Murphy's Law (The Bounty Hunter Series - Book 1) by Laurie LeClair

rose.
    “You son-of-a-bitch,” she muttered to Murphy. She could barely see him in the dusky building and her vision kept coming and going.
    “I’ve been called a lot worse.”
    “When were you going to tell me? We’re married?”
    He sighed heavily. “How did you guess?”
    “The sheriff mentioned it right after they captured me.”
    The sliding noise that came next clued her into him coming closer. In a horse stall, behind broken boards, yet they were in another cage. “And you still tried to rescue me?” Wonder throbbed in his voice.
    “I wish I hadn’t now.”
    Settling beside her, his arm brushed hers. Heat and fire traveled up her arm. She bit back on a wave of want.
    “You were so fragile. Still are, in a lot of ways. I didn’t want to upset you after the accident,” he said softly. “You didn’t, and still don’t, remember.”
    “You and Storm? Is that why my brain is letting me forget?” Was it protecting her from the truth?
    “Whoa now. Nothing’s going on with Storm and me. I told you that back at the bar.”
    “Ever?” Her voice was filled with sarcasm.
    “Never.”
    “Bullshit!” she bit out between gritted teeth.
    The voices outside climbed higher, dragging her senses away from him. Murphy’s touch on her chin had her jerking away. He held tight. “Look at me, Echo.” When she did, she met his hot, steady gaze. “Yeah, that’s it. I’m lusting for you even now. Sick, huh? Believe me, I only have this with you. She may be your twin, but she does nothing for me.”
    Confusion reigned. A curl of desire tightened at the sweep of heat rolling off him and onto her. She didn’t doubt their attraction. In the past, she shied away from it. But there was one thing he couldn’t lie about. “Timmy.” The stab of hurt pierced her. Betrayal.
    He sucked in a sharp breath.
    “He’s yours.” She jerked her chin out of his grasp. Nodding her head toward the bickering men outside, she said, “He figured it out.” Silently, she said she should have, too.
    “Echo—”
    “Don’t you dare lie to me,” she warned.
    “He’s ours.”
    Shock slammed into her gut. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. But tears stung the backs of her eyes. “I would have known.” Her heart spasmed in her chest. Somehow his words felt right, though.
    “He barely made it after your accident. Preemie.”
    “I was carrying him?” Her breath caught in the back of her throat.
    “You were small and you covered up as best you could. You were trying to protect him. No one knew except you, me, and Storm. I was trying to get you to a safe life, away from all the criminals I caught, away from the threats to me and by default to you. I didn’t do what I needed to do.” Regret throbbed between them.
    She placed a hand on her abdomen. There were changes to her, scars on her body even, but, she’d always thought the accident and subsequent three-month long coma and even longer rehabilitation stay had been the reason.
    “What the fuck is going on in there?” the sheriff bellowed, kicking away the last of the broken stall door. He aimed a gun at her. “You, little lady, have some payback coming.”
     
    ***
     
    Echo gulped hard. She jerked her thoughts back to the here and now. With as little movement as possible, and disguised by the clump of hay she was sitting in the middle of, she went for the gun hidden in her boot. To distract him, she said, “Sheriff, I’m surprised you can still walk. I swear I heard your nuts crack.”
    “Bitch!”
    “Echo,” Murphy cautioned her. “Easy.”
    The other men’s soft chuckles clued her into two things: First, their position. Second, they didn’t like the sheriff, either.
    She stood slowly, leveling the gun on the sheriff. His own gun she’d stolen from him. “I thought you didn’t hit women?”
    “Don’t. I never said I wouldn’t shoot them, though. You can be the first.”
     “You man enough to kill me? ’Cause that’s the only why you’re going to