The Candy Kid — Dorothy B. Hughes

In El Paso, a ranch hand falls for a dangerous gringa

Jose Aragon looks like a cowboy and, to his disgust, smells like one too. In El Paso between jobs, he's standing outside the Chenoweth Hotel, praying for a room, a shower, and a couple of ice cold beers. Instead, he finds a woman: a sandy-haired, wealthy beauty named Dulcinda Farrar. Mistaking him for ordinary border-town trash, she offers him a few bucks to pick up a package for her. Jose plays along, thinking it will be a lark to pull one over on the beautiful Yankee. But his sense of humor is about to get him into trouble.

Five minutes after he picks up Dulcinda's package, it vanishes, and the border's toughest thugs are hot on his trail. Jose is an expert when it comes to roping steer, but he will find that an upper class blonde is more dangerous than the wildest bull.