She hiked her chin. “I’m going nowhere with you.”
“Henry didn’t leave you a choice. Didn’t leave me one, either.”
****
Winnie returned the outlaw’s stare. Even in filthy clothes, ragged hair, and scruffy whiskers, the man exuded a devil-may-care confidence she couldn’t recall witnessing in anyone else. His earnest expression betrayed none of the guile or seduction she suspected lurked beneath.
Scary? No. Dangerous? Yes. The devilish winks he’d aimed at her through the jailhouse bars could be lethal weapons. With no wall between them, he was…was…
She tore her gaze from the prisoner’s—ex-prisoner’s—and glanced around her room. Bare walls. Stick furniture. An empty, battered armoire. Odd how she found nothing she couldn’t bear to leave behind.
Including goodbye.
She surrendered the traveling case.
He kicked the bag under the bed. “Can’t take anything that’ll slow us down.” He extended a hand.
When she laid her palm in his, strong fingers curled into a gentle trap. Why didn’t the move provoke a shudder?
His voice held the same earnest plea she’d heard the night they’d spoken through the window. “I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe if you’ll trust me.”
“I don’t.”
“Smart woman.” He winked. “I don’t, either.”
Yes, lethal. A giggle made a break for freedom. She swallowed the inappropriate, uninvited reaction.
Judging by the ripple that worked down his throat, he suffered the same affliction.
****
Damn that hint of a grin. Caught halfway between a noose and a bullet, he’d thought he had nothing to lose…until that almost-smile. A look like that on an angel’s face made any price for survival worth paying.
“C’mon. We’ve got to go before Halverson notices I’m missing.”
No convincing required. She beat him through the doorway and down the first two steps.
The rapid thump of boots across the floorboards below sent a spike through his pulse and froze her in mid-flight. He caught her arm and pulled her against him before she tumbled to the bottom of the stairwell.
She swung to face him with a taut whisper. “I think Roy knows you’re missing.”
“I think you’re right.” Shit.
Wrapping her in his arms steadied his heartbeat. He dropped a whisper into her hair. “Trust me?”
Not the slightest hesitation separated her nod from his question.
Squeezing around her in a space little wider than his shoulders nearly sent them both rolling ass over elbows. He jammed his forearms against the walls to capture his balance. With her soft, warm curves pressed to his back, he wound one of her arms about his waist and flattened her palm against his ribs. Laying his hand atop hers, he straightened to his full height, blanked his expression…and prayed the bluff would work. Make him blink first.
The muzzle of the marshal’s Colt preceded the rest of the man into the narrow passageway. He oozed up three steps and stopped with one boot on the fourth.
Daniel cocked a grin. “Marshal Halverson. Just the man I wanted not to see.”
After glancing at Honey’s arm, the marshal locked Daniel’s gaze. “Let her go, Farrow.”
“Now, why would I do that?”
Halverson’s growl wound out through bared teeth. “I’ll kill you where you stand.”
“This close?” Daniel snorted. “Your round’ll punch clean through me and hit her.”
He increased the pressure on Honey’s hand. I won’t let anything happen to you. Trust me.
Her cheek traced a short up-and-down path between his shoulder blades.
He dropped the grin. “I hold the ace. Stow the iron before somebody gets hurt.”
With a wordless snarl, Halverson eased the Colt’s hammer against the chamber and slid the gun into leather.
“Now, back up.”
The marshal stepped down one stair.
Daniel followed. Honey moved with him, as though they were a single person. He’d never played a gambit this risky, but her warmth melting into him reinforced his will to win. Just don’t blink.
Halverson tempered his tone, if not his glare. “Let her go. Only a coward uses a woman as a shield.”
Chuckling, Daniel draped a wrist across the butt of his gun. “Here’s the way I figure it: If I’m going to hang for murder, I may as well commit one.”
The marshal’s eyes narrowed into slits. “You won’t—”
“That’s the thing about cowardice: I will. Back up.”
Poisonous glare never wavering, Halverson wound all the way down the staircase and into the kitchen. Daniel cleared the last step on shaky knees. Breathe. Don’t blink.
“Where do you think you’re gonna go, Farrow? This entire town knows you’re loose.”
“I’ll go wherever I please. I hold the ace, remember?” He sneaked his fingertips beneath Honey’s palm and squeezed. Still melting into him, she returned the favor. His pulse settled.
“Let her go.” Sweat beaded on the marshal’s brow. His gun hand twitched. “I’ll make sure you get out of here alive.”