Almost an Outlaw Read Online Free Page B

years at war had trained him not to sleep too deeply. Not if he wanted to live, so his brain remained alert for the least bit of noise even as he slept. Thus the moment someone knocked on the door of his room, he was awake and on his feet.
    He grabbed two things: his gun and his pants. He yanked on his pants and cocked the Peacemaker as he walked over to the door. “Who is it?”
    “Mrs. Branson,” she answered quietly.
    He eased the hammer of the pistol down as he made note of her new last name. Mindful of his state of undress, he cracked the door. She stood in the dim light of the hallway. Black lace and honeysuckle . The neckline of her lacy black bodice dipped low and a beaded comb sparkled in her blonde hair. She held a man’s white shirt.
    “Captain,” she addressed him. “I’ve finished your shirt and I’m delivering it as promised.” She gave her head a nod, urging him to agree.
    He looked through the crack in the door. She fidgeted with the shirt as she gave him a nervous glance. He tightened his grip on the Peacemaker. “Are you alone?”
    “I am never alone,” she whispered as if he should know that.
    With a frown, he disregarded all propriety, opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, ignoring her gasp as he caught sight of the two men smoking at the end of the hallway, near the stairs as they watched her. More Pinkertons. With a flip of his wrist, he aimed his pistol at them. “If you want to live, I suggest you get moving right now.”
    The Pinkertons, who definitely wanted to live, headed down the stairs. Satisfied, he turned to Darcy, who looked as if she might drop him herself if she had a gun.
    “Are you out of your mind?” She started in with the kind of tongue-lashing only an angry woman can deliver. “You’re asking to get yourself killed! Do you realize that? There were two of them and they were both armed! Can you shoot two men at the same time? Do you ever think before you act?”
    The doors to the rooms bordering the hallway opened. Angry guests peered out while she went on with her tirade. “What if they hadn’t left? What then? You would have starting shooting here in the hallway? That is insane! Are you crazy?”
    “Shut her up,” one irate guest called.
    Austin clutched her arm and hauled her into his room.
    As Austin shut the door to the hotel room, Darcy knew she should protest. It was not proper. No lady should be in a man’s hotel room. Especially a man who was half-naked! She couldn’t recall the last time she’d seen so much bare masculine flesh.
    “I’m not out of my mind,” he said as he walked over to the dresser. He turned up the wick on the oil lamp and stood in the small glow of light with an annoyed expression on his face. But it was not his face that held her attention. His black pants rode indecently low on his narrow hips, past his navel where a thatch of dark hair surrounded his belly button. Old scars marred his muscular torso. A decent woman wouldn’t look, much less stare as he snatched up his shirt and put it on.
    She pressed her hand against her chest where her heart pounded erratically. Her apprehension shifted from fear for his safety to fear of the longing building inside her. She tried to ignore it as she asked, “How many times have you been shot?”
    “Eleven,” he answered flatly.
    “If you are not careful, that number may become twelve.”
    “I assume you got my message to the Boys?”
    She waved the new white shirt at him, one she had purchased at the men’s clothing store for her ruse, and a piece of scented paper floated to the floor. “I had a note hidden in the shirt,” she said. She picked up the note and tossed it onto the fireplace embers. “You must be more careful. The Pinkertons are being paid well to put an end to the James gang and they will do whatever is necessary.”
    She noticed him studying her with concern. “Have they ever threatened you?”
    “They have never threatened me. They have questioned me