Quicksilver Passion (205 page)

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Authors: Georgina Gentry - Colorado 01 - Quicksilver Passion

BOOK: Quicksilver Passion
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Cherokee lay looking up at him, his right hand still numb and almost useless. If the arm weren’t broken, it didn’t make much difference now. By the time he could get enough feeling back into it to fight, he’d be dead.

He lay there, the taste of fear in his mouth, listening to the horse moving nearer.

Jake looked over his shoulder and grinned.
I’m gonna take care of that bastard. Then I’m riding out to help wipe out those damned Cheyenne. After that, I’m going back to town. I got me a plan to get rid of the Duchess, and then I’ll have it all. There’s gal there, a gal who used to be a beaut. I’ll bet she still is under those ugly clothes!”

Don’t you touch Silver!” He blurted it out without thinking.

Wal, now. So you know the little gal from the best whorehouse in Chicago? I put her there myself. Gal had quite a past, bet you didn’t know that!”

She’s a lady. No one could ever make her a whore, no matter what they did to her!” If he could just keep Jake talking, the feeling was gradually coming back into his arm. In the darkness, Cherokee moved his fingers, urging the blood to flow faster.

That right? Suppose I told you that she and Al killed and robbed a man?”

Reckon she had good reason.”

Jake paused, spreading the long lash out behind him.
Enough of this jawin’! Get ready to die the same way your partners did, ’breed!”

 

 

Silver had ridden hard out from Denver and past the Four Mile House, Waanibe hanging on to her waist for dear life. Doubts assailed her as she rode through the night. Had she taken the wrong trail? Would she find Cherokee?

It was crisp and cool riding in the darkness and she shivered and wished she had a coat. At least Waanibe, in her many-pocketed flannel gown, seemed warm enough.

Somewhere up ahead, she heard a rifle shot echo and reecho in the darkness. Alarmed, she reined in.

Waanibe said,
Silvery, I’m tired. Where are we going?”

Hush, honey,” she whispered, and put her finger to her lips. Her heart pounded like a war drum, so loud she thought whoever must be up there in that shadowy grove of trees must surely hear it. She walked the horse nearer, listening.

It sounded like two big animals fighting and crashing around through the underbrush. The moon came out again and she saw a riderless horse standing on the trail on the far side of the grove. Suddenly there was no sound at all; the silence seemed deafening.

And then she thought of nothing except the fact that it might be Cherokee, and if so, her love was in trouble. She slid off the horse and turned to the little girl.
Wannie,” she whispered tersely,
you stay here! If I’m not back in a couple of minutes, you turn this horse and ride back to that inn we passed, do you remember?”

The little girl nodded, looking tired and grumpy.
I’ve been trying to give you a treasure, Silvery—”

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