Read Online Promise Bridge by Eileen Clymer Schwab - Free Book Online Page B

stream fo’ Livetta. Don’t be angry, Mama, ’cuz I was ’specially quiet in case any paddy rollers was lookin’ about.”
    “Don’t you ever go off on your own again, Lillabelle.” Marcus came across the cave to lift her chin so she could see the alarm in his face. “Now, tell me about the dogs.”
    “I heared ’em comin’ from down yonder where they gunned Livetta.”
    Colt grabbed my hand and stepped to Marcus. “We’ll go down the mountain to intercept any danger heading this way. If we can’t stop it, I will squeeze off one shot of my rifle to give you time to scatter. If there is no gun blast, then you are safe for now. But heed my warning and be on your way with the twitter of the first night cricket, so your tracks are cold and faded by morning.”
    I eased the tension between them when I added, “I will be back tomorrow with more provisions for Livie.”
    With that, we parted from our band of runaways. As Colt and I cut a hasty path back through the pine hollow, I looked over my shoulder and saw Marcus staring from the cave entrance. I am sure I saw him nod just before Colt jerked my elbow to keep my attention moving in his direction. I kept stride with Colt around the still waters of Emerald Cove to the steep path descending the mountainside. Near the meadow, I heard the first low bellow of the hounds, just as Lillabelle had said. No effort was wasted on words as we scampered down from the peak. Using our hands like tobacco machetes, we slapped our way through the underbrush as Twitch and his dogs pounced over the far knoll of the meadow, followed by his slave driver, Willy Jack.
    I immediately took Colt’s hand to slow his pace. Under normal circumstances, the mere sight of Twitch riled Colt’s defenses, and I did not want Twitch to sense any added uneasiness. Not much got by Twitch’s demon eye. He had a way of observing and deciphering situations that peeled away layers until the heart of the matter was revealed and vulnerable. I suppose that was what made him good at what he did, but it was unnerving to those under his scrutiny. By the time our paths met in the tall grass of the meadow, his hounds were barking and running in circles around us.
    “Gracious be, Twitch. Calm these crazy animals,” I said, feigning a casual lilt.
    Twitch gave the one nearest me a boot in the haunches that sent it yelping back over the hill, with three others giving chase. Willy Jack waited about twenty paces away, knowing it was not his place to join the group.
    “When did you ride in?” Colt asked without masking his disdain. “I thought you would be gone a week or more.”
    Twitch fixed his good eye on him as he tongued a wad of tobacco inside his bulging cheek, before spewing a dark stream down toward Colt’s boots. “Then you thought wrong, Purebred. Anyway, when I come and go ain’t none o’ your damn business.”
    “If you are fresh off the road,” I jumped in, hoping to tame Twitch’s foul mood, “what brings you up on the mountain? Ol’ Uncle Mooney better not be working you too hard. A man’s got the right to put up his feet and relax after a long journey.”
    “Ain’t seen the ol’ man, but I spied a line o’ smoke up on the peak when I came across the flatlands. Gonna have me a look around.”
    “Well, if you are curious about the smoke, it was just Colt and me. We had a fire going earlier.”
    “That’s right,” Colt said. “I decided to do a little hunting.”
    “And with Aunt Augusta gone, Colt let me tag along.”
    Twitch squeezed his dead eye closed and studied us. Then he tugged at the limp rabbit hanging on Colt’s belt.
    “You kill that?”
    Colt was taken off guard because he had apparently forgotten about the rabbit Marcus had given him in the cave. He yanked the animal back from Twitch. “Let’s just say it’s none of your damn business,” Colt said, posturing himself for trouble.
    Twitch let out a whoop of craggy laughter. “You think I am stupid or