Read Online The Outlaw's Kiss (an Old West Romance) (Wild West Brides) by Anya Karin - Free Book Online Page B

man’s personal business has nothing to do with how
he keeps order.”
    “The other day, round-about noon, he was walking
the camp’s streets with Clara. Arm in arm, they were.” There was something I
couldn’t place in that man’s voice that turned my stomach. “Cavorting about
like they were courting.”
    “Oh, now Mr. Rawls, Goldtooth, I mean that’s just
ridiculous. Sheriff Bullock was likely showing her around town while Mr. Star
and I were reconnoitering my claim. Surely you don’t mean to insinuate
something with your comments.”
    “No, no, not at all.” A chair moved, and boots
thumped on the wood floor. “I don’t insinuate, Jefferson, I’m just trying to
help. But my words don’t end with Bullock. Mr. Star is a well-known cheat, both
at cards and in business, and Davis Clark doesn’t have a shred of gold on his
claim.”
    With that, I finally put my finger on what so
bothered me about the man. Aside from Rawls’s feigned manners and his
gruffness, I didn’t like the freeness with which he aired his grievances – real
or imagined – about other people and their business.
    A second pair of feet hit the ground. “I’m not
sure what the purpose of all this is, exactly, regardless, I’d like for you to
leave.” My father rarely took a stand like that, but when he did, he never
backed down.
    “I’m not finished yet.”
    “That’s fine. I’d like for you to leave anyway, if
you please.”
    Boots scraped across the ground to the door, and
then I heard them turn. “Eli Masterson is a traitor,” Rawls said. “An
Indian-lover and a traitor.”
    My heart jumped into my throat. I strongly
disliked his rumors dealing with the other men, but when he started to speak
ill of Eli, the gentlest, kindest man I’d ever met; the one person who I wanted
to see more than anyone in the world. I couldn’t help but smile a bit.
    “Now, sir,” father said in a stern voice. “I’ll
not have that sort of accusation being thrown around so casually. Not at all.
I’ve asked you to leave and yet here you remain, talking my ear off about
things which are none of your business. Why are you doing this, Mr. Rawls?”
    “Goldtooth,” he said. “My friends call me –”
    “You have no friends in this house, Mr.
Rawls. Good day to you.”
    My eyes were wide open. What I wouldn’t give to go
out and watch the exchange like it was a cockfight. My shamelessness mortified
me, but still I couldn’t rip my attention from them.
    “You can dismiss what I’m saying all you like,
Jefferson, but-”
    “Please leave, Mr. Rawls. And please stop calling
me Jefferson. I’ll ask you one more time to exit my home before I throw you out
bodily.”
    I had never heard father speak that way to
someone – anyone – before.
    “I’m going. But I’ll leave you with this. That
man, Eli Masterson? He’s the reason the Sioux never leave this town alone. He’s
trying to cavort with those damn Indians to get this place burned to the
ground. He and that savage he cavorts with, they’re planning, you know.”
    “That is quite enough!” My father had begun
to shout. Never in my life had I heard him so excited. “Good day sir.”
    The door slammed shut, rattling the windows. “You
ready, Clara? I need some fresh air.”
    I watched Mr. Rawls and his pug-nosed compatriot
stand in front of the door for a moment longer, then turn and leave. “Yes,
father, I’m ready,” I called down. “I think I could use some air, too.”
    *
    O ur day of panning was a bit more exciting than the
last one. Not an hour into the day of work, Father got a heavy pan full of
dust, and one small nugget that sent him running about in the water like an
excited toddler. After the strain of the morning, it was good to see him find
some joy, but I couldn’t shake what he’d said about Eli.
    Rawls’s accusations about Mr. Bullock and the rest
of them were easy enough to dismiss because they either didn’t pertain to the
present, or were just flat wrong.