Wild Is My Heart Read Online Free

things,” Colt said wryly, not wanting to go into details. The truth was that one of his duties in the Mexican War had been assisting the surgeon. After the war ended he’d considered studying medicine until he found his parents brutally murdered and his sister missing. That incident had changed the fabric of his entire life.
    Once Sanchez had refilled the basin and left to prepare a broth from the squirrel he had shot that morning, Colt set to work cleaning Sam’s mud-splattered body. The first thing he did was remove her boots and pants. Tawny eyes widened appreciatively as he bared long, slender thighs, shapely calves, and trim ankles. But what really drew his attention was the jet black forest crowning the vee between her legs. Judging from her ample proportions, Colt assumed her to be over eighteen. He couldn’t help wondering about her accomplice and if they were lovers. He’d ask Sanchez about it later, but unless Sam was isolated from civilization, her body was too lush, too developed for her to be an untouched virgin. Perhaps he …
    “Don’t even think it,” Colt muttered aloud, mentally chiding himself for his erotic thoughts about the female bandit he had unknowingly shot and nearly killed. He had a job to do, a town to defend, an oath to uphold. Colt was astute enough to realize this woman meant trouble, and in any event she’d soon be behind bars where she belonged. Once she revealed where her partner had gone with the money, he’d turn them both over to the sheriff. The sooner he was rid of the treacherous little beauty, the better he’d like it. Colt sensed in her a threat—a threat to his independence, his freedom, his very existence.
    Shaking his tawny head to rid himself of thoughts that could only bring him woe, Colt set his mouth in grim lines and began bathing Sam’s face and body. So beautiful, he thought distractedly when her face was shiny clean.
    The tangled mass of black hair was long and straight, accentuating high cheekbones and golden skin. The contrast of tan skin and ebony hair was startling. It surprised Colt that her flesh was golden all over, not just where her exposed parts had been kissed by the sun. She had a lovely mouth, full-lipped and red—enticing enough to make him want to taste the sweet nectar within. With firm resolve and a tiny bit of reluctance, Colt pulled the sheet over Sam’s clean body and left the room. There was much he wanted to know about the wounded girl lying in the bed. Information only Sanchez could supply.

Chapter Two
     
    H er name is Samantha Howard,” Sanchez revealed grudgingly. If this gringo meant harm to either Senorita Sam or Will, he would volunteer nothing substantial. “She is twenty years old.”
    “Where are her parents?”
    “Dead.”
    “A guardian?”
    “No one. Her father was killed by the Crowder gang six months ago. Her mother thed long before that.”
    “Does no one else live here on the ranch?”
    “There’s no one left but me and W—just me,” Sanchez amended. “Who are you, Senor? Why did you shoot Senorita Sam? She is a good girl.”
    Colt snorted derisively. “I hadn’t the slightest inklin’ the bandit I shot was a woman,” Colt defended stoutly. “She robbed the stagecoach and I went after her. My name is Colt…Andrews,” he improvised, choosing the last name he had used during the years he drifted from place to place. Somehow, using his real name had seemed an insult to his parents. “I’m a Texas Ranger. I was ridin’ the stage from San Antonio when a holdup occurred. Two bandits escaped with a considerable amount of gold. Imagine my shock when the one I shot turned out to be a woman! What do you know about her pardner? I’m almost certain the one that got away was male.”
    “Nothing, Senor, I know nothing,” Sanchez returned quickly. Almost too quickly. “Senorita Sam told me nothing. She knew I would disapprove.”
    “Did she have a…friend who might have talked her into this dang fool idea?