Bounty Hunter Read Online Free Page A

County Fair. So now
     I have less than a month to come up with as many jars of jam and preserves as I can.”
    She realized he had been listening politely to her excited rush of words instead of
     eating. Her cheeks colored slightly, and she gestured to the basket of rolls. “Why
     don’t you try some and let me know what you think?”
    “You going to join me?”
    Elizabeth ignored the ridiculous spurt of pleasure his innocent request caused and
     lifted the stew to the table. Sitting down across from him, she said, “Yes, of course.”
    She noticed he waited for her to take a roll and butter it before he did the same.
     He began eating as soon as she’d taken the first bite. She swallowed and said, “Your
     mother raised a gentleman, I see.” The words had sort of tumbled out. She wasn’t preparedfor the storm clouds that crossed his face as the fork he was holding paused in midair.
     After a moment he continued the motion.
    He was silent as he ate, the frown less visible now. He laid his fork down and picked
     up a roll, buttering it lightly before spreading on the jam. Elizabeth couldn’t seem
     to stop staring at him. She realized she wasn’t even making a pretense of eating.
     What had she said to make him tense up? Did she dare come out and ask?
    He made short work of the roll. “This is really good,” he said quietly as if nothing
     had happened. “I understand the demand.”
    “Thank you.” She finally looked away and tried to eat. Maybe she’d imagined his reaction
     earlier.
    “My grandmother was famous for her dried sweet fruit. It was known on the reservation
     that receiving a gift of a fruit basket from Cloud Dancer meant good luck would follow,”
     he said.
    “Cloud Dancer. Pretty name. Which reservation? Wind River? Duck Valley?”
    “Fort Hall. I am half Shoshone on my mother’s side. My father was British Columbian.”
    “Was? He’s gone?” she asked, then quickly said, “I’m sorry, that was rude. It’s just,
     well, my folks died when I was a teenager and so I know how it feels …”
    After a long pause, he said, “He’s not dead. Not as far as I know, anyway. He left
     my mother before I was born to go work pipeline in Alaska. I’m pretty sure she never
     expected him to return.”
    “So, you grew up at Fort Hall?”
    Now he concentrated on his stew. “For the most part. I left when I was seventeen.”
And never went back.
    He hadn’t spoken the last part out loud, but Elizabeth could hear the words so clearly,
     he might as well have. “It must have been hard for you on your own.”
    “I managed well enough.”
    “Still, I don’t know what I’d have done without Matthew after my folks died.”
    “Matthew?”
    “My older brother.” She smiled as she spoke of him. “He stuck with me, worked so I
     could go to school. Now he works for the government. Hush-hush stuff, he calls it.”
    “Sounds like you both did okay. Do you see him much?”
    “Not as often as I’d like. But he devoted so much of his life to me, I can hardly
     complain.”
    “Nothing wrong with admitting you miss someone you love.”
    She looked up, but his dark eyes were trained on his food. She wondered what he was
     seeing, doubting it was her stew. Did he miss someone he loved? “No,” she said softly,
     tamping down her sudden interest in him. “I suppose not.”
    Her throat burned for a moment as reality came crashing back in around her. Kane’s
     sudden arrival in her life pointed out to her just how far she had yet to go in accepting
     her forced isolation. She wasundeniably intrigued by him, found herself wanting to ask him questions about his
     past, his heritage. But was it Kane, the man, she was interested in, or did she simply
     want someone to talk to?
    It was a moot point since she wouldn’t have the luxury of finding out. His steady
     voice jerked her from her thoughts.
    “I checked the barn as thoroughly as I could. I think with some simple repairs, the
     front half can be