Carol Finch - The Bounty Hunter and the Heiress

Within five minutes, Eva knew her fellow travelers by name. Clara Morton had left her seven-year-old son with his maternal grandparents for a month. Delbert Barnes, the effeminate little bookkeeper, wore thick, wire-rimmed spectacles. He had a bald spot on the crown of his head and a cleft in his chin. He was on his way to Pueblo to begin his new job as an accountant with a coal smeltering company.

The other two men looked like gamblers, judging by their frock coats, brocade vests, snappy black hats and expensive pocket watches that dangled from gold fobs. Eva reminded herself that gamblers were a nickel a dozen in the area. They frequented saloons that catered to miners. One look at the rings on Frank Albers’s and Irving Jarmon’s fingers suggested their hapless opponents at gaming tables had lost their bets and paid their debts by surrendering their jewelry.

Irving Jarmon had a long, horselike face and large horselike front teeth. His tuft of hair reminded Eva of a horse’s mane. Frank Albers was average height and slim build. His blond head seemed too large for his thin-bladed shoulders.

Frank Albers and Irving Jarmon—if those were their real names—claimed they were headed to Mineral Wells, before venturing to the mining towns in Devil’s Triangle. According to reports, visitations to the numerous bawdy houses, gaming halls and saloons were the order of the day in Mineral Wells.

She wondered if that’s where she’d find Gordon Carter—con man, shyster and God knew what else. She suspected he planned to lay low in the isolated mining camps before reappearing in society to fleece another young, unsuspecting heiress.

“Stage stop ahead. We’ll exchange horses,” George Knott called down from his perch.

Eva stirred on the bench seat, eager for a reprieve from the jostling ride that left her posterior numb and cut off the circulation in her arms, which were jammed between Raven’s broad shoulders and Frank’s narrow ones.

The instant the coach rolled to a stop, a plume of dust rose around it. Like a great cat surging to its feet, Raven exited then pivoted to clamp his hands around Eva’s waist. The instant he touched her, strange fissions of heat rippled through her body. Stunned, she glanced into his hypnotic eyes as he slowly, deliberately lowered her to the ground.

Eva cleared her throat. “Thank you, dear.”

“Anything for you, my sweet,” he purred. “We’ll partake of a cool refreshing drink and enjoy a private moment alone.”

Eva wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone with him just yet. He might strangle her and toss her behind a tree as a snack for wolves, mountain lions and such. Nevertheless, he clamped hold of her hand and strode off swiftly, forcing her to scurry to keep up with his long-legged strides.

The reckoning, she predicted as he led her out of earshot. She expected him to chew her up one side and down the other—and he was entitled because she felt a little guilty about the deception. But she wasn’t one to give up easily. Especially when it came to an important cause like avenging Lydia’s shame and recovering Hodge and the money Gordon had extorted.

Her thoughts trailed off when she noticed the unhitched buggy sitting behind the stage station. Eva thrust out her free hand excitedly. “That’s it!” She set her feet, only to be uprooted by Raven’s superior strength. “That’s my sister’s carriage. Gordon has been here.”

“Good for Gordon and good for you for finding the first piece of the puzzle,” Raven muttered caustically. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I have a few choice comments to make to you. And be warned, none of them are very nice.”

When he halted by the creek, she was surprised that he allowed her time to cup her hands and sip the refreshing drink of cool water from the stream before he launched into his scathing lecture. Apparently, he wanted to wet his whistle, too, before he laid into her.

Rising, he fisted his hands on his hips and widened his stance. His thick brows swooped into a sharp V and he glowered ominously at her. “You think you pulled a fast one on me because I didn’t call your bluff, don’t you, Eva? If that truly is your name.”

“It is,” she confirmed. “What does J.D. stand for?”

“Jordan Daniel.”

“Your white father’s name,” she presumed.

“Yes, not that it’s your concern,” he snapped curtly.

“Jo-Dan,” she mused aloud. “That’s the pet name I’ll use for you.”

His bearded face puckered in a scowl. “No, you won’t. I hate it. Furthermore, I’m not taking this case, even if you did spring for my hotel room. I pay my own way. Always have. I’ll not be kept by a female.”

“It was the least I could do since I interrupted your evening.” She smirked. “After all, I did interrupt your designs on your whiskey bottle. Any of it left, by the way?”

“Yes.” He waved her into silence. “Now listen, lady, this marriage you concocted is a bad idea. In order to remedy that problem, we are about to stage a big argument and you aren’t going to speak to me again.

“I’m going my way to my mountain cabin to train a new horse and you’re going to Canyon Springs…or wherever,” he instructed. “Our disagreement should gain you sympathy from the driver, guard and passengers. Especially if you work up a few crocodile tears. After I abandon you, you can annul this pretended marriage by waving your magic wand of a parasol.”

She lifted her chin rebelliously and said, “No, I like being married to you. It’s convenient.”

He barked a laugh. “Not as convenient as you might think if I continue to ride the stage line until we have to bed down for the night. We’d have to sleep together to keep up appearances, sweetheart.”

Damn, she hadn’t thought that far ahead. When she winced, he noticed. Those green-gold cat eyes missed nothing.

“What? This isn’t the grand love affair you’ve made it out to be for the benefit of the passengers?” he taunted.

Eva drew herself up to full stature. He wasn’t going to intimidate her with that snarly scowl and threats of intimacy. She was sorry to say that she couldn’t resist a challenge. It was one of her many faults.

“I can endure sleeping together if you can, sweetheart,” she countered defiantly.

He gave a sarcastic snort. “I’d hang around until tonight to find out just how far you’d take this charade, but I’ve had enough companionship for one day. I’m heading west after we stop for lunch.”

“Fine, but do me one favor,” she negotiated. “Check the barn to see if a chestnut gelding is stabled there. Maybe Gordon traded the thoroughbred for a mountain pony to make the next leg of his journey. Meanwhile I’ll question the stationmaster about the buggy…. Turn around please.”

He frowned, bemused. “What for?”

“So I can retrieve the money I stuffed down my dress. I want to buy back the carriage,” she explained. “The horse, too, if Hodge is here.”

He grinned scampishly and shook his head. “Being married and all, there’s no reason for me not to watch.”

She rolled her eyes in annoyance then reached into the bodice of her gown to fish out the money she’d brought with her. Despite the blush that splashed across her cheeks, while she watched him stare deliberately at her bosom, she didn’t turn away, either.

He was still staring at her gaping gown when he said, “Checking on the horse is all the effort I’m putting into this case. I’m still taking time off to train a new horse. Maybe you can hitch a ride with your two new friends, Irving and Frank, to check the mining towns for your sister’s missing boyfriend. If you really have a sister and you aren’t making up this tale the same way you made up the story about our marriage.”