Free Linda Castle by Heart of the Lawman Page B

not that kind of man, Marydyth. You’ve turned hard and bitter.”
    “Prison makes people hard.” She flinched and jerked back when he tried to wipe away her tears. “Losing my child has made me bitter.”
    Flynn could only stand there and stare at her with the bright red bandanna dangling from his fingers. She made him mad enough to spit, with her accusing eyes and sharp tongue. But she was also cutting him to the bone with her words. He had never met a woman who could rouse so many conflicting emotions. He cleared his throat and tried to get his own temper under control. Neither would benefit by their tearing into the other.
    “Marydyth, I brought some of your old clothes. Let’s try this again, after you’ve changed and dressed. We can get something to eat and talk.”
    “I’d rather go hungry.” She practically spit the words in his face.
    “Suit yourself.” He turned away, then turned back. Each time she opened her mouth another insult, sharp as an Apache war lance, flew in his direction. He had never thought of Marydyth Hollenbeck as strong or hard but the woman before him now had ample portions of both qualities. “Go hungry if you wish, but I intend to have the biggest steak in Tombstone. If you change your mind, I’ll be in the hotel dining room.”
    “I won’t”
    He stared at her with his fingers on the key. “After a decent meal we might both be in a better frame of mind to discuss Rachel.”
    Marydyth raised her chin and glared up at him. “You really are a prizewinning bastard, Flynn O’Bannion.”
    Ten minutes later Marydyth was still staring at the door that Flynn had slammed behind his back. The room seemed to reverberate with the sound of it, or perhaps it was her own thudding heartbeat she heard echoing in her ears.
    She thought back to the morning, when she had believed that freedom was hers. Now her dreams of taking Rachel away were nothing but a cold pile of ashes.
    Marydyth shook herself, trying to get rid of the chill that had entered her blood. She had to do something. She could not just give in—she had suffered too much to let Flynn O’Bannion win now.
    He is hard and he is dangerous. Don’t rile him or he might not let you see Rachel.
    “He’ll have to kill me to keep me from her,” she whispered. But her words were full of false bravado; inside she was quaking with fear. He had all the cards onhis side of the table. She was a convict and he was the law.
    How could Victoria have chosen him? A mean-spirited marshal to raise a sweet baby girl?
    She knew Victoria despised her, but could her hatred run so deep that she had wanted to see Rachel suffer?
    Part of Marydyth acknowledged that her hatred of Flynn O’Bannion was somewhat misplaced. After all, it had been a jury that found her guilty.
    But it had been Flynn O’Bannion who recognized her likeness on the Wanted posters. It had been Flynn O’Bannion who had put her past together and uncovered it for all the world to see. It had been Flynn who found out the truth about Andre.
    He had uncovered a crime that she could not deny. She had killed Andre, and it haunted her day and night. But when Flynn O’Bannion told the jury, her fate had been sealed. She knew she deserved to be punished for what she had done. In a way she had been relieved to finally have it all out. She had thought when the world learned of what she had done and she went to prison, that she would at last be free of the nightmares and the guilt.
    She had been wrong.
    Every night she had relived her crime. Each time her head touched the pillow she saw herself hitting Andre with the lamp and saw herself running from the riverboat. The entire time she had been in Yuma not a single night had gone by when she had not dreamed of Uncle Blaine coming to tell her that he had found Andre dead and she should run for her life.
    And now Flynn O’Bannion had the one good thing in her life.
    She wrung her hands together and let her thoughts flyin all directions. She