several occasions. Now it warned him that this woman was a serious threat to him so he’d better watch out.
Leading Lori behind him—and checking over his shoulder at irregular intervals, just in case—he trotted over to retrieve Pecos Clem. The outlaw was overly distracted. Clem was staring blatantly at Lori’s enchanting face and her arresting feminine assets. For the life of him, Gideon didn’t know why Clem’s devouring gaze annoyed him. Gideon took up a position between his two prisoners so Clem couldn’t ogle Lori constantly.
“What’s your crime, sugar?” Clem drawled as he leaned around Gideon to give Lori the once-over again. “Being too damn pretty for your own good?”
To Lori’s credit, she met Clem’s leering gaze and said, “No, I was accused of killing the last man who looked at me the wrong way.”
Gideon concealed his laughter behind a cough when Clem shot her a glare and resettled himself in the saddle.
“I’d like a private word with you, Marshal, when we stop for a break,” she requested.
“I don’t schedule breaks.” He picked up the pace. “Camp is two hours away…if we set a fast clip.”
She scowled at him, but he ignored her as he trotted across the meadow and headed for the rugged hills.
Lori silently cursed Gideon for the next two hours. From time to time, she glared at the scraggly-haired, bewhiskered outlaw with a beak of a nose and close-set hazel eyes. The man leered at her every chance he got. She’d dealt with his kind on numerous occasions when travelers and stagecoach passengers passed by the trading post and ferry. She had been propositioned so many times in the past six years that she swore she had heard every line a man could dream up.
If Pecos Clem thought he could shock or impress her with his comments, he was sadly mistaken. Besides, he couldn’t leave much of an impression on her because the brawny marshal rode between them, partially blocking her view of Clem.
Of course, Lori didn’t have time to pay any mind to Clem because she’d focused all her anger and frustration on Gideon.
Restlessly she twisted her hands. The cuffs were rubbing her wrists raw. If she’d known then what she knew now, she would have accepted Tony’s surprising proposal and ridden off with him before the bushwhacker aimed and fired.
Instead, she’d tried to be fair and honest with Tony. And what good did that do? He’d been killed and a hard-nosed marshal who saw her as a dollar sign had captured her. He refused to listen to her side of the story, damn him.
When they reached the rise of ground above the marshals’ encampment, which sat halfway up a hill, Lori realized that she would soon be housed in a jail wagon with six male prisoners. Frustration and disgust seized her, making her shiver apprehensively.
“I want to see to my needs before I find myself without the slightest privacy,” she blurted out.
She met Gideon’s speculative stare without batting an eye. No doubt, he was trying to figure out if this was an escape attempt, before he caged her like a wild animal.
After a long-suffering sigh, he nodded his raven head. “Okay, we’ll stop for a moment.” He glanced sternly at Clem. “What about you? You need to relieve yourself?”
“I’d like to relieve myself of my half-breed captor, if that’s what you’re asking,” Clem retorted.
Lori gauged Gideon’s reaction to the racist comment. He didn’t change expression, just tethered Clem and his mount to a nearby tree. Then he turned those intense blue eyes on her.
“Come on, hellion. Make it fast,” he murmured as he led her away from Clem.
To her outrage, he used a coil of rope like a leash so she couldn’t get more than ten feet away from him. “At least grant me minimal modesty and turn your head,” she grumbled as she circled behind the nearest bush.
He didn’t honor her request, just looked over her head while she struggled to tug down her breeches with her hands bound together.
“When you wind up in hell, Fox, I hope you’re forced to listen to stories from all the tormented souls you sent there by mistake.”
His gaze dropped to hers. “A lot of men have wished me in hell,” he replied nonchalantly.
“Be sure to add my name to that list,” she retaliated, and watched the makings of a smile twitch the sensuous curve of his lips.
Gideon Fox might enjoy watching her face turn candy-apple red from embarrassment because he wouldn’t grant her privacy, but somehow, someday, she vowed to have the last laugh. He could apologize until he lost his voice for refusing to believe she was innocent but she wouldn’t forgive him for putting her through this humiliation. That is, if Judge Parker didn’t sentence her to hang from the gallows before she located the man who really committed this awful crime against Tony.
With what little dignity Gideon allowed, Lori fastened herself up. She nearly tripped when he tugged on her leash unexpectedly. She glowered at him and said, “Shall I come to heel or sit up like a trick dog? Or is this humiliation enough to satisfy you for the time being?”
“It’s not my job to pamper you,” he assured her tartly.
“Gee, and I thought you were such a nice, accommodating fellow when I first met you,” she sassed him.
She wished she’d kept the comment to herself when he stepped toward her, eclipsing the sun that had finally fought its way through the fog. The same unwanted sensations of awareness and attraction that had been hounding her all day assailed her again.
She’d been unnerved when he sprawled on top of her and then encircled her in his sinewy arms while they rocked together suggestively on Drifter’s back. Even now, when she was as irritated with him as she could get, those shocking feelings of sexual excitement bombarded her.
She tilted her head to compensate for the difference between her and his six-foot-four-inch, rock-hard masculine body. A jolt of awareness zapped her again—much to her baffled amazement.
The man was practically standing on top of her, his powerful male body inches away from hers. He reminded her of the predatory panthers that roamed the Osage Hills. A lithe, powerful creature that called no one master. The ridiculous impulse to reach out to measure the breadth of his chest assailed her. How was it possible to dislike a man so much and still be physically attracted to him?
Clearly, witnessing Tony’s senseless death and running for her life had destroyed her sanity.
“Hellion,” he said as he leaned down to stick his ruggedly handsome face in hers, “I’ve tolerated your snippy comments long enough. I’ve reached my limit so hush up.”
“If you’ve reached your supposed limit, why didn’t you backhand Clem and send him cartwheeling off his horse after he made those disgusting, racist comments about your mixed heritage? I wanted to slap him for you and I don’t even like you very much myself.”
He arched a thick black brow and studied her intently with those piercing blue eyes of his. “You don’t share Clem’s low opinion of my people?”
“My father taught me to live and let live,” she insisted. “I have nothing against the people
