Bounty Hunter

by Donna Kauffman

She froze. The words she’d been about to say lodged hard in her throat. She had his complete attention. And with a man as intense as Kane Hawthorne, it was a palpable thing. His eyes glittered, black and shiny. His lips, which she’d found herself staring at more than once, were compressed into a flat, emotionless line.

  She wanted to reach out for him. To him. Something in the fierce pride that literally shouted from every rigidly held muscle in his body made her want to pull him into her arms and hold on tight.

  “Kane, that comment was self-directed. If you think for one minute that your heritage …” She let her words drift as the irony of what she was doing hit her. She’d spent the last three months in hiding from a man whose beliefs were so opposite hers, she’d put her very life in jeopardy to try and change his mind. And now she was having to convince Kane she wasn’t prejudiced. If he only knew.

  The sudden urge to tell him everything was so overwhelming, she gripped the door handle, intending to jump out for a quick dose of fresh air and common sense.

  “Annie, stop.” He didn’t reach for her, but the power of his voice held her still just as effectively. “I know you didn’t mean it that way. I’m sorry.”

  “I take it you’ve encountered the attitude once or twice.”

  “You could say that.”

  Without thinking, she shifted a bit closer. “Well, you can bet the ranch that I don’t have a bigoted bone in my body,” she said fervently. On a roll, she added, “As a matter of fact, your Shoshone heritage intrigues me quite a bit.”

  She’d been looking him square in the face, wanting to leave no doubt as to her sincerity. So it was impossible to miss the sudden change in his dark eyes. The glitter was still there, but it wasn’t heated now. Well, yes it was. But with an entirely different flame as its source.

  “Da’bEntcotc,” he intoned softly, “don’t look too deep inside me. My mu’gua is too black for the likes of you.”

  The odd rhythm of his words wafted through her mind like the soft musical sound of water rushing over rocks. “What did that mean?”

  “Mu’gua means soul.”

  “And the other?”

  He turned abruptly to face the windshield. “Shouldn’t we be getting into town? You don’t want to drive these roads in the dark.”

  Elizabeth wanted to press him for an answer, but she let it go. For now. For good, if she was smart. She knew it was dangerous to get any further involved with Kane than she already was. He was an employee of sorts, nothing more. But she couldn’t deny the attraction she felt. With a look or a quiet word, he managed to touch her on levels she hadn’t been aware she’d possessed.

  She shifted into first and steered onto the road, studiously avoiding looking at Kane even in her peripheral vision. But she kept hearing the words he’d spoken.

  She pulled into the gravel parking lot that fronted Dobs’s country store and the Boundary Gap post office. Still a bit unsettled, she hopped down without glancing at Kane.

  She was forced to when they both reached for the tailgate at the same time. “Thanks,” she said quietly when he popped the bent handle to lower the gate down, glad she sounded calm and casual. Remembering his hand, she said, “Maybe you’d better let me get these.”

  In answer, Kane pulled two of the boxes to the edge, stacked one on the other, and hefted them to his right hip. “These go to Dobs, right?”

  She didn’t bother to argue with him. “I’ll get the other two and meet you inside.” He dipped his chin in a brief nod and moved toward the wooden steps leading up to the screen door, which was propped open with an old cola crate. “Stubborn as a mule,” she muttered, ignoring the fact that she’d have been disappointed if he’d reacted any differently.

  She struggled to stack the boxes, the cardboard not being too sturdy. She had to use both arms to carry them, but she managed to get up the stairs in time to catch the tail end of a conversation between Dobs and Kane.

  “Glad to hear she had enough smarts to take on some help,” Dobs was saying. “Didn’t much care for the idea of a little thing like her on that deserted patch of land all by herself.”

  “You have much trouble around here?” Kane asked.

  Elizabeth paused on the second-to-last step, telling herself it was to catch her breath. Kane’s question had been casual. Too casual? She waited for Dobs’s reply.

