Free The Outlaw Takes A Bride (The Burnett Brides) by Sylvia McDaniel Page A

were just simply not for him. He didn’t deserve them, and they certainly didn’t merit being shackled with a man like him. When he was younger, he had wanted a wife and a family, but now his life had no room for those simple trappings. The thought saddened him, but he knew he could never marry, he didn’t want to tarnish a woman with his soiled reputation.
    Beth Anderson already had a man she was going to marry. Tanner just needed to finish taking care of her and then put her on the next stage to Fort Worth without kissing her again. But that was easier said than done. Every time she gazed at him with those hazel-green eyes, he felt a response unlike anything he’d ever experienced before, and those full, pouty lips of hers were almost irresistible.
    The feel of her curvaceous body in his arms, the touch of her satiny skin, was more tempting than a bank filled with gold and he couldn’t help but think he’d be safer in jail than in this hotel room with Beth.
    God, how could he keep from touching her when all he wanted to do was lay her down and find the release he so desperately needed? Her recovery had better come soon or he could be seriously jeopardizing her future and his.
    ***
    In a fog, Beth awoke to the sound of raised voices. For a moment she thought she was home—her father and the general were arguing—but then she remembered that the war was over. Her papa was dead, and the general had returned to his wife.
    “What the hell are you still doing here? Do you not give a damn about our agreement?”
    She didn’t recognize the furious voice and almost opened her eyes to see who had come into the room. Instead she lay still as stone and pretended to sleep.
    “Keep your voice down, she’s asleep.”
    Tanner’s voice sounded strained, but there was a dangerous edge to it that she’d never heard before. It was just another facet of the man she realized she didn’t know.
    “You said you’d find someone to take care of her. Why is she still here?”
    Stunned, she realized they were discussing her.
    “I said I’d take care of Miss Anderson,” Tanner said. The tone of his voice almost made Beth shiver at the cold briskness. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your piece of me, just not quite yet.”
    “Don’t play games with me, Tanner. I’ll jerk you out of here so fast you won’t have time to think of Miss Anderson. Men like you are a dime a dozen, and I won’t put up with your bullshit.”
    The mystery man knew her name, and a shiver of apprehension almost had her shaking. Who was this man, and what did he want with Tanner? She resisted the urge to open her eyes, for now she was afraid.
    “I said I was working on it.”
    “Well, you better work faster, because I’m about to lose my patience with you.”
    Could this be Tanner’s employer?
    “She’s getting better. It shouldn’t be long now. You know where I am. What more do you want.”
    “I want you to get your butt out to the Basses’. I don’t give a damn if Miss Anderson’s getting better. The Cisco bank was robbed yesterday.”
    There was a lengthy pause, and then the door opened. “Out in the hall,” Tanner demanded.
    But before the door closed, Beth clearly heard the gruff voice say, “You should have been with them.”
    The door shut quietly, and all Beth could hear was murmured voices. What did he mean, Tanner should have been with them? With the bank? Certainly he didn’t mean the robbers, so it had to be with the bank. The man must be from Tanner’s job, and she was holding him back, keeping him from his employment. But what exactly did he do for a living? He’d said he was an auditor, but she was having a hard time believing him. Certainly a banker or auditor didn’t seem to fit him.
    She had to get well so that they could both resume their lives, though suddenly she wasn’t in such a rush to reach Fort Worth. Until this moment there had been a sense of security here with Tanner that she had never felt before. Fort Worth