Bounty Hunter (19 page)

As he lay there breathing in her soft, sweet
scent, he realized he was trying to figure out a way to make it work between them.
Even though he knew it was a fantasy. He couldn’t imagine her adapting to his lifestyle,
and he wasn’t so far gone he could kid himself about trying to settle down in one
place. What would he do? He knew only one thing; tracking people down. Hardly the
sort of life Annie deserved.

Not that it made any difference. The second she found out why he’d come up there in
the first place, about his connection to Sam Perkins … His stomach pitched.

As much as he’d like to keep her in this narrow, lumpy cot of a bed for about three
days, he knew other forces were at work, and they didn’t give a damn about his time
schedule. He had to tell her now.

“Hawk?” Her voice was a drowsy murmur against his skin.

He’d never get tired of hearing her say that. Despite his recent decision, his body
responded as if the other agenda was still a possibility. A frown creased his brow
as he wondered whether he’d ever hear her whisper his nickname again after he confessed.
He shoved a hand under his head and tugged her a bit closer to his side. “What?”

“Mmmmmm,” was all she said.

He could feel her smile against his skin. The hand behind his head became a clenched
fist. “Annie, we have to talk.”

TEN

She roused herself enough to lay her hand on his chest and prop her chin on the back
of it. “About Perkins and the man who shot at you. I know.”

At least she didn’t sound any happier about the abrupt return to reality than he did.
He drank in how naturally they had awakened to each other, as if they’d been doing
it every morning for years. His stomach knotted with pain as he fought the need to
tell her what that meant to him, how powerful their union was to him. But he knew—as
she surely did—that there was no time for that.

“I slipped out earlier. No new prints.”

“And Sky Dancer?”

His muscles clenched along with his jaw. “No sign,” he muttered. “But I hadn’t expected
there to be.” He let his gaze drift to the tiny window, then he shifted so he could
see her face. He pulled in a breath, then forced it out. No time like the present.

“Did you ever go back to Fort Hall? I mean since your grandmother died? Don’t you
miss having a home to go to?” she asked.

“What?” He’d been all prepared for his big confession, and her off-the-wall question
took him completely by surprise. “Where did that come from?”

“I’ve been wondering why you made the choices you did. Why you took to wandering and
never settled down.” She laid her cheek on her hand, turning her face away from him.
“Never mind, I know it’s really none of my business.”

He pulled her on top of him so her chin rested square in the middle of his chest.
“Ask me whatever you want, little sun.”

She smiled, the blush on her cheeks shy and sexy as hell. “Why did you leave?”

He was a little surprised when the pain didn’t come. Maybe because she’d tried so
hard to hide her curiosity. Didn’t she know he could deny her nothing? He actually
needed to tell her. It would all lead to the same ending. That he had become a bounty
hunter. One most recently employed by a Mr. Samuel Perkins.

He swallowed hard, forcing his mind back to her question. “My mom didn’t handle single
parenthood well.” That was a broad generalization if there ever was one. “She knew
my father was never coming back, and that staying on at Fort Hall was her only chance
to raise me.”

“But that didn’t keep her from hating it, did it?”

Kane’s chest tightened at her softly spoken words. “No, it didn’t.”

“Did she … spend time with your father in hopes he’d take her away? Marry her or something?”

“More than likely. Cloud Dancer, my grandmother, thought so. I only knew she resented
the reservation and hated being pigeonholed as just another Indian. She wanted more.
So much more.”

“Where is she now?”

“Dead.” He felt the shiver that raced through her. “She killed herself when I was
six.” He took a deep breath, feeling somehow cleansed by the admission. “I didn’t
understand everything, but I knew she’d have been happier somewhere else.”
Without me.
He cleared his throat. “Cloud Dancer tried hard to get me to see that the ways of
our culture weren’t so bad. But all I knew was that it had been our culture that had
taken my mother away from me. I was scared. And ashamed. I knew it was my fault too.”
He sighed heavily. “I grew up very angry and resentful. I left as soon as I could.
I was barely seventeen.”

“But you went back once.”

“Ten years later. When I found out Cloud Dancer was ill. I was too late. I have no
reason to go there again.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment, and Kane felt his heart begin to pound.
He’d never told a living soul the things he’d willingly confided in her. When she
turned her face up to his, he
didn’t even dare contemplate the emotions he found brimming in her eyes.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked, honestly surprised.

“For giving me another part of you. I don’t imagine you discuss that part of your
life all too often.”

“No,” he said, his voice gruff. “Annie, there’s more. I have to explain what brought
me here. What I do for—”

“Shhh!” she said suddenly, placing her hand over his mouth.

He stilled immediately, wondering if he was so far gone with guilt that all his instincts
had gone to hell. He heard nothing. “What?”

“I heard something crackling. Wait a minute. Do you smell something?”

“Holy mother of—” Kane sat up, bringing Annie with him, then none too gently deposited
her back on the tangle of sheets and blanket. He shot to the window, knowing before
he got there what he would find. “The ranch house is on fire.”

Annie was on tiptoes behind him, trying to see out the small murky panes of glass.
She gasped. “Oh my God—”

Kane turned and pulled her to him. “There’s nothing we can do.” He wrapped his arms
around her and tugged her closer. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

All he could think was that if it hadn’t been for her sneaking up on him the night
before, for them
giving in to the emotions that had been building between them since the moment he’d
found her kneeling out in the field on those ridiculous sponges, she’d have been asleep
in that old feather bed … He shuddered against the thought, banishing the mental picture.
It hadn’t happened, she was okay. For now.