  “Naw, no more than the occasional unlicensed hunter or rowdy farmhand with too much payday and too little sense.”

  “I understand the Lazy F has been abandoned for a long time. Guess it’s natural you’d be concerned.”

  Elizabeth shifted the boxes in her arms, trying to keep the glass jars from chinking together. Kane wasn’t the type to make useless small talk. Even after knowing him for only a few days, she realized there had to be a reason for his comments. She thought about the reference list he’d given her, which she’d stuck in her pocket before leaving the house earlier. Only now it was a bit harder to deny that her reasons for wanting to contact the names on the list were strictly business related.

  She hefted her load up the last step and walked into the store. “Hi, Dobs, hope you got enough room to store these for a few days till Ms. Wentland stops back over.”

  She smiled at the grizzled old man, the warmth in her voice sincere. He was barely a hair over five feet, almost as round as he was tall, with a ring of shocking white hair crowning his otherwise bald head. She’d wondered when she’d first seen him if he’d compensated for the lack of hair on top by growing his beard to St. Nicholas proportions. But she knew now it had nothing to do with vanity. He was a sharp businessman who’d sustained his tiny store for almost fifty years and owed his success—to hear him tell it, as she had more than once—to plain speaking, faith in the good Lord above, and a healthy respect for homemade whiskey.

  Kane stepped forward and relieved her of her burden, carefully placing the boxes on the scarred linoleum counter next to the others he’d carried in.

  “No problem, Miz Fielding. I got plenty of room. Looks like you outdone yourself. Miz Wentland will be pleased.” He tipped up on his toes and rummaged through one of the boxes. “Wouldn’t happen to have any raspberry jam this time around?”

  Elizabeth’s smile broadened. “Hold on.” She dashed out to the truck and lifted the canvas tote she’d stashed by the wheel hub. She hopped up the stairs and back into the cool store. “Here you go,” she said, pulling two mason jars from the tan bag. “Special for you.”

  Kane hid his surprise as the old man blushed at Annie’s offering. So, she even gets to old busybodies, he thought wryly. He was glad for Dobs’s penchant for sticking his nose in everyone’s business, it made him a perfect source for information. Looking at him now, though, his cheeks even ruddier than usual as he accepted the jars and turned to go stash them in the back room, Kane imagined that not too many people stuck their nose in Dobs’s business.

  He turned his attention back to Annie, who was pulling a list out of her jeans’ pocket.

  “I need to get some feed for Sky Dancer.”

  “There’s a feed store at the bottom of the mountain—”

  “No, I’ll make do with what he has here. I want to supplement her diet so she doesn’t graze down your grass too badly. I’d like to get a bale or two of hay as well, if you have enough room in the back of the truck.”

  “No problem. I have a package at the post office, but it should be small.”

  He forced his tone to remain light. “Mail day, huh? More jars?”

  She smiled, and Kane silently damned himself for having to probe each facet of her life under the guise of friendship. It would be so nice if he could just … what, Hawthorne? Let his guard down and relax? Spend his time wondering how to make her smile more often instead of digging up information that will likely insure she’ll never smile at him again?

  “Jars? No, just some labels with a fruit border. I ordered them from a catalog Dobs has. I figured they’d look nicer than masking tape and … What’s wrong?” />
  “Nothing. Sounds great. Just surprised you’d take on the added expense. But I guess if you’re already paying for a post office box …” He purposely let his words trail off.

  “I don’t have a box. I told Letty to look for a package for Ann Fielding and hold it for me. It’s pretty informal around here. And the labels only cost a few dollars. Or should I say jars.”

  It was exactly the information he’d been fishing for. So why did he want to tell her to shut up and not reveal anything more? Why did he want to tell her to be careful before she told him too much and discovered she’d have to run again—only this time she’d have to hide from him too?

  At least he knew she hadn’t laid a paper trail for anyone to pin down her exact location. Yeah, one person stalking her is enough, his inner voice jeered.

  “Here,” he reached for the list, “I’ll get this and the feed while you’re getting your mail.”

