Free Stronger Than Passion by Sharron Gayle Beach Page A

heavy, too heavy to lift the mass of falling hair and rearrange it. Her wrists went limp and dropped into her lap. She looked at her captors in shock, intending to question them and to possibly curse them, but her mouth remained soundless. Her entire body grew weak. Her shoulders slumped to one side, her vision blurred . . . then all awareness ceased as she was caught, unknowing, and gently lowered to lay on the seat.
    Over her slumbering body, Brett glanced up to meet the ironic gaze of his friend. “Don’t look at me like that, Juli. You know how things stand in Washington. Lowndes wants the answer to that letter you stole, and only she knows the truth. All I’ve managed to discover on my own is a pack of rumors.” He raked a hand savagely through his thick dark hair, a gesture denoting frustration to anyone who knew him well. “I certainly hadn’t planned on taking her, but when she finally recognized me and was about to scream for Santa Anna, it was either kill her or bring her along. And hell, maybe this is a good idea anyway, despite the trouble she’s going to cause me. Somehow I’ll make her tell me what she knows about Santa Anna’s invasion plans. And I’ll have plenty of time to do it.”
    Julian’s raised eyebrow indicated his disbelief, but he made no comment. Instead he reached outside the diligence and lifted a large blue carpet bag. He dropped it onto the floor and opened it, pulling out a blanket and a bottle of whiskey. He uncorked the whiskey and drank from it deeply, before handing it to Michael. He tossed the blanket onto Christina’s slippered feet and said quietly, “I doubt if President Polk will appreciate you taking a lady as prisoner, Miguel. It’s too crude an act for his taste. And after talking to the Señora’s servants, I’ve begun to wonder if she’s really as close to Santa Anna as we believed. You might be making a very bad mistake. Of course, you had to protect yourself, and any future jobs you might undertake in Mexico. For that alone, I think you should keep her. Or kill her.”
    Julian’s sharply-boned face was somber and deadly serious. Michael acknowledged his words in silence. Julian continued softly, “Let me have her, I’ll take care of it.”
    Michael glanced down at the sleeping girl, her face half hidden by loosened strands of hair, pearls gleaming whitely against her dress and her skin. To kill her would be the simplest answer. But then, she could still be useful to him in Washington. And also - there was something between them that had to be finished, something he had begun the first time he’d kissed her. His body was demanding an answer even now, the sight of her enough to cause him a powerful, painful lust. Why kill her when he wanted her? Julian would figure it out.
    Michael smiled, lazy blue eyes telling his friend more than the casual words he spoke.
    “I’m going to keep her for awhile, Juli. I’m sure she can confirm quite a few things about Santa Anna that we don’t really know; they are on close terms, I saw them together. Maybe, if threatened with exile from her home, she’ll eventually talk about the letters. But even if she doesn’t, or the letters aren’t even important, or Polk doesn’t want to make use of her . . . there’s still a small act of revenge involved here. Against Santa Anna, I’m going to annoy the bastard by running off with one of his favorites - his cousin, to boot! And don’t you think that might mean something?”
    “Not much, hermano.” Julian shook his head in mock-sadness. “But it’s a start.”
     

Chapter 5
    Awakening was an unpleasant process accompanied by vomiting, an impossible headache and the humiliating and frustrating remembrance of horrible dreams which, she suspected, were actually reality.
    When she opened her swollen eyes to survey her surroundings and discovered herself lying in a narrow bed, in a rocking room that resembled the cabin of a ship, complete with porthole . . . she knew the