Elizabeth took comfort in Kane’s arms for a moment, letting the shock of what was
happening and all it implied sink in. Then she got mad. Really mad. She yanked herself
away from him. “He’s gone too far this time.”

Kane let out an incredulous laugh. “This time? Annie, what do you think he was trying
to do with the pickup truck? Bump into you? Scare you?” He grabbed her shoulders.
“Sweetheart, the man is trying to kill you. And tonight he damn near succeeded!”

“Well, I’m not going to sit here like a scared rabbit and wait for him to finish the
job.
I can’t sit and wait any longer.
”

“And what do you plan on doing?”

“Face him. Go back. Call the police, the FBI, whoever. Do what I probably should have
done in the first place instead of running away.”

He shook her. “Annie, it’s too late for that. We’re trapped. Right now all we can
do is keep ourselves alive long enough to find a way off this damn mountain.”

She tried to calm down, think rationally. She looked at Kane, at the man she’d just
spent the most
powerful night of her life with. Talk about life being unfair.

No! Not if she could help it. Not anymore. She’d reached the end of her endurance.
It would end now. One way or another, but it would end.

“Kane, I know you want to help me. Lord knows you could have been hurt—even killed—yesterday,
when that man fired at you. And your horse is gone …” She started to shake. “I can’t
let you keep—”

“Annie.” His tone was a warning.

Her eyes burned. “If anything happened to you …” She couldn’t finish. In the next
instant her face was pressed against his warm bare chest, his hands stroking her back
as he spoke into her hair.

“Don’t you understand, little sun? It goes both ways. It goes both ways.”

There was a sudden crackle and hiss, then a loud crash as a beam or a wall in the
old house gave way. Realizing the danger they were still in, Kane set her away from
him and tilted her chin up.

“Listen, the house is going up like dry tinder. The propane tank sits far enough away
so that it probably won’t blow. But the idiot who set the fire could be rigging that
to blow right this minute.”

“What do you want me to do?” she asked, pushing her hair from her face and swiping
at her cheeks.

If he’d doubted it before, he knew it was burned in his soul for eternity now. She
stood there, damp cheeks and freckles, slender shoulders shaking but squared, splendidly,
beautifully naked while she
stared at him and calmly handed him her complete faith. He loved her.

The hell of it was, if the pyromaniac out there didn’t get him first, it was likely
she’d finish the job when she found out the entire truth. But then, he’d never needed
to be told that life wasn’t fair. From the very start, his own had been an outstanding
example of that.

“I’m going to see if I can find his tracks.”

“But what if the tank blows—”

“Get dressed,” he interrupted, looking around the small bunkhouse. He scooped up his
jeans, sliding his wallet back into his pocket, and stepped into them.

“And then?” she asked as she found her jeans and slipped them on.

He tugged on a dark T-shirt and tossed one of his dark plaid cotton shirts to her.
“Do you think you could find your way up that trail? The noise from the fire should
cover any sounds you make. Be careful, but move as fast as you can. The fire is lighting
up the area as if it were high noon.”

“I can do it.”

He knew she could. Dammit, they were supposed to have more time. There was still so
much he had to say. “Annie—”

“What are you going to do when you find him?”

She sounded so sure of him. Never had he hoped so much that she’d be right. “Depends
on what I find.” He walked over to the window where she was standing. “Stay up there
until it gets light
out. If I haven’t come for you by then, grab some water from the spring …” He stopped
long enough to rummage around through the mess on the floor. “Here, take this.” He
handed her his canteen. “Then I want you to head down to Dobs’s. Stay off the road
if you can. No need to hurry and don’t take any foolish chances.” He slid his wallet
from the back pocket of his jeans. He fished around and pulled out a bent-up business
card, then held it up to the light cast by the fire outside to check the writing on
it. “Here. When you get to town, call Brody Donegan.”

“Isn’t that one of the men I contacted from your list?”

“Yes. Tell him everything. Everything. You understand?”

“Okay, but—”

“No buts this time, little sun. I’d trust Donegan with my life. He’ll help you. And
he’ll help you nail Perkins too. After what you told me yesterday, I was planning
on calling him anyway.”

“Okay, I will.” She paused a beat, looking up at him with a thousand questions in
her eyes. “Thank you,” was all she said.

“Don’t thank me yet.” Lord, what a tangled mess his life had become. “Come here,”
he said softly, feeling incredibly blessed when she moved into his arms without question.
He lowered his mouth to hers, needing to taste her, absorb all that was her into him.
Knowing that even if they came
out of this in one piece, he’d never have her in his arms that way again.

The instant she opened her mouth under his, the sweet tender kiss he’d intended turned
into something hot and hungry. Needy and demanding. And from the way she clung to
him, held his head tightly in her hands, he wasn’t the only one fighting the sudden
inferno.

Another roar from outside broke them apart. On a harsh breath, Kane whispered raggedly,
“I’ll make sure you get past the open area to the edge of the trail.” He cupped her
chin and kissed her hard and fast. “Wait for me.”

He ducked out the door, flattening himself to the wall, not certain, with the rush
of sound coming as the house suffered its last death throes that he had heard her
quiet response.

“Forever, Hawk.”

Forever. Hawk.
He cleared his mind and moved to the corner of the bunkhouse, carefully peering around
the edge. In the false brightness he quickly scanned the grounds. No one. Without
looking behind him, he motioned for her to take off. He spared a quick glance to make
sure she was in fact heading for the cover of the trees at the base of the trail.
She was hardly more than a dark blur. He swung around and kept his eyes glued to the
Danteesque scenario in front of him, alert for any movement beyond that of the crumbling
pile of ash.