Condemn Me Not (24 page)

“You’re damn right they are—and
on my property!”  Delaney yanked her arm only to find it immovable.  “Let me go,”
she spat.

“No.”

At the force of his
objection, she stopped.  Glaring at him, Delaney performed a rapid assessment
of the situation.  While trained in physical defense, taking on the over two
hundred some-odd pound muscular Mr. Harris was not what she wanted to be doing
at the moment.  She wanted to get over there and find out what those two men
had been doing.  She wanted to follow them to see where they were going.  She stared
up at Nick, her displeasure intensifying as she noted the hint of amusement in
his eyes.  “Why are you here again?”

“I told you.  I saw your horse
back there without you on it.”  He relaxed into a smile.  “I became concerned.”

Dimples carved into his
cheeks on either side of his mouth, compliments to the slight cleft in his chin
centered within his angular jaw.  Black-brown eyes appeared seamless beneath
his heavy brow and deeply tanned skin.  His appearance was one of rugged
masculinity that seemed right at home in these woods, his short, dark hair rich
and full, combed away from his face.  But this was Ladd land.  Her land.  He had
no business interfering.

“My whereabouts and
well-being are none of your concern,” she said, making no effort to conceal her
annoyance at his gallant show of male dominance, “and I hereby officially relieve
you of duty.  I can take care of myself, thank you.”

“I’m not leaving without
you.”

She grumbled under her
breath.  She could stay and protest and waste precious time or she could feign
conciliation and take Sadie after the men.  No doubt they were taking the back
way out.  Nick didn’t mention anything about a horse of his own.  Delaney savored
a private smile, a plan forming in her mind.  There was no way he could stop
her once on horseback.  “Fine,” she retorted and headed back toward the trail,
taking the incline in three long strides.

Once on the path, she walked
as fast as she could, eager to lose him.

Nick caught up with her
easily, matching her stride.  “Do you have much trouble around here with
trespassing?”

“Some.”  Boots jarred her
legs as she navigated the hard-packed, uneven clay, littered with rocks and
roots.  Walking side-by-side, Delaney wasn’t short by any stretch of the
imagination, but at five foot five inches and a buck twenty in weight, she was
dwarfed by comparison to him.

“How do you handle it?”

Anger rose hot and fast in
her breast and she turned on him.  “Why?  So you can map out a response to
silence the trouble, once you swindle the property from my uncle?”

“I’m not trying to swindle
the property,” he said, his tone measured and even, as though it required
effort for him to remain calm.

“Aren’t you?  Ernie already
said no.  Why are you still here?” she asked, taking him in from the side as
she marched down the trail.

“I’m a patient man, Ms.
Wilkins.  I understand he needs time to think it over.  I’m willing to give it
to him.”

“You don’t know my uncle.”

“Why don’t you tell me about
him?” he asked, his voice drenched in friendship and camaraderie.  “I’m not a
bad guy.  I’ll make it a win-win proposition for everyone.”

Delaney didn’t like the abrupt
switch from rawhide to velvet.  Nick was trying to con her and she was not a
woman easily conned.  Well, not anymore anyway.  “No sale,” she told him.

Nick raised a brow.  “Excuse
me?”

“You heard me.”  She flipped
her face up to meet him directly.  “No sale—in every sense of the words.”

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