Cowboy to the Max. Rita Herron

take the fall for murder.

       She hadn’t been working alone. That much he was sure of. He wanted to know who her partner was. That name would lead him to the killer.

       And real freedom. Not this sick shade of it where he was hiding behind shadows and trees, skulking around in the night like a damn snake, afraid to show his face during the day for fear of getting his head blown off.

       “Thanks, Dunham, I owe you.”

       “Just don’t get yourself caught.” Dunham extended his hand and Carter shook it. “Or killed.”

       Carter sobered, knowing either one was possible. And could cause Dunham to go back to jail and land Brandon and Johnny in hot water as well for helping him.

       “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m going to see Miss Whitefeather right now. When I finish with her, she’ll talk.”

       A worried look darkened Dunham’s face, but Carter didn’t care. He’d spent five long years rotting in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed, all because of one night in the sack.

       Two, if the one he couldn’t remember counted.

       Nothing would stop him from making this woman finally tell the truth.

      SADIE CLEARED her assigned tables, swept up, then counted her tips. A couple hundred dollars. Hardly worth the never-ending ordeal of fending off dozens of men’s wandering hands.

       Still, she needed every penny and would add the cash to her medical school fund. If she ever had enough time to study for the MCATS.

       She’d barely been able to finish her undergraduate degree for taking care of her mother during her illness. Now…she was so exhausted after work that she couldn’t think about studying.

       Amber waltzed out the door with one of the men she’d hooked up with for the night, and Big T—Teddy, the owner—waved to her to go on. Sadie settled her purse tightly over her shoulder, one hand rubbing the leather to make sure her derringer was still tucked inside, then gripped her keys and stepped out the door.

       Although questions and doubts needled her. Would she be able to use the gun if she needed to defend herself? Her Native American roots haunted her—every life is sacred…

       At one time, she’d been so close to her roots that she hadn’t doubted her people’s ways. But that was before the attack…

       That horrid day had changed everything. Changed her.

       And she didn’t like it.

       But she had no idea how to rid herself of the fear that plagued her. Not when it was so real.

       Nerves tightening her body, she paused, her gaze scanning the dark parking lot and the corner of the alley, searching to make sure one of the men she’d blown off during her shift wasn’t waiting to ambush her. That or the man who’d threatened her years ago. She’d sensed he was following her the last few days.

       And now she had to worry about Carter Flagstone.

       Stale beer, urine and smoke clogged the air as she rushed to her beat-up sedan. A sound from the alley beyond made her jerk her head around to search again. Something ran across the alley. A stray dog?

       Or a man?

       Pebbles skittered behind her, then the sound of a garbage lid clanging reverberated through the air.

       Anxiety knotted her stomach as she glanced over her shoulder. A homeless man was digging through the trash.

       Relieved, she picked up her pace, although the wind lifted her hair and suddenly an eerie premonition skated up her spine.

       Someone was watching her.

       Adrenaline surged through her, and she ran the rest of the way to her car and jammed the key in the lock. Her hands shook as she opened the door and collapsed inside. She hit the lock, then cranked the engine and tore down the deserted street, her heart ticking double-time as she swung through the alley. She searched left and right, down each side street, over her back to make sure she wasn’t being followed. Then suddenly headlights beamed down on her as a truck appeared on her bumper.

       Fear nearly choked her, but she forced herself to turn down another side street to throw him off. The truck moved on, and she breathed out in relief, then cut back through another street to her small apartment.

       It was in the seedy side of town, but it was all she could afford, and as she climbed from her car, the smell of refuse and body odor assaulted her. Darting a quick glance around to check for predators, she rushed toward her apartment, a corner unit with sagging shutters, mud-streaked siding and unkempt shrubs and weeds shrouding it, casting it in darkness.

       Her hand shook again as she jammed the keys in the lock. Then suddenly a hard, cold hand clamped around her mouth, and she felt the tip of a gun barrel at her temple.

       “Hello, Sadie,” a gruff male voice murmured. “It’s time we talk.”

      Chapter Two

      Carter wrapped one hand around Sadie’s neck, trapping her in a chokehold as he pushed the gun to her head.

       “Scream and I’ll shoot.”

       Her body trembled against his, but he forced himself to ignore the guilt that niggled at him. He’d had plenty of fights with men, but he’d never hurt a woman before.

       “Please, don’t kill me,” she whispered.

       He shoved her inside the dark apartment, then slammed the door, needing cover in case someone was watching and called the cops.

       A faint glow from a streetlight outside bled through the worn curtains across the room, and he pushed her toward it. “I’m going to release you, but if you scream or try to escape, I will hurt you.” He spoke low into her ear. “Do you understand?”

       She nodded against him, her fear palpable in the way she dug her fingers into his arm where he gripped her neck.

       Carter swung her around and pushed her down onto the threadbare sofa, then aimed the gun at her. The shallow light bathed her face, accentuating the terror in her big, dark eyes. Eyes that had once made him melt.

       Eyes that had haunted him since with her cunning lies.

       She slid a hand in her purse, and he realized she might be reaching for a weapon. Furious, he straddled her, pinning her down on the sofa as he jerked her purse open. She grunted in pain as his weight bore down on her.

       He tried to ignore the feel of her soft, feminine curves beneath his. He hadn’t had sex in five years, and her sultry body had been the last one he’d pounded himself into.

       Dammit, he wanted her again.

       “Get off me,” Sadie said tightly.

       His fingers connected with cold metal, and he removed a derringer from her purse then dangled it in front of her. “You going to shoot me, Sadie? Framing me for murder wasn’t bad enough?”

       Emotions flickered across her heart-shaped face, those chocolate eyes brimming with sudden tears. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

       What the hell? Were those real tears? Or was she a consummate actress?

       For a moment, he studied her, searching for the cold-hearted vixen who had seduced him with her lies, then drugged him and hung him out to dry.

       But the woman in front of him looked small, vulnerable, even innocent, as if she wouldn’t hurt a fly. And she was still so damn beautiful that he felt as if he’d been punched in the chest just like he had the first time he’d seen her in that seedy bar fending off the hands of the jerks who thought her waitress services included servicing them.

       She also looked terrified.

       She should be, dammit.

      Sure, she’s terrified. She’s finally been caught at