  She looked up and smiled uncertainly, but handed him the wrinkled piece of paper. “Okay, put it on the counter. I’ll help with what’s left when I get back.”

  Kane watched her leave, then turned to look for the feed. He let his shoulders slump a little. This was turning into a headache he didn’t need. He’d tackled far more dangerous, complex jobs than this one, but one freckle-faced, redheaded secretary turns a friendly smile his way, and he’s tied into a million knots wondering what he should do.

  “What you should do is build her a few shelves, hightail it back to Boise, and tell Sam Perkins to stick his money and hire some other idiot to track down his wife,” he muttered under his breath as he heaved a fifty-pound sack of sweet feed over his shoulder. He winced at the pain in his palm, knowing he’d opened the cut again but not caring. The mere thought of some other man stalking her and dragging her back to that hair-sprayed, cap-toothed shark of a bank president …

  Who happened to be her husband. “Dammit.”

  “Problem, son?” Dobs asked.

  Kane heaved the feed onto the floor in front of the counter. “No. Mind if I leave this here while I pick up a few things?”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Kane didn’t miss the look Dobs sent out the open doorway toward the post office. He knew the man was dying for the least provocation to discuss Annie again. So why wasn’t he rushing to give him one? Kane put the question and the store owner out of his mind and moved over to a shelf loaded with a variety of canned goods.

  “Didn’t want to say nuthin’ with the girl standing right outside the door,” Dobs began, as if they’d been talking for some time.

  Kane let out a small sigh. So Dobs had known she was there too. He grabbed a couple of cans of soup and moved over to the boxed goods. “About what?” he asked.

  Dobs skirted the counter and stopped where he could carry on a quiet conversation, but still keep his eye on the door.

  “Now don’t take this the wrong way or nuthin’,” he said, his gruff voice lowered. “But I’m wantin’ to know what your business is with Ann … er, Miz Fielding.”

  Kane paused slightly in his shopping, but was careful to keep a placid expression on his face. “I believe you were the one who pointed out she needed help.”

  “So that’s all there is to it?”

  Kane wanted to ask the little tyrant who the hell he thought he was, Annie’s guardian? But he knew better. He also knew Dobs was leading up to something, and it wasn’t Kane’s work qualifications.

  “Yeah, I’m building shelves and repairing the barn in exchange for using the bunkhouse for a while.”

  Dobs shifted closer. “Don’t con an old con man, son. I seen the way you look at her.”

  Kane tensed, his grip on the box of cereal, threatening to send bran flakes flying all over the store.

  “Now don’t get riled. I’m thinking a man like you might be what she needs. Her being on the run and all.”

  Kane gave up all pretense of disinterest. In the blink of an eye, he shelved the groceries he’d been carrying and pulled the little shop owner halfway down the aisle. Pushing his face even with Dobs, he said, “What makes you think she’s running from something?”

  Dobs didn’t even blink at the rough treatment. In fact, his eyes twinkled as if he’d gotten the exact response from Kane he’d wanted. “I’ve been around these mountains a long time. Survived floods, blizzards, droughts.” The twinkle died. “And I know the difference between predator and prey. She’s got prey written all over her pretty face. She’s not here for no rest. Damn girl’s killing herself to make a go of it. Now me, I just want to make sure she’s got a fightin’ chance.” His small gray eyes narrowed. “You gonna be the one to give it to her?”

  Kane’s grip relaxed. It had been a long time since he’d been maneuvered quite so effectively. He thought of his grandmother and wasted a second wondering who’d have won in a matchup, she or Dobs.

  He had no desire to answer the man. He even turned toward the shelves with the idea of continuing his shopping as if their little discussion hadn’t happened.

  So it came as a surprise to him when he looked the man square in the eye and said, “Yeah. No one will touch her while I’m here.” Including me, he added silently.

  Dobs grinned, revealing a gold tooth and more than a few empty spaces. “Good. Wouldn’t want you hunting the wrong quarry.”

  Before Kane could react to the remark, Dobs ambled back behind the counter and disappeared again.

  FIVE

  Elizabeth came out of the post office in time to see Kane stow a box of what looked like groceries in the back of the pickup. There was another one the same size already there, along with two bales of hay and a bag of feed up by the cab. She hurried across the gravel road.

  “I’m sorry. I guess I got carried away talking to Letty. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “She’s the postmistress, right?” Kane shut the tailgate with a loud clang.

  “Postmistress, phone operator, and local busybody.” She smiled dryly. “I made the mistake of asking about her grandson, who she’d told me on my last visit had gotten the measles, and that was all it took.”

  “Guess she doesn’t have many people to talk to.”

  Elizabeth’s smile turned a bit wicked, and she leaned a little closer to Kane. “I think she’s got something going with Dobs,” she whispered.

  She was rewarded with one of Kane’s half-smiles. It did such stunning things to his smooth, strong features that it took her a moment to recover. Only when Kane moved toward the driver’s side of the truck did she snap out of it and hurry after him.

  “I’ll drive,” he announced as he opened the door and swept a hand in front of him. When she started to protest, he said, “Hop in or I put you in.”

  Her eyes widened a bit at the command, but she quickly followed his orders. Considering the way his smile had affected her, the thought of him putting those large hands anywhere on her body … Not a good idea.

  They’d been bouncing over the rutted mountain road for a few minutes when the silence finally got to her. “I made a few calls from the post office.” He didn’t so much as blink, but she sensed he knew who she’d been calling. “I only got through to two names. Mr. Williams and Mr. Donegan.” She’d also tried her brother’s apartment. No answer. Again.

  “And?”

  She knew from the way he sat there that he wasn’t concerned with what she might have found out. She was almost tempted to lie, just to see if it would get a reaction out of him, but she couldn’t. Both men had praised Kane as if he were their personal patron saint. And to her eternal frustration, they’d both also managed to effectively endorse the man while not revealing one additional whit of personal information.

  “And you’re still hired,” she grumbled, ignoring the slight twitch of his lips, knowing he’d read her hesitation correctly.

  She shifted to glance out the rear window and remembered the groceries. She reached for her canvas tote that sat on the bench seat between them. “I completely forgot about the food. Here
, let me pay—”

  “No need.”

  “But I didn’t mean for you to—”

  “I know. Like I said, don’t worry about it.”

  She knew there was more in those boxes than she’d had on the list. “At least let me pay for—”

  “I said let it go.”

  “My half,” she finished stubbornly. “I was only trying to help. I didn’t think you had …” This time she let her words trail off as it occurred to her that what she’d been about to say probably would have offended him.

  “Money?” he finished.

  She winced. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. After all, it isn’t as if I don’t understand.” She tried for a tone of self-deprecating humor to take the sting out of the conversation, but his jawline remained rock-hard.

  “What made you think I didn’t have any money?” he said.

  She turned to look at him. “I don’t know, I guess I assumed that finances were tight, since you were looking to trade labor for board.”

  “If you recall, I made the offer because of your situation, not mine.”

  “But you said yourself you’re a wanderer, that you move from place to place. So it wasn’t exactly unreasonable of me to think you weren’t rolling in it.”

  “Apology accepted.”

  She sputtered and turned to tell him she hadn’t said anything to apologize for, only to see the corner of his mouth curving slightly. She chuckled softly at having been played so smoothly.

  The soft sound brought his head around. The moment their eyes met, her smile faded. After another second, so did his. Tension filled the small cab until a jolt of the truck as it hit a rut brought Kane’s attention back to the road. Elizabeth turned to gaze out of her window, half expecting to find it steamed over.

  They rode in silence for several minutes before she gave in to her curiosity. “Are you really happy moving around the way you do? Do you ever dream of doing something else?”

  He was silent for so long, it surprised her when he answered. “I’ve never thought of it in terms of happiness or sadness. It’s simply the way I live.”