Sam's Creed

Interesting she felt he was. “I think about a mile out you’d have changed your mind on that.”

About a mile out the men would have had the clothes stripped from her body and that sexy mouth too full to scream.

“You do not know that.”

“True.” He checked the next body. “They might not have waited to leave the campsite before raping you.”

Those full lips pressed into a flat line. “I do not believe that.”

“Then you’re a poor judge of character.”

There wasn’t anything left on any of the bodies worth scavenging except for a broad-brimmed hat. He grabbed it. The woman might need it. Skin that creamy wouldn’t hold up well under the sun.

“The padre made them promise to give me safe passage.”

He shook his head, rolling the third man onto his back, glancing up at her smothered gag as congealed blood slid off. “And that’s all it took for you to leap trustingly into their arms?”

She pressed her hands to her lips a second before answering, “A man would not break a promise to a padre. It would mean his soul.”

Sam straightened. “I’d be willing to bet these men lost their souls long ago.”

“You will not say such things.” The fingers of her right hand clenched in the fabric of her skirt. “They lost their lives because of me.”

“You weren’t even here.”

She shook her head. “It is still because of me.” Her gaze met his. There was no mistaking the anguish in the depths. “If you force me to go with you, you will lose yours, too.”

He’d heard that before. “What makes you think I’m so easy to kill?”

“Easy or hard, when he finds you, you will still be dead.”

“He?”

Her lips clamped closed.

“You might as well tell me.”

“You do not need to know.”

He liked the way she spoke, the syllables coming together in a melodic flow, the accents falling in the wrong places in such a way that made a song out of normally harsh words.

“Since we’ll be traveling together, I’d like to know who’s going to be on my tail.”

“I will not allow it.”

“You don’t have a say.”

“Yes. I do.”

Because she thought he couldn’t figure it out. There was only one man in this territory powerful enough to be labeled he. When Sam combined that with the fact that San Antonio was the first large town outside Tejala’s territory, it wasn’t hard to figure out who had her running scared.

He reached for her arm. She stepped back. “I cannot let you be hurt.”

Damn, what happened to thinking he was dangerous?

“Anybody ever tell you you have strange notions?”

From the way she immediately drew her pride around her like a shield, he’d say yes.

“That does not make the ideas wrong.”

No, but it did make them hard to hold on to. “Do you have any belongings?”

She pointed under the wagon bed.

He flexed his shoulder. Shit. “Figures.”

“If I am holding you back, you may just leave.”

“When I leave you’re coming with me.”

“Not unless it is to San Antonio you go.”

Kell growled again. She turned on the dog, pointing her finger. “You, you will behave.”

Kell, being Kell, ignored the command.

Sam folded his arms across his chest and leaned back against the wagon wheel. “You figure out how to make him do that, I’ll take you straight to San Antonio.”

She shielded her eyes against the sun and frowned at him. “He is your dog.”

“Not exactly.”

“He’s not your dog?”

Sam shrugged. “We’re working it out.”

“I do not understand.”

“He showed up a few days ago on the trail. We’ve shared a few meals but nothing’s permanent.”

“It seems permanent to me.”

“Appearances can be deceiving.”

She nodded. She took another step, not toward Kell, but apparently he thought she was taking liberties. He lunged. Sam jumped forward. He was too late. With a rapid spate of something in Spanish, Isabella cracked the dog across the nose. He yelped and dropped back. Hands on hips, she glared at the dog. “No more out of you.”

Sam shook his head. If that didn’t beat all. “I think he likes you.”