The Gunfighter and the Heiress - By Carol Finch Page 0,27

her, for she counted both men as friends.

“Anna,” Bart coaxed emphatically. “I’m offering lawyer confidentiality. Tell me your troubles. It’s for your own good that I have all the facts. Even better if Van has them, too.”

“But it might not be for your own good or Van’s,” she said, provoking his wary frown. She waved him off with a breezy smile. “At any rate, I will be out of your hair very soon and your life will return to normal. I’ll conclude my business with Crow and be on my way.”

“You saw what happened to me,” Bart said somberly. “It could happen to you. A woman alone in an unfamiliar part of the country is an invitation for trouble.”

“What could happen to Sunshine?” Van questioned as he suddenly appeared in the doorway.

Natalie sent Bart a silencing stare. “Nothing important. Did you put the bullies behind bars?”

Van’s gaze bounced back and forth between her and Bart. “Yes. By the time Bart testifies against those goons, they will be back in the penitentiary for another long stint.”

Natalie rose to her feet. “I left my luggage in the alley. I better collect it.” And she should have done so earlier, considering the valuables she carried.

“I’ll help,” Van volunteered.

“You don’t trust me not to flit off into the darkness again, do you?” she asked as he followed closely at her heels.

“I’ve seen one of your disappearing acts, so no, I don’t trust you. Do you trust me?”

“No,” she admitted, thinking of her conversation with Bart about her refusal to divulge her real name.

“Then there you go, sunshine. And why didn’t you stay on the fire escape like I told you?” he demanded irritably.

“I must’ve forgotten what you said,” she said flippantly.

“And when I told you to wait in the hall outside Bart’s room?” he challenged.

She tossed him a caustic smile. “Guess I didn’t hear what you said.”

She stepped onto the landing, then scurried down the steps to retrieve her satchels. When Crow followed her back to her room, she rummaged through her luggage to fish into the hem of her yellow gown.

He arched a thick black brow while he watched her retrieve the money owed him. “Clever. Any other tricks up your sleeve…or hem…as the case happens to be?”

“No, just the one.” She counted out two thousand dollars and said, “I’ve decided not to take survival lessons because I want to be far away from here before my step-father and ex-fiancé locate me.”

“Too bad.” He pulled another thousand from her hand. “A deal is a deal. I don’t give money-back guarantees in my line of work. Plus, I’m going with you, just until you get the hang of fending for yourself in the Texas badlands. You’ll get a crash course and I will earn the fee we agreed upon.”

She pulled a face. “Fine. Keep the money but don’t come with me.”

He shook his raven head as he loomed over her like a thundercloud. She could understand why he intimidated people. He could look exceptionally formidable when he felt like it. But Natalie conjured up the vivid memory of Crow tossing back his head and laughing. It prevented her from wilting beneath The Stare and quaking in her boots.

She decided to catch him off guard by looping her arms around his neck and pushing up on tiptoe to kiss him full on the mouth. “Our business is concluded, dear husband. Signed, sealed with a kiss and paid in full. Now go away and have a nice life.”

He studied her with those penetrating silver-blue eyes that could hypnotize if you stared into them too long. “What are you hiding, sunshine? What is your real name? And who are your stepfather and ex-fiancé? Do they even exist? What is it that you don’t want me to find out?”

“That I’ve fallen completely and madly in love with you and I want to leave before you break my heart in two.”

“All the more reason why you aren’t leaving town without me. As it happens I’m crazy in love with you, too, sunshine,” he countered, mimicking her lovesick expression. “I can’t let you go because it would break my heart in two.”

“Cute,” she muttered sarcastically.

He flashed a teasing grin. “Thanks. I thought so.” His expression hardened and he shook a lean finger in her face. “If you dare leave without me I promise to hunt you down. I will not be in a good mood when I catch up with you, either. Guaran-damn-teed. Thus far, you’ve seen only my good