Read Wanted for Free Online

women, don’t you?” he taunted.
    Morgan had always had a temper—he felt ready to explode now—but his voice was even and cold when he spoke. “You’d better tell your sister to behave herself if she wants you to live beyond this day.” When his arms tightened around her, she wriggled to escape his hold, and his body reacted to the feel of her against him. It puzzled him. It infuriated him. He didn’t like what he didn’t understand, and he couldn’t understand his reaction to this she-cat. She was trouble, pure trouble, but a part of him admired her, and he despised that admiration as a weakness in himself. “Tell her!”
    â€œLori.”
    Braden’s voice was low but authoritative, and Morgan felt her relax slightly, then jerk away from his hold and run to Braden. He watched as Braden’s handcuffed hands went over her head and around her, holding her as she leaned against him. A criminal. A killer.
    A rare wave of loneliness swept over Morgan, and for the first time in his life, he felt intense jealousy and a longing that nearly turned him inside out.
    â€œTouching scene,” he observed sarcastically, his voice rough as he tried to establish control—of his prisoners and of himself.
    He tried to discipline his own body, to dismiss the lingering, flowery scent of Lori, the remembered softness of her body against his. She was a hellion, he warned himself, not soft at all, except in body. He’d already underestimated her twice. He wouldn’t do it again. He would get rid of her in Laramie.
    But still his eyes couldn’t move from the brother and sister. He couldn’t remember ever having affection or softness in his life. There had been curt nods when he’d done something right, but never a gentle touch. And now he recognized a hunger for tenderness, one he’d never acknowledged before, and it angered him.
    â€œThat’s enough,” he said. “I want to get going.”
    â€œWhat about my sister?” Braden asked. “She can’t stay here alone.”
    â€œWe’ll ride to Laramie. I can put your sister on a stage there to Denver. I believe that’s where your family was headed.”
    â€œHow in the Sam hill did you …?” Braden stopped. The Ranger had found him. He had known Lori’s name. He obviously was good—very good—at hunting men. It was something to remember.
    Morgan shrugged. “Move,” he said. “I want to be on the trail in an hour.”
    Lori had slipped from under her brother’s handcuffed wrists and faced Morgan. “I’m not getting on any stage. I’m going with you.”
    â€œThe hell you are.”
    â€œYou can’t stop me.”
    â€œOh, yes I can, Miss Lorilee,” he said curtly. “There’s bounty hunters on my trail, and it’s a damn long way. I don’t need any added complications.”
    Her chin went up, her legs braced stubbornly. Her eyes, all amber fire raked him. She was daring him to defy her, and Nicholas Braden was looking on with amusement, an amusement that did not Improve Morgan’s temper.
    â€œWe’ve wasted enough time,” he said. He turned to Lori. “You can get his bedroll together. Two blankets. One change of clothes. Rain slicker. Coat. Tin plate. Cup.”
    â€œAnd what can I take?” she said acidly.
    He raised an eyebrow. “A dress, perhaps?” His tone was purposely insulting. He didn’t want to feel what she was already stirring in him. He never felt emotions where his job was concerned, had never allowed them. That had been schooled into him since he was a tadpole, more thoroughly than his letters.
    Her gaze turned to her brother, and there was another silent exchange that Morgan didn’t understand. Then she turned back to him and gave him a blinding smile he sure as hell didn’t trust. “Perhaps I will take a dress,” she said.
    Morgan