He could explain. Maybe they would listen. Mitchell had come to think of them all as family, so perhaps they felt the same about him. They could help him.
But how could they if he was running away like a coward? He hadn’t even gone for the sheriff. He was too embarrassed by his own actions back when he knew Clarkson. He couldn’t face the sheriff looking at him like he was nothing more than an outlaw.
It was cowardly.Hewas acting cowardly.
Mitchell drew up the reins, bringing Trip to a halt at the foot of one of the many bluffs that dotted the west Nebraska landscape.
He had two choices: run away or turn around and fight for what he wanted.
The road behind him stretched out long and thin and brown. But unlike the road that led east, this one had hope at the end of it. Acceptance. Family. Love.
Mitchell King was no coward.
And so he nudged Trip back the way he’d come. Back to Last Chance. Back to everything he wanted. And back to everything he needed to put behind him, for once and for all.
Time seemed to drag on as he rode, yet the sun still moved across the sky.
And then, a couple of hours later, two men on horseback appeared on the horizon.
Mitchell took a deep breath, ignored everything in the back of his mind that told him to turn around and run, and continued forward.
He rode right up to Buck Clarkson and a tall man with straw-colored hair, where they waited at the base of yet another bluff. Recognition bloomed in his mind upon seeing the man who had attacked Lara. He couldn’t place the man’s name, but he’d seen him once or twice with Clarkson back in Denver. Some associate Clarkson wouldn’t cut into his usual jobs, but who acted to intimidate folks when Clarkson needed him to. That attack on Lara had been intentional—to scare Mitchell.
Clarkson’s lips curved up into the most unfriendly smile Mitchell had ever seen. “Well, if it isn’t Mitchell King. Just the man I’ve been looking for. You remember John Bryce?” He jerked his head toward the tall man.
Mitchell ignored the pretense of civility. “Let’s get on with it. Why are you here?” If the man was going to kill him, Mitchell wanted him to say it out loud.
“Always direct. That’s why I liked you.” Clarkson leaned forward in his saddle as if they were having a friendly conversation. “I’ll be direct with you too then. You served me up to the law to save your own skin. And now you’re going to pay for it.”
Mitchell opened his mouth to tell Clarkson exactly what he thought of that—but he didn’t get a chance.
Instead, the sound of a gunshot filled the empty plains around them, echoing off the bluff and sending them all diving for the ground.
Chapter Nineteen
Lara sank back behindthe edge of the bluff, willing her hands to stop trembling. That shot had gone wide. But it was probably for the best since she was too nervous to aim properly anyhow.
