Tracker's Sin Sarah McCarty

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She shook her head, desperately trying to see where Miguel had been lying. Tracker cupped her head in his hands and turned her face to
his. He s already at the horses.
She shook her head again, struggling against the bonds, bucking on the bed. The ropes under the mattress creaked. The last thing he
needed was Vincente in here. Tracker put his hand to her throat. If you don t keep quiet I ll be forced to quiet you.
Angry, reckless, her eyes dared him to.
If she were a man, he d simply knock her out. But she was a woman and he didn t hit women. She didn t need to know that, however.
Sometimes perception was stronger than fact. Do I make you?
She slowly settled back against the mattress, but her muscles were tense. In a heartbeat she d be fighting again.
Do you want me to leave you behind?
That got through. Her eyes narrowed with hate. He touched his fingers to her cheek.
Hold on to that thought.
Leaving her on the bed, he went through drawers, grabbing a couple pairs of pantaloons, a dress and petticoats. He tossed them on the
bed. A shawl hung on a nail by the door. Her shoes rested beneath. Sweeping them up, he brought them to the bed and dropped them on the pile. A
pillowcase worked as a bag. He tossed it out the window before going back to the bed to pick up Ari.
He slid his hands under her body. She wouldn t meet his gaze. He could feel the moisture of her tears against his arm. He wanted to tell
her he was sorry. He wanted to tell her the truth. He didn t. The truth would hurt too much.
The sound of a pistol cocking broke the silence.
Shit. Tracker released Ari and straightened. He slowly turned.
Vincente stood just inside the door, dressed in a nightshirt, a pistol pointed at Tracker s midsection.
I have been waiting for you, the old man whispered.
Not the words you wanted to hear from a seventy-year-old with arthritic fingers currently crooked around the trigger of a gun pointed at
your gut. You have?
S�.
At least the man was whispering and not shooting. Mind if I ask what made you think I d come calling tonight?
Lower your voice. We do not want to wake Josefina.
You re the one with the gun.
S�, I am.
So how did you know?
You are a man of habit. Always you put your saddle away at the end of the day. Today you left it at the ready. When men of habit break
them, it is for a reason.
Tracker feigned nonchalance, feeling Ari s eyes on his back like twin daggers. I could just be running from a shotgun wedding.
Vincente shook his head. You came many miles to find Ari. You would not leave without her.
You re right. He turned slowly back toward the bed. That being the case, I ll just be going.
He made only a quarter turn before the old man hissed out, Do not.
Shit again. Make up your mind, Vincente. Time s wasting.
Not so much time that I cannot say what needs to be said.
I think the fact you re letting me kidnap your daughter-in-law says it all.
It is right that she leave this way.
Tracker shook his head. He couldn t care less what the old man s reasons were. And Ari didn t need to hear them, because for sure they
were the type to tear her world apart. She needed her illusions, in order to keep her sanity.
I m not your priest, old man. I don t want to hear your confession.
But Ari must hear. Vincente nodded to the bed. She must not think that we did not love her. That we are terrible people.
Shit. Vincente wanted forgiveness. Tracker tried another tactic. You keep talking and your wife will wake up.
Vincente shook his head. She has taken her special tea. It makes her sleep when her mind will not. She will not wake if we are quiet.
Tracker didn t feel an ounce of sympathy. It s a hell of a thing, a guilty conscience.
Yes. Vincente sighed and rubbed his hand down his face. Our son did not die.
The bed ropes creaked at Ari s shock about a truth she didn t need to hear.
Shut the hell up.
Vincente held the weapon higher. I am the one with the gun. I will decide who talks.
She doesn t need to hear this.
She does. Her memory returns in the night. She says things, remembers things she does not recall in the morning. I do not want her
thinking badly of us when the forgetting stops.
Tracker didn t see how she could think any differently. Let it go.
She is a good woman. She deserves the truth.
He said that as if it justified everything. Yes, she is, Tracker agreed. And I need to get her out of here now. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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