To Hawk O'Toole, she was a pawn in a desperate gamble to help his people. To Miranda Price, he was a stranger who'd done the unthinkable: kidnapped her and her young son off a train full of sight-seeing vacationers. Now, held hostage on a distant reservation for reasons she cannot at first fathom, Miranda finds herself battling a captor who is by turns harsh and tender, mysteriously aloof and dangerously seductive. Hawk had assumed that Miranda Price, the beautiful ex-wife of Representative Price, would be as selfish and immoral as the tabloids suggested. Instead, she seems genuinely afraid for her son's life--and willing to risk her own to keep him safe. But committed to a fight he didn't start, Hawk knows he can't afford to feel anything but contempt for his prisoner. To force the government to reopen the Lone Puma Mine, he must keep Miranda at arm's length, must remember that she is his enemy--even when she ignites his deepest desires. Slowly, Miranda begins to learn what drives this brooding, solitary man, to discover the truth about his tragic past. But it will take a shocking revelation to finally force her to face her own past and the woman she's become, and to ask herself: Is it freedom she really wants...or the chance to stay with Hawk forever? Sizzling entertainment from the first tantalizing scene to the last, Hawk O'Toole's Hostage is one of Sandra Brown's classic romances available in hardcover for the first time. Published in 1988 when Brown was just another budding romance novelist, and soon out of print, this tale of a kidnapper who falls for his captive is being resuscitated in hardcover. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. New York Times bestselling author of Heaven's Price "Sandra Brown...fires your imagination with irresistible characters, unexpected plot twists, scandalous secrets, and sexual tension so electric you feel the zing." -- The Literary Guild "Ms. Brown's larger than life heroes and heroines make you believe all the warm, wonderful, wild things in life." -- Rendezvous ole, she was a pawn in a desperate gamble to help his people. To Miranda Price, he was a stranger who'd done the unthinkable: kidnapped her and her young son off a train full of sight-seeing vacationers. Now, held hostage on a distant reservation for reasons she cannot at first fathom, Miranda finds herself battling a captor who is by turns harsh and tender, mysteriously aloof and dangerously seductive. Hawk had assumed that Miranda Price, the beautiful ex-wife of Representative Price, would be as selfish and immoral as the tabloids suggested. Instead, she seems genuinely afraid for her son's life--and willing to risk her own to keep him safe. But committed to a fight he didn't start, Hawk knows he can't afford to feel anything but contempt for his prisoner. To force the government to reopen the Lone Puma Mine, he must keep Miranda at arm's length, must remember that she is his enemy--even when she ignites his deepest desires. Slowly, Miranda begins to learn what Miranda fought like a wildcat. Her carefully tended nails became talons, which she would have used to claw the robber's face had she been able to reach it. As it was, his fingers had locked around her wrists like handcuffs. She was no match for his superior strength. She kicked his shins, aimed for his crotch with her knee, and was rewarded with a grunt of pain and surprise when it landed close. "Let my son go!" The man in the mask gave her a mighty push that sent her reeling backward. She landed hard on her bottom, but sprang up immediately and tackled him while he had one boot in the stirrup. Catching him off balance, she dug her shoulder into his ribs. She reached for Scott. Scott dived toward her and landed against her chest hard enough to knock the breath out of her. But she held onto him and turned, running blindly. The other bandits were all mounted. Their horses had been made nervous by the shouting. They were prancing around, kicking up clouds of dust that obscured Miranda's vision and clogged her nose and throat. A thousand pinpricks stabbed her scalp when the robber caught her by the hair and brought her to an abrupt standstill. "Damn you," he cursed behind his mask. "This could have been so easy." She risked letting go of Scott to reach for the bandit's mask. He caught her hand in mid-air and issued an order in a language she didn't understand. One of his men immediately materialized out of the clouds of swirling dust. "Take the boy. Let him ride with you." "No!" Scott was wrestled from Miranda's clutching hands. When the bandit's arm closed around her middle like pincers and he dragged her backward, she fought harder than ever. Digging her heels into the earth, she tried to keep sight of Scott, who was wailing in terror. "I'll kill you if you hurt my son." The bandit seemed unfazed by her threat as he mounted his horse and yanked her up with him. She was still dangling half on, half off the saddle when he spurr