Lily (Wildflowers Of Montana Book 5) Read Online Free Page A

I repeated, my words softer. A loud bang came from the street, perhaps a barrel fell onto the boardwalk, and Miss Lenox looked down the alley. Taking her chin with my fingers, I turned her head back to me. She met my gaze for a moment, then flicked away.
    She nodded once.
    “Ah, such a good girl,” I crooned. “I’m scared, too.”
    “You?” Surprise laced the one word. “What on earth can a big man like you be scared of? I’m sure you frighten bears away.”
    I grinned. “I’m scared of you,” I admitted. This slip of a woman had a hold on me like no one before, and I was sure, no one after.
    She frowned, doubting me, but perhaps believing the gentle tone of my words. “Me?”
    I nodded. “I have two days in Butte, before I have to… to travel for work. Two days to court you proper and get my ring on your finger, but I think we both know that it’s inevitable.”
    “What is?” I watched as she swallowed, licked her lips.
    “Us.”
    Tilting her head slightly, she asked, “You have two days?”
    Two days where she thought I was a good man, not the thief and killer she would soon read about in the newspaper, most assuredly gossiped about all over town. She’d know, though, that what I felt about her was real before she heard all the lies. I had to make her mine before then, for she wouldn’t want anything to do with me after.
    I could return to Washington and no one would know about my exploits, even after the colonel and the copper kings made the false story be as real as possible. If they wanted Benson, then they’d use me to get it. I had been fine with that, for Pinkertons did their job. But now everything had changed because of a woman who I hadn’t even known existed an hour before. I’d heard about love at first sight.
    I couldn’t say if it was love that I felt for her, I just knew I couldn’t live without her. It was crazy. I was crazy. Maybe I was crazy because I was going to be an outlaw in just two days. Maybe I wasn’t even going to come out of this alive.
    All I knew was that these two days were a gift, just like she was. I’d take it and hold onto it as best I could, only hoping that once Benson was behind bars and at the mercy of the copper kings that I’d still have her. I just had to trust that she was smart enough to see the difference between the real me and what was going to be spread about me in the newspapers. I wanted to tell her the truth about this plan, but I’d been sworn to secrecy. The rich bastards didn’t trust anyone.
    The colonel had received enough pressure from the copper kings whose money had been stolen by Benson. They wanted vengeance, retribution. They wanted to make an example out of the outlaw, to let the world know they were more powerful than even the most dangerous of criminals. It was my job to join Benson in a bank robbery—his specialty—and have him caught red-handed. These wealthy men would pay me to bring in Benson alive. They didn’t want him dead, they wanted him alive, to stand trial, to be lambasted in the newspaper. No good example could be set of a dead man. For this, they would pay me not through the Pinkertons but in stocks and shares, if I took on all the danger myself. I’d go undercover, risk my neck for their credibility and profits. It was my secrecy in trade for the large financial payoff at the end.
    With this redheaded vixen standing before me, was the chance of her hating me worth the payoff? Once Benson was behind bars where the copper kings wanted him, I could quit my job, care for her, protect her, love her the way a man should. I wouldn’t have to roam the countryside following outlaws. I wouldn’t have to work any longer. Ten days in trade for the rest of my life with her. No more outlaws, no more danger. Only her. Was it worth it? To have her all to myself, no telegrams, no powerful rich bastards deciding my fate? Hell, yes.
    “Two days. But you’re already mine. I’ll come back for you. No matter where I go, what I