Tried and True (Wild at Heart Book #1) by Mary Connealy Page A

of fighting made him feel like he was the fraud, not her.
    “More than the exemption, I don’t want anyone to know I’m a woman.”
    “Too late,” Kylie said from the cell.
    Aaron turned to her. “You’ve been pretty quiet. How come you’re never quiet with me?”
    “Because,” Kylie said, “I had a hope she could maybe sway you. No one ever turns Bailey from her path.”
    “If I can’t convince you to give me that exemption, can I convince you to keep your mouth shut about me being a woman? Surely running your mouth all over town about it isn’t the same as committing fraud.”
    “Why should I keep silent? What’s the matter with you Wilde women that you want to deny you’re female?”
    With her jaw so tight it might crack her teeth, Bailey said, “For the reason that my sister is right now locked up in jail.”
    “It’s for her own safety.”
    “That’s exactly my point. I don’t want anyone doing anything for my own safety.”
    “Being a woman is a powerful protection out here in the West. Not too many men will hurt a woman.”
    Bailey stomped right up to Aaron. “I don’t want protection; I want freedom. I don’t want some well-meaning stubborn ox of a man slamming a cell door shut in my face for my own good. And being locked up is about as far as a body can get from freedom. I want to fork my own broncs. I want to own my land and run my cattle and do as much or as little as the strength of my back and the wits in my head will let me do.”
    Since she was close, Aaron snatched the broad-brimmed hat off her head, expecting long curls to rain down like Kylie’s had.
    They didn’t.
    Her blond hair was shorter than his. He tossed the hat onto the jailhouse desk. “I can’t believe you hacked all your hair off. You’re about the strangest filly I’ve ever heard tell of.” Then, knowing it would infuriate her, Aaron smirked and said, “But you’re sure a pretty little thing.”
    He caught the fist she threw with the sharp slap of flesh on flesh. Laughing, he let her go and stepped back, almost all the way to the cell. Not all the way of course. He didn’t put it past Kylie to grab him from behind and try to strangle him.
    “Now, if we can stop with all this female fussing, maybe you’d like to know that someone tried to kill your little sister today.”
    And that did stop Bailey. The anger in her face disappeared, and she turned to Kylie. “I should never have let you stay alone once it came out you were a woman.”
    Aaron wondered why Cudgel hadn’t said exactly those words. Instead, he’d bullied and wheedled and gotten his daughter to go along with him, then ridden off, leaving her alone and defenseless with a man Cudgel didn’t even know. And then the attack had come. Aaron shuddered to think what might have happened if Kylie had been there alone.
    It wasn’t like Cudgel wanted Kylie to be in danger; Aaron just got the real strong impression he didn’t think of it at all. His life was centered on himself, or maybe it was centered around mourning his son.
    The truth hit Aaron, and he wanted to kick himself for being so slow. “Your pa’s half mad with grief over the death of his son. His only son. And he’s trying to turn the rest of you into replacement sons. All three of you. Shannon is a woman, too.” Aaron wasn’t asking; he was just stating the obvious.
    Bailey and Kylie both turned to glare at Aaron, and he knew then he was right. Sighing, he added, “I’m changing her paper work, too. You Wilde sisters are the limit.”
    With a shake of her head, Bailey seemed to toss awayher annoyance at Aaron. “What does he mean, someone tried to kill you? Tell me what happened.”
    Kylie gave a brief explanation.
    “You’re right that it’s not Indians,” Bailey said. “I’ve met a few of the Shoshone people in these parts.”
    “You have?” Kylie straightened.
    “I’ve been trading with them a little. I hope to do more of it. I don’t believe this of the Shoshone that