Romancing the Crown: Max & Elena: The Disenchanted Duke. Marie Ferrarella

she yelled, knowing it was a completely useless order. Weber was already airborne.

      Racing to the window, she saw that her quarry had leaped into a Dumpster located just beneath the window. Damn, how could she have missed that? The Dumpster was filled to overflowing.

      The next moment, he scrambled out and hit the ground running. Taking aim, Cara managed to wing him in the shoulder.

      Weber screamed a curse in a language she didn’t understand and kept running down the alley.

      Chapter 2

      For a second, Cara debated leaping out of the window into the Dumpster after the fleeing man. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d done something crazy and reckless in pursuit of a bail jumper. And she wasn’t the type to be deterred by a little dirt, or a pile of garbage as in this case.

      Before she could act on her impulse, a strong hand gripped her by the arm, stopping her.

      “He’s not worth getting hurt over.”

      She saw Weber get into a car and pull away. Another opportunity gone. Seething, Cara swung around and glared at the man holding on to her. How dare he presume to lecture her? She shrugged him off with an indignant jerk.

      “Well, I hope you’re satisfied. You just cost me $10,000.”

      Max frowned at the crazy woman he’d just stopped from flinging herself out the window. What the hell was wrong with her? Didn’t she realize that if she landed wrong, she could easily break her neck or some other part of her body?

      Sucking in his breath, he looked down respectfully at the tiny weapon she had in her hand. The one she seemed not to remember she was holding. Right now, the gun was aimed at the part of him that would put a dead halt to his part in propagating the Sebastiani lineage if a stray bullet happened to find its way out of that tiny barrel.

      Very carefully, he moved her hand so that the weapon she was holding pointed harmlessly at the floor.

      “Look, lady, I’m sorry if your boyfriend ran out on you, but it’s not the end of the world—”

      “Boyfriend?”

      Astonished at the feeble mind that could possibly couple together a worthless creep like Weber with her, Cara temporarily lost her ability to speak. Hiking her skirt up, she holstered her weapon, then pushed the material back into place, aware that the man was watching her every move.

      “Eyes back in your head, mister,” she ordered. “You think that lowlife’s my boyfriend? Are you out of your mind? That was my bounty on the lam, not my booty.”

      “Bounty?” the man echoed.

      “Yes, bounty.” If he was trying for innocence, the man was a lousy actor. “Don’t say it as if it’s some kind of a foreign word to you. That’s why you’re after him, too, isn’t it? To collect the money?” It wasn’t a question so much as an accusation. “Well, you can’t have him. I spent over two weeks tracking that creep down from Colorado and his tail is mine.”

      She was firing words at him like bullets from an automatic weapon and it was all Max could do to hold his own. “You can claim his tail and whatever other parts of him you want once I’m through with him.”

      “Through with him?” Cara cocked her head and scrutinized the man who had just cost her the reward money she had all but had in hand. On second thought, she reassessed her initial impression of him. He looked too well dressed and pressed to be a bounty hunter. “Is this some kind of private vendetta?”

      Interesting that she should choose those words. He would have thought the same thing, if he hadn’t known what he did about the situation. On the surface he knew it would have seemed odd that the ruler of a faraway, proud country like Montebello would even know about, much less be interested in, an American bail jumper like Kevin Weber.

      His expression was cool, detached, as he looked at the woman who had temporarily thrown a wrench into his plans. “I don’t see how what this is could be any business of yours.”

      Cara called him a few choice names in her head, but kept the words from her lips. There was nothing to be gained by telling him what she thought of him, and Cara had learned to play games well. Whatever it took to win. She needed that money and soon.

      “Anything that involves that scum is my business—until I bring him into the county court system and collect the reward. Once I get what’s coming to me, you can put your bid in for him.” Her smile was smug, confident. She was going to nail that runaway son of a bitch and she knew it. She’d been at this trade too long to think about failing now. “I’m sure something can be arranged in, oh, say about fifteen to twenty years.”

      “Is that the sentence Weber’s facing?”

      He was getting better at this innocent act, Cara thought, evaluating the very masculine man before her. He made it sound as if he was entirely unfamiliar with Weber’s offense.

      Cara folded her arms before her. “He is now,” she told him, although she knew that the sentence depended entirely on the judge and jury. She’d seen hardened criminals go free and hapless losers incur real jail time. She made what she felt was a safe guess. “I don’t see Weber getting any time off for good behavior.”

      Dragging a hand through her long, silky hair, she sighed. Now that Weber knew there were people closing in on him, he was going to be even harder to track down. But nobody’d ever said this job was going to be easy. It would have bored her if it was.

      The man looked at her. “What’s the offense?”

      She narrowed her eyes, studying the man’s face, wondering if he was playing her for a fool for some reason. Could he be that ignorant about Weber and still be after him?

      “He’s wanted for an attempted break-in at the Chambers’ ranch.” Cara paused, her eyes washing over the man. “You’re not a bounty hunter, are you?”

      “I’m a private investigator.” He put out his hand to her. “Max Ryker.”

      “Cara Rivers.” She shook his hand and was pleased that he didn’t seem to be afraid of hurting hers. He returned her strong grip. “Well, Max Ryker, your being in the right place at the wrong time just cost me two weeks’ hard work.” She dropped her hand to her side and went back to looking around the room. The closet had only a couple of changes of clothing and nothing else. “If you’re not after him for the burglary, why are you after him—not that it makes a difference to me as long as you stay out of my way,” she qualified as she pulled open the night-stand drawer. It was empty.

      He skipped over the question, going to her final declaration. “Afraid I can’t do that, Cara. My client wants him brought back to Montebello for offenses committed there.”

      That was some tiny country halfway around the world, she thought. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t about to turn Weber over once she had him.

      She didn’t bother asking who his client was. If Ryker was on the level about being a private investigator, that information was privileged. It was also irrelevant as far as she was concerned.

      “Sorry, but the sheriff of Shady Rock might have a few things to say about that. We’ll give Weber back after we’re done,” she promised again, a whimsical smile playing on her lips.

      Max looked out the window to the alley where Weber had taken off. Sundown was slowly slipping over the entire region.

      “Looks like no one’s getting him right now.” He could leave, but Max believed in getting to know whomever he was up against, and something told him that when he went after Weber, he’d find this woman right behind him—if not in front. “Buy you a drink?”

      He had to think she was pretty stupid if he thought she didn’t see through that. Oldest trick in the book. And also one that didn’t work on her.

      “And get me smashed so I can’t go after him? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.” She led the way out of