The Loner Read Online Free Page A

take her anyplace tonight. He had already unsaddled the horses to get the blankets for her and now she could hear him over there in the dark somewhere, moving the tack around, judging from the small sounds of the bits and the cinch buckles clinking.
    Yes, she would let herself sleep so her strength would come back. She took a deep breath and told herself that by relaxing, by sleeping, she was not giving in to the weakness. Instead, she was gathering strength.
    However, many months of outlawry had ingrained the habits of survival deep in her. The minute she tried to give in to exhaustion, sleep escaped her. She listened to the faint sounds BlackFox made walking around and she knew when he pounded a stake into the ground to tie the horses for the night.
    They weren’t going anywhere tonight. They were staying right here until morning and she had believed him when he said her virtue was safe. She needed rest. She would go to sleep, she would will herself to do it.
    A rough hand clamped over her mouth and held her head against the ground. For one terrible instant she thought it wasn’t Black Fox and she would go mad from being so helpless, so limp from pure fear. Then she caught his scent and his voice, low and quiet as breath in her ear.
    â€œSomebody’s out there,” he murmured. “I’m getting you away from the light.”
    Then it scared her that she hadn’t heard anything. She wouldn’t last long like that.
    He pulled the blanket she lay on far enough into the dark that he wouldn’t be silhouetted by the fire when he stood up, and then he gathered her up into his arms and started moving fast up the incline of the hill. The pain stirred and spread through her whole body again but Black Fox clasped her tight against his chest and the warmth of his body spread through her, too.
    It nearly made her forget the pain.
    â€œThere’s a cave up here,” he whispered.
    His mouth brushed her ear. She wouldn’t havebelieved her overwrought feelings could’ve let one more sensation in, but a thrill tingled her all over at the touch of his lips on her skin.
    â€œYou just stay quiet,” he said. “I’ll take care of whoever it is.”
    The sound of a branch snapping underfoot rang in the night like a shot. Then Cat heard the creak of saddles and the snuffling of horses.
    â€œThere’s more than one of them,” she whispered, although, for some reason, she could hardly get breath to speak.
    â€œI know,” he said.
    Then she wondered why she warned him. If he got shot, she wouldn’t be a prisoner anymore. She was crazy for feeling safe in his arms.
    She had to do something to drive that feeling away.
    Black Fox laid her down. “You’re in the mouth of the cave,” he said, bending over her. “Don’t move from here.”
    â€œHey! Hello the camp! Is that The Cat there? We’re ridin’ in. We want to join up with you!”
    Chill bumps stood up on her skin and she tried to think who it was. She had spent so much time eavesdropping and spying on the bootleggers in this part of the Nation that she should recognize the voice. She finally did, just before he announced himself.
    â€œThis here’s Hudson Becker,” he called, and she heard the slur of his tongue that told her he’d beensampling some of his own wares. “I got a deal for you, Cat Boy, ’cause you been doin’ so much harm to Tassel Glass.”
    â€œI’ve been doing harm to him, too,” she muttered. “He probably wants to kill me.”
    Terrible images flashed through Black Fox’s head, images of The Cat, helpless and female, in Becker’s hands. Thank God the bootlegger thought she was a boy, or he’d be even bolder.
    â€œYou’ve got the wrong camp, Becker,” Black Fox called back. “We’re Lighthorsemen here.”
    It galled him to say that, with every muscle in his body aching to stay silent and get