Wildfire in His Arms Read Online Free PDF

you even know to—? Oh, that was you across the street this morning. If you want Max, why didn’t you just follow him then?”
    â€œI didn’t want him then. I do now.”
    That was met with a few long moments of silence before she asked in a painfully hopeful voice, “You won’t shoot Max if you don’t have to?”
    â€œNo, I won’t—if I don’t have to.”
    Degan had guessed that young Dawson had feelings for this girl, but he was surprised that she apparently returned those feelings—or at least, there was more between them than her just wanting to protect a paying customer.
    So he added, “If you can point me in his direction and he can be taken by surprise, I can pretty much guarantee there won’t be bloodshed. But if I have to capture him when he visits you again, he could end up lying dead at your feet. Either way, I am going to find him. So do you try to save his life or not?”
    She sat on the edge of the bed, then looked over her shoulder at him so Degan could see that she was crying. Out of politeness, he managed not to snort, but he sure as hell wasn’t gullible enough to fall for tears that could easily be faked. He wouldn’t be moved by them even if he thought they were real. You had to feel something for someone to be affected by the person’s tears, and he hadn’t felt anything like that for a long time.
    He still had to wait while she wrestled with her indecision, bit her lower lip a few times, and pleaded with her pretty blue eyes. Pointlessly.
    She finally figured that out and even made a small, frustrated sound before she said, “Max found an abandoned shack up in the hills. Some fool miner built it years ago, thinking he could find gold on his own, away from the gulch where everyone else was finding it.”
    â€œAnd how do you know that it was abandoned?”
    She glared at him. “Max didn’t shoot the miner, if that’s what you’re implying. There were mining tools left in it, holes dug all around it, even a dirt cave dug out of the hill next to the shack. Max was the one who made the guess, not me.”
    â€œSo you haven’t been there?”
    â€œNo, I never get out of town. Max merely mentioned that he found it after we met last month and said he would be using it for a while. Said it’s got a nice view of Helena, so I figured it must be higher up, probably in the forested hills on the way to the Big Belt Mountains.”
    â€œBut you’re just guessing?”
    â€œWell, there has to be game nearby ’cause Max brought us a deer last week and a passel of dead rabbits the week before.”
    â€œThat’s how he pays for your services?”
    â€œNo, he does it just ’cause he’s nice.”
    â€œA nice murderer and bank robber?”
    Luella thrust out her chin. “Max is innocent of those charges.”
    â€œThat’s for a jury to decide, not you or me,” Degan said before he walked out of the room.

Chapter Five

    Z ACHARY AND MARY CALLAHAN were having coffee on the front porch of their ranch house when they noticed the cloud of dust heading their way.
    â€œWere you expecting company this morning?” Zachary asked his wife.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWell, I don’t have friends who would come calling in a buckboard. Can you make out who that is in it?”
    â€œThey aren’t close enough,” Mary said, squinting. “But it looks like two bonnets, so I’m guessing it’s Rose Warren and her maid.”
    â€œNot with guards that aren’t Warren men. I’d recognize their horses. And I thought you said Rose visited yesterday while I was on the range?”
    â€œShe did, but Tiffany and Hunter will be leaving for New York soon. And Rose did a lot of worrying about their marriage. You can’t blame her for wanting to see for herself how well it’s working out.”
    â€œIt’s only been a week since the