Trail of Golden Dreams (10 page)

Once he reached
the top, there was no sign of Josie Hart.  But the fourth member of the
marshal’s posse lay on the ground, bloodied and battered with his legs twisted
under him like a rag doll.  Grey gazed into the azure sky.  Buzzards
circled above, waiting to devour the man’s flesh. 

Grey clambered off
Lightning, knelt, and studied the tracks to find three unshod ponies and four
sets of horse tracks on the ground, and one pancake-sized set of hoof prints
heading down the other side. He turned to his stallion and sighed. “I’ll be
damned.  I guess that girl really is as sneaky as a crocodile.”  A
hint of a smile crossed his lips.

* * * *

Blood surged
through Josie like a speeding freight train.  Shaking with fatigue, she’d
pushed Traveler as hard as she could, and now even he was panting with
exhaustion, which was rare for the mule.  There’d been no one following
her for miles, so she stopped at some adobe ruins, eased out of her saddle, and
fed him another handful of grain from her pouch.  After taking a swallow
of water from her canteen, she poured some into her hand and let the mule lick
it off.  She wished she had more water to give him, but fortunately, mules
could go a long time without drinking.

Sweat rimmed her
forehead, and pieces of wet hair stuck to her face.  She took off her
cowboy hat and wiped her head dry with her shirtsleeve.  The insides of
her thighs were sore, and she was starving.  But there were miles to go
before resting.  There was no telling where Marshal Kendall’s posse was,
or what they were up to.  They could creep up on her at any moment. 
It was crucial for her to be on the lookout at all times.  Her life
depended on being aware of her surroundings and reacting at a moment’s notice.

No sooner had she
reminded herself of that fact, a rider galloped out from behind the ruins and
slid to a stop next to Traveler.  The horse whinnied, and Traveler jumped
and returned a loud bray.  Josie’s spine went as rigid as a steel
shaft.  Even if she’d not been momentarily paralyzed by fright, her
reaction was still slow.  She didn’t even stick her foot into the stirrup
and try to get away.

A silky smooth
voice greeted her.  “We meet again, Miss Hart.”

Staring down at
her was the tanned face of Grey Paladin. His mouth stretched into a
grimace.  Despite the scowl on his face, she exhaled in relief. 
“Thank God it’s you.  I thought you were Wade Kendall.  I was sure I
was a goner.”

“What makes you
think you still ain’t?”  He bounded off his horse and strode toward her.
Standing toe-to-toe with her, he seemed as tall as a tree.  When he bent
his head, his cowboy hat blocked out the sun for a moment, like an
eclipse.  He growled, “God’s not gonna help you out of this one,
girl.  You took something from me this morning and I came to get it back.”

Relief turned to
irritation quicker than a flea could hop off a dog.  Anger flared in the
pit of Josie’s stomach.  She shot daggers into him with a steely gaze.
When she whirled to stomp away, Grey grabbed her arm and spun her back around
again.  “Not so fast, you little crocodile.”

“Let go of me,”
she spat. Wriggling free from his grasp, she backed away and took some
steadying breaths.  “How’d you catch up to me so fast?  Where’d you
come from, anyway?” Glancing around, she wondered how he’d snuck up on her
without her or Traveler hearing.  She’d need to prick her ears better from
now, or she might end up dead.  The mule, too.

“Never you mind
that,” Grey replied.  “My traveling habits are none of your
business.  Where’s the map?” He stretched out his long arm and opened his
palm out flat.

She’d left the map
in her saddlebags and made the fatal error of glancing over at them. 
Paladin’s gaze followed hers.  When he reached for the latch on the bag,
she pounced, jumping onto his broad back. She threw her arms around his
shoulders and wrapped her legs around his muscular torso and tried to knock him
off balance.

“Get off me, you
crazy wildcat!” Grey spun like a top while prying her hands off.  Josie
flew to the hard ground.  She rubbed her hip and glowered at him as he
unlatched her saddlebag and pulled out the map.  A broad smile filled his
face.  “Don’t try anything like that again,” he warned.

“Give that back to
me!” she shouted, scrambling to her feet.  She attempted to snatch the
parchment from him, but he pushed her away.

“Lower your voice,
girl,” he said.  “That posse could be closing in around us right
now.  That big mouth of yours will lead them directly to us if you don’t
shut up.”

Though she hated
to admit it, the cowboy had a point.  She clamped her mouth shut and gazed
in all four directions; suddenly fearful of seeing Kendall and the others
appear out of thin air like Paladin had. 

“Sorry,” she
mumbled.   “You sure know how to get under a girl’s skin.”

Grey shook his
head, like he was aggravated, and walked to the crumbling adobe walls and
leaned against one of them.  He crossed his ankles, opened the map and
perused it, ignoring her, as if she weren’t even present.  Josie marched
over and stood in front of him.

“You got any
food?” she asked.  “All I had with me was jerky, and that’s all
gone.”  When her stomach grumbled, she slapped a hand across it and
puckered her lips.

He didn’t bother
to look up, and he took his time answering.  After he’d studied the map
thoroughly, his dark eyes bored into her from under the rim of his
Stetson.  “Do you know this place?”  He tapped the paper with a
finger.  “The place marked with an X, north of Santa Fe?  Do you know
it?”

Josie could be as
stubborn as her mule, especially when it came to rude men.  “Give me
something to eat and I’ll answer your question.”

Grey shook his
head again.  Their eyes locked from behind the shadowed brims of their
hats.  Something in the man’s stare gave her pause.  Her stomach
flipped over, and she realized it wasn’t entirely due to hunger.  When he
looked at her that way, a tingle crept along her neck and shoulders and ran
down her arms.  It wasn’t an altogether bad feeling, but it was a strange
feeling.  How could he captivate her and make her blood boil at the same
time? She’d like to put her hands around his neck, caress it with her
fingertips—and then strangle him! She felt emotionally mixed up.  It was
something she’d never experienced before. 

Grey sauntered to
his horse and pulled something out of his saddlebags and handed it to
her.  It was a cold biscuit wrapped in a piece of newsprint, which she
grabbed and gobbled in four bites as he watched with amusement.

“Thank you,” she
managed to say, while brushing crumbs from the corners of her mouth.

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you know how
to read?” she asked, curious about the newspaper.

“Yes.  I went
to school.”  It was apparent he wasn’t interested in chitchat.  “Now,
I fed you.  Keep your end of the bargain.  Tell me about this place
your pa marked with an X.”

Josie cleared her
throat and armored herself against the pull of his vibrant dark eyes. 
“I’m pretty sure that’s Nambe Falls.  My ma was a Tewa Indian.  She
grew up in the Nambe Pueblo below the falls. That canyon was a special place
for her.  I guess my pa was feeling sentimental when he ended the trail
there.”

Grey kept his gaze
fastened to hers.  “You say your ma
was
a Tewa? Did she pass away?”

“Yes.  About
seven years ago.”  Josie didn’t like discussing her mother, even though
she thought about her every day.  Her ma had been such a sore subject
between her and Pa for so long.  She’d grown accustomed to not talking about
her at all. It’s not like she’d had any close friends or people to talk to,
anyway.  It felt wrong to be speaking about her mother with this cowboy—a
brash man who intended on ruining her one chance at a new life.

“I don’t want to
talk about her,” she said, turning her back and walking away.  She
shuffled toward the ruins and stared out across the lonesome desert, feeling
his hot gaze on her back. 

“Fine,” he
replied.

There was only the
sound of their animals’ tails swishing between them for a few moments. 
Then Paladin broke the silence.  “I’ve been thinking.”

“About
what?”  She whirled and faced him, surprised to find him standing directly
behind her.  Fatigue must have been affecting her mindfulness.

His faraway
expression changed to sharp awareness that made her heartbeat race. “What would
you think about throwing in together?”

Josie jammed her
hands into her pockets so he wouldn’t see them trembling.  What was he
asking?  To partner up?  Was it going to be this easy after
all?  She figured she’d have to fight him tooth and nail for the nuggets,
now that he’d caught up to her again.  But it seemed she was wrong.

“You mean we’ll be
partners?” she asked.  “We’ll share the nuggets when we find them?”

He tossed her a
look that almost knocked her back, as if she’d been struck. She didn’t
understand the dirty look on his face. His dark eyes were full of unexpected
fury. What was he so mad about now?

“Why are you so
angry?” she asked.  “You’re the one who brought it up.”

He gritted his
teeth.  “Because I shouldn’t have to share my find with you or anyone
else.”  His voice was low and bordered on menacing.  “I’ve got good
use for that money.”

“So do I!” Josie
exclaimed. Staring into his rugged face, she noticed he hadn’t shaved that
morning.  Black stubble sprouted from his chin and cheeks.  His jaw
twitched.  Anger slowly leaked from him, whereas her distress flