Maverick / The Playboy's Passionate Pursuit. Emilie Rose

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СКАЧАТЬ before continuing. “In fact, she seldom leaves her bedroom, which she keeps locked at all times. Even her family members have to identify ourselves before she’ll open the door. She locks it again after we enter.”

      “That’s too bad,” Tanner said sincerely. “It’s a horrible experience for any woman to go through, especially a woman her age.” Having read everything about the case, Tanner knew the girl was not long out of her teens. And he knew, as well, the woman seated opposite him was a few years older.

      “Yes.” Brianna paused a minute, then went on. “Although we feel hopeful the law will eventually find this monster, for Dani’s peace of mind we want him found and incarcerated as soon as possible. That’s why my father entrusted me with finding the best bounty hunter and offering a higher bounty.”

      From information he had gleaned here and there, Tanner suspected the felon was holed up somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, a big territory to scour. Although recently there had been a rumor the man had been spotted in and around Mesa Verde and the San Juan mountain range. That was still a lot of ground to cover. Tanner had previously considered hunting down the man, but he had been bone-tired from his last hunt. Still, he could always use the cash. But then, who couldn’t?

      “How much higher?” he finally asked, a thread of skepticism in his voice.

      Her soft voice hardened. “A million dollars.”

      A cool mil was worth a man’s time needed to comb through that rugged terrain, however tired, Tanner decided. The thought of a million bucks was enough to reenergize a man. If that made him ruthless, tough. Nice guys seldom wound up catching the badasses. Hell, even cops had to be ruthless at times. He should know; there were enough of them in his family.

      “Well?” A mixture of anxiety and impatience strained her voice and expression. “Will you accept the job?”

      “Yeah,” he said in flat tones. “I’ll go scour the mountains for him.”

      “Good.” She exhaled the breath he couldn’t help noticing she was holding. “I’m going with you.”

      For a moment Tanner was on the verge of exploding, showering her with heated refusals. Instead he let loose a roar of ridiculing laughter.

      “I don’t think so,” he said when his laughter subsided. “I’m not babysitting a rich man’s daughter in stilettos as she traipses around those mountains.”

      Tapping the toe of one stiletto-clad foot, Brianna smiled serenely. “Mr. Wolfe, I don’t need a babysitter, thank you. I can take care of myself.”

      “Yeah, right,” he mocked her. “In a fine restaurant or an upscale dress shop. Go home to Daddy, baby,” he advised. “I hunt alone.”

      “I don’t think so,” she shot back at him. “This time there’ll be two hunters in the mountains.”

      Tanner laughed again.

      He should’ve kept his mouth shut.

      Brianna sat ramrod straight across from Tanner Wolfe, her coffee and scone cooling, her gaze meeting his stare for glaring stare. There was no way he’d keep her from going hunting with him. Not when her sister’s life and happiness depended on capturing her offender.

      Brianna wasn’t about to sit idly by and leave that to someone else. She had to take action, be a part of the hunt. It was the way she had been raised and the way she lived her life. One put family above all else. Besides, back in Pennsylvania, at the university, that was the way she ran her research library. Always in charge.

      It didn’t matter that this wasn’t as routine as finding obscure facts for a student’s thesis or a professor’s lecture. This was a life-or-death situation—and it could very well be her own death.

      But she was doing it for Dani.

      She gave Tanner her iciest stare and waited for his reply.

      “I said no, Ms. Stewart.” His eyes had narrowed to glittering dark stones. “I won’t be responsible for anyone else. I always hunt alone.”

      “Why?” Deliberately, with a show of nonchalance, she raised her mug and took a deep swallow. “I would think two hunters would be better than one.”

      “Why? Because you’re a woman, that’s why.”

      A woman indeed. Brianna fought back a sneer. The man’s arrogant, superior tone was getting to her. “I’ve heard there are women bounty hunters.”

      “There are,” he said, raising his own mug and draining it. “But they’re tough, not sleek and pampered daddy’s darlings.” His smile was no longer gentle. “Even so, I won’t hunt with any one of them, either.”

      Now Brianna was getting more than annoyed. She set down the mug to keep from flinging it at his thick head. She detested a condescending male attitude. She drew a deep breath before educating him.

      “Mr. Wolfe, I don’t know about women bounty hunters, but this ‘daddy’s darling’ knows how to take care of herself. My father, an avid hunter, began teaching me about firearms when I was twelve. I’ve followed him up one mountain and down another. I’ve trekked beside him in Africa. And, although I hunt with a camera, I’m an expert shot with both a rifle and a handgun.”

      “I’m impressed.”

      He sounded bored.

      Damn him, Bri thought, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming at him. “I’m not finished,” she said, her voice tight. “I’ve also had training in the martial arts and Krav Maga. I know how to defend myself.”

      “I’m glad to hear it.” He didn’t sound at all glad; his voice carried a thread of impatience. “A woman should be trained to protect herself. But that changes nothing. I still hunt alone.”

      He was a Wolfe, all right, spelled wolf, pure alpha male, self-contained and confident. That was certain despite his appearance.

      Not that there was anything wrong with the way he looked. It was just that he didn’t seem to fit the rest of the Wolfe clan.

      Her friends Lisa and Matt were twins, blonde and gorgeous. Bri had never met their parents, but she had met their father’s brother, the Sprucewood chief of police, and she had seen pictures of several of the other Wolfes, uncles and cousins. They were all tall, blond and handsome. She had not seen a picture of this particular Wolfe cousin.

      Tanner Wolfe was different from the rest. For one thing, he didn’t have the same blond hair as the others. While he was every inch as tall as the rest of his family, that’s where the resemblance ended. The other Wolfe males, while handsome, looked the role of tough law-enforcement officers.

      The only descriptive word for this Wolfe that had flashed through her mind when he’d opened the door was saint. Tanner Wolfe had the face of a saint, with soft brown eyes and a gentle, if possibly deceptive, smile. His hair was wavy and shoulder-length, light brown with red-gold highlights, very clean and shiny.

      When she’d first seen him, he had literally taken her breath away. Her immediate thought was that she had rung the wrong doorbell. This saintly-looking soft-eyed man could not be a tough bounty hunter.

      But СКАЧАТЬ