    Braden’s gaze didn’t falter, though, didn’t move away from his. Morgan realized Braden was no coward. Nor a fool. He was weighing Morgan, just as Morgan was weighing him.
    Braden finally spoke after digesting news of his worth. “Why don’t you just have done with it now?”
    â€œI don’t fancy traveling with a corpse for weeks,” Morgan said, “but give me trouble, and I’ll endure it right enough. Now lock those handcuffs on, and we’ll go see how your sister is making out.”
    Something flickered in Braden’s eyes. Then he picked up the irons and fastened them on himself. The chain between them was no more than twelve inches, having been made to Morgan’s specifications.
    Morgan rose slowly and holstered his own pistol, then picked up Braden’s gunbelt and draped it over his shoulder. “First,” he said, “we’ll fetch my horse and then see to Miss Lori.”
    Morgan wasn’t proud of using a woman as a weapon, but he soothed what reservations he had by assuring himself his plan was easier on everyone than killing Braden.
    He prodded his captive again. “Up that hill.”
    Braden hung back. “What’s a Texas Ranger doing in Wyoming?”
    â€œIn case you haven’t noticed, Braden, it’s my face on that poster as well as yours, and I’ve already had to kill because of it.”
    â€œMy life for yours, is that it?” Braden said bitterly.
    â€œ You killed that boy, I didn’t.”
    â€œThat boy was a man aiming to murder my brother.”
    â€œSo you murdered him instead.” Morgan made his voice deliberately contemptuous. He saw no need in continuing this conversation. His only job was bringing the man in. “Get going, Braden.”
    Braden moved slowly, obviously testing him, his forbearance, his alertness.
    â€œThe longer you take,” Morgan said, “the longer your sister is going to be very uncomfortable.” He was learning what motivated his prisoner, what prods to use. What would he use tomorrow? Or the days after, when the sister was gone?
    Braden picked up his pace, Morgan’s hand guiding him toward his horse. He wished he could have left Braden in the cabin, but there was no lock on the outside of the door, and nothing in the cabin to which he could have handcuffed Braden. And it was possible this short trip might give him some measure of the man without the disturbing presence of his sister.
    The thought of her was not welcome. What in the hell was he going to do with her?
    He couldn’t leave her out here in these hills alone, though she seemed capable enough of taking care of herself. Too damn capable, he thought.
    Laramie was a day away. He would take her there, put her on a coach to Denver. The rest of the Braden clan had been heading in that direction.
    When they reached Morgan’s horse, Morgan took the reins in his hands and they started the downward trek. Braden was being cooperative, but Morgan had had a taste of Braden-family resistance, and he knew his prisoner was just waiting for an opportunity.
    When they returned to the cabin, Morgan tied his horse next to Braden’s similar-looking animal. A pretty little palomino mare was enclosed in the new corral. The sister’s horse. Golden and graceful, the mount suited her. He wondered briefly