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

“I didn’t even think about it,” he confessed. “I mean, I saw what he was going to do, and I just reacted. It didn’t even cross my mind what it meant. I just couldn’t let him shoot you.”


Thomas returned to the bed with the water, the soap, and a towel. He balanced the basin on the mattress and dabbed a corner into the water. Everything he did was focused and deliberate, as though he was following a preordained ritual.


“Phoenix was fast,” Thomas finally said, wiping the cool rag across Leon’s brow. “Faster than most people gave him credit for, I expect. You did good to take the shot when you had it.”


His lashes fluttered shut. It wasn’t just the comforting water working over his skin. It was the weight of Thomas’s body as he leaned against Leon’s legs, the soft touch of the hand resting on Leon’s knee.


“Guess I should be grateful you didn’t shoot me first. I know it must’ve looked bad. But cozying up to him was the only way he’d let me stay in the same room as him.”


Chapter 37