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The Sheriff
Nan Ryan
There are no laws when it comes to love.Kate Quinn arrives in Fortune, California, with little but a deed to a run-down Victorian mansion and a claim to an abandoned gold mine. But a beautiful woman on her own in a town of lonely, lusty miners also brings trouble.Sheriff Travis McLoud has enough to handle in Fortune, where fast fists and faster guns keep the peace, without the stubbornly independent Miss Kate to look after. But when a dapper, sweet-talking stranger shows a suspicious interest in Kate, Travis feels it's his duty to protect her.With her days spent searching for the glimmer of gold, Kate has no interest in the sheriff and his unnecessary warnings. But she can't prevent him from invading her dreams and showing her that a rough-around-the-edges lawman just might have more to offer than a well-heeled gentleman–including a heart of gold.
“You know how to use that thing?”
Kate VanNam swallowed hard as she raised the revolver. “Certainly,” she lied. “I’m an excellent—”
Before Kate could finish her sentence, Sheriff Travis McCloud had taken the gun away from her and then pulled her up against him. “Never aim a weapon unless you mean to fire it. You hear me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Damn it to hell, I knew it.”
“Knew what?” she asked, intensely aware that his slim hips and long legs were pressed flush against hers. She could feel the heat radiating from him, making her own body warm.
“That you’d be trouble. You are trouble. You’ll cause trouble. For yourself. For me.”
“That’s a lot of trouble, Sheriff.”
“Too much trouble,” he said, releasing her before he placed the revolver on the sofa bed. “Why don’t you pack up and leave before somebody gets hurt?”
“I am staying in Fortune, and if you don’t like it I’d suggest you stay out of my sight.”
Both annoyed and amused by Kate’s determination, Travis raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, Miss VanNam, but if I catch you anywhere near a saloon or out on the streets after dark, you’re going to jail.”
“Fair enough, Sheriff,” Kate said. “And if I catch you anywhere near this house after dark, I’ll be forced to shoot you.”
Also by NAN RYAN
DUCHESS FOR A DAY
CHIEFTAIN
NAUGHTY MARIETTA
THE SCANDALOUS MISS HOWARD
THE SEDUCTION OF ELLEN
THE COUNTESS MISBEHAVES
WANTING YOU
The Sheriff
Nan Ryan
www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)
For my fellow classmates with whom I graduated dear old Bryson High on that warm Texas night all those summers ago.
Fannie Ainsworth
Rollins Bilby
Vernon Crager
John Denning
Joe Gillespie
Jerry Graybill
Shirley Harrison
Joyce King
LaRue Matlock
Imogene McNear
Bobby Mitchell
Glenda Odom
Delores Shook
Dorothy Sims
Malvin Teague
Betty Lou Wells
Colleen Wolfe
Contents
Chapter One (#u493222ac-c889-592e-9659-8754ea9292aa)
Chapter Two (#u35a8e476-11a9-571f-b178-32cee753b1a3)
Chapter Three (#u21f34a45-69f0-5c30-86e2-a44735b4d0c4)
Chapter Four (#u8ebd2c41-08f4-5e3d-9578-a5f2ad8edb4f)
Chapter Five (#u26a54035-1168-5d2d-a185-5cf8bd0c00ef)
Chapter Six (#uab6c994d-b141-5234-b121-5c1bebd84402)
Chapter Seven (#u6f67654e-1720-5235-a16f-be0077c2189c)
Chapter Eight (#u177886c6-8237-5eaa-b8c7-ab2708e33332)
Chapter Nine (#u3c5ef183-9cd9-5e98-a311-08f6c7348a98)
Chapter Ten (#ued6c4bfa-9447-5058-8cc7-fb741bbfb518)
Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Prologue
In a candlelit hotel room on San Francisco’s rowdy Barbary Coast, a handsome man lay on his back upon the bed.
He was naked.
So was the woman astride him.
The pair were making hot, eager love.
They had been at each other from the minute they rushed into the room, locked the door and hurriedly began stripping off their clothes.
Now the lusty pair moved together in a frenzied mating. The voluptuous woman’s heavy breasts bounced and swayed with her rapid movements. She gripped the man’s ribs and murmured his name repeatedly.
A blue officer’s campaign cap bobbed atop the woman’s head. A captain’s uniform was draped over a bedpost.
