The Renegades: Cole Read Online Free

me, Miss Benton?”
    A lewd chuckle sounded behind her, and she whirled to see that they had an even bigger audience than she’d thought, for two old men sat on a bench placed against the wall of the mercantile, their beady eyes twinkling, their big ears straining for more. The Reicherts were still at the window, silently listening, too. Aurora turned her back on them all and gave Cole McCord a straight, hard look.
    “I’ll pay you money, of course.”
    “Money,” he said thoughtfully. “To go down the Loving Trail with you?”
    The way he said it, the name of the famoustrail took on an entirely different meaning, one that had nothing to do with geography. Her face burned with heat, and the old men cackled gleefully.
    “Take ‘er up on it, son,” one of them said. “You’ll regret it if’n’ you don’t!”
    Cole McCord was looking her up and down, from head to toe, with open speculation in his eyes, as if he really believed that she had meant what he implied. Her temper flared. So he thought he could embarrass her enough to make her go away.
    “Yes,” she said briskly, in her most businesslike tone, “I’ll use the Loving Trail until we go through the Raton Pass and probably some farther—I’ll decide after that where we should turn east.”
    “
You
will? You don’t have a trail boss?”
    “I
am
the trail boss.”
    He smiled at her, shaking his head as if she were a precocious child playing games of pretend.
    “Then you must’ve bumped your head when we took our little tumble in the street,” he said. “Don’t you know it’s easier to go to Texas through Kansas than the New Mexico mountains?”
    One of the old men laughed out loud. Her blood went icy with anger.
    “Mr. McCord,” she said, “could we step into the diner there and perhaps talk about this over a cup of coffee? It’s my treat, of course. I’d like to make you a specific offer.”
    She turned to start toward the door.
    “No …”
    She faced him again. He leaned back against a post and crossed his muscular arms, flashing a wry grin as he looked her over again, his dark, dark eyes lingering on her mouth.
    “… thank you, anyway, Miss Benton.”
    Lord, but he was enjoying this. And he thought he was winning. He thought because she was a woman behaving in an unconventional way he could intimidate her into giving up.
    “Then we shall talk here,” she said, willing her voice to stay cool, although her lips were warm from the heat of his gaze and her cheeks were hot from anger. “But if you think you can embarrass me into giving up my pursuit of you by making salacious innuendos that others can hear and rudely perusing my person, you’re wrong, Mr. McCord.”
    He smiled.
    “Mercy! I’ll have to think on that a minute,” he drawled, with infuriating insolence. “The only thing I caught for sure is that you are pursuing me and, ma’am …” he paused to tip his hat, “… I want you to know I’m truly flattered to hear that.”
    She felt her cheeks grow red again, she heard the old men laugh, and she knew the Reicherts had taken in every word. But what was a little bit of chagrin compared to what she’d face on the trail? And in Texas? Drought, outlaws, hard traveling, and maybe even Comanches. Thisteasing was nothing. If she wanted a ranch of her own, she had to ignore these little irritations and remember that from now on she was living by her own set of rules.
    “My pursuit of you, as you well know, is purely business,” she said briskly. “The compensation I have in mind is fifty dollars a month, but I’m willing to deal a little on that. Your only responsibility will be the safety of my person.”
    “
Will
be?” Cole McCord drawled in a low, intimate tone that made her feel as if he’d touched her. “You sound mighty sure of yourself, Miss Benton.”
    She smiled.
    “I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”
    He sighed and shook his head in mock sorrow. “You sound just like Kid Dolby.”
    The old men and the