Lean Stroud is wanted for robbery and a murder he didn't commit. On the run to California with his partner-in-crime, Kenneth, he spots the relentless bounty hunter, Thomas Grady, on the train. The only way to protect Kenneth is to create a distraction, and that's what he does when he flees the train at the top of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He forces Thomas to chase him, but nothing can prepare him for what it means to be caught.<br><br>Thomas Grady always gets his man, and Leon Stroud is no exception to that rule. But almost from the moment Thomas touches Leon, he wants the outlaw for something besides his bounty. Driven by desire he doesn't understand, he repeatedly claims Leon's body on the long journey from Soda Springs to San Francisco -- and Leon only begs for more. An even bigger threat, with a larger bounty, could be the very thing they need to drive them together. Or tear them apart.

Stealing West

Five hundred. That was what a man was worth. Thomas was going to sell him off to the marshals, and he wouldn’t even give a damn that Leon was likely to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail, if he ever made it to a cell. The way Behan had worked the story, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was an “accident” on the way to the courthouse.


Time was running out for him, no matter how he looked at it.


Tilting his head to the side, Leon watched Thomas work for several seconds. Thomas never looked back. He never even glanced in Leon’s direction. Even when Leon was done and buttoning himself back up, Thomas continued to work on packing his gear.


There was only one way he wasn’t going to end up in custody by the end of the day. Only one way to avoid what was an inevitable death sentence. He had to take the chance while he had it.


Chapter 17