Uncertainty crept throughher, and with it tendrils of emotion like panic and fury andhelplessness. Ruthlessly, she denied them purchase. “I am not oneto wait. I would appreciate more information than what you arecurrently offering. It will help….” She raised her chin. “It willhelp me.”
Liquid brown eyesregarded her. Faint lines fanned from their corners while straightbrows slashed above them. His arms, crossed over his broad chest,pulled his shirt tight, lending suggestion of hard muscle beneath.Grey-flecked stubble darkened his strong jaw, framing surprisinglyfull lips. Would the stubble scratch her skin, the softness of hislips sooth it?
The thought occurred toher, unbidden. A strange pulse began within her, a tingle beneathher skin. No. She would not feel such. She couldn’t.
“JakeWade.”
Their gaze broke.Recovering her breath, Hope turned. A woman stood beside them,wearing trousers and a gun belt.
The woman’s hand caressedthe handle of her gun. “I told you if I ever saw you I’d hafta killyou.” She smiled, and the chill of it made Hope shiver. “Guesswhat, Wade? I see you.”
ChapterFive
BREATH TRAPPED IN HER chest, Hope froze. The noise ofthe saloon faded and her vision narrowed, until all she could seewas the hard glint in the woman’s eyes, her hand hovering above thegun at her hip.
“Now,Clementine, you and I, we’ve always had anunderstanding.”
Mr Wade. His voice. Hopejerked her gaze to him. Still sprawled in his chair, no shift inhis lazy smile. How could he be so casual? Didn’t he see the menacein the woman?
“Yeah, andthat understanding was I’d put a bullet straight through your foolhead if you ever saw fit to show it.” The woman’s grin was allteeth.
“You know Idid what was right and lawful. You would have done the sameyourself.”
“But Ididn’t, did I? You stole Winters out from under me. He should havebeen strung by his heels, beaten, and skinned. He slaughtered,Wade. He revelled in blood. He slaughteredmypeople. Mybrother—” Her voice broke.
Loud bangs. A jumble oflimbs. A slash of silver. Bright red coating her hand. Panic.Pain.
Her family,dead.
Struggling to breathe,Hope squeezed her eyes shut. Soft breeze over gently waving green.Laughter in the distance. Calm. Peace. The passage ofyears.
Her heart slowed andbreath started again.
Opening her eyes, shefound Mr Wade in the same position, unconcerned with the dangerbefore him. Clementine stood, recovered, her gaze hard andunwavering. She must be a bounty hunter, or maybe a gunslinger likeMr Wade. The guns strapped at her hips suggested such, as did theweathered look to her skin. She wore pants like a man, paired witha leather jerkin, and her dark hair hung in a braid down herback.
Mr Wade propped an elbowon the back of his chair. “I don’t argue he was a bad man anddeserved justice, but what you were aiming for wasn’t justice. Youknow that as well as I, and if you weren’t so close, you would haveagreed. I’m awful sorry you didn’t get your vengeance, but Wintersis where he belongs.”
“I had him,Wade. I had him in my grasp, and you stole him.
Removing his elbow, heleaned forward, smile gone. “He’s a broken man, Clementine. More’nyou could imagine. He’s got no friends, no wealth, and noanonymity. His delight was no one knew him for the monster he is,but that ain’t so no longer. For the rest of his miserable life,he’ll have to bear the knowledge of his fall, that everyone knowsof it, and that is a greater punishment than anything you coulddevise.”
Clementine didn’trespond.
Hope looked between them,her breath again trapped in her chest.
“I still wantto skin him,” Clementine said.
Mr Wade nodded. “I’ve nodoubt.”
“He deservedto be skinned.”
“Maybe hedoes, but those he wronged also deserved to see justice done.Because you number amongst them don’t mean you get to determinewhat that is.”
She stared at him foranother long moment. “Goddamnit,” she snarled.
Mr Wade kicked the chairopposite him. “Why don’t you sit, Clementine, and we’ll getourselves reacquainted.”
Still thunderous, thebounty hunter dropped into the chair. Surreptitiously, Hope edgedaway from her, her heart not yet done with its too-fastrhythm.
