Quicksilver Passion (19 page)

To you?” He looked directly into her eyes.
Not to you. Not ever to you.” He tried to appear nonchalant by rolling a cigarette, but his hand shook and he spilled some of the tobacco.

I seem to have forgotten your name, Mister—”

Evans. Cherokee Evans.”

That’s a nickname. Don’t you have a
real
name like John or Jim?”

He looked steadily back at her.
Do you?”

He had flustered her with his probing question. He wondered for a long minute if she was Scandinavian. She looked it.

Is Cherokee all you’ve ever gone by?”

My grandmother named me Tsu-no-yv-gi. It means ‘rattler.’ It’s a deadly snake.”

She glared back at him.
I know what it is. Sounds appropriate. What is it you want from me?”

Me?” He raised his eyebrows innocently, deciding he could be as blunt and straightforward as she had been.
I think you know already. Why do you bother to ask?” He lit the cigarette and shook out the match.

At least you’re honest about it. But surely you know by now you’ll never get it.” She leaned back in her chair, studying him.

Cherokee shrugged his wide shoulders and blew smoke in the air.
Man lives by hope, I reckon.”

There’s a dozen girls in the Nugget, and any one of them would fall on her back for free just to have a man like you take her in his arms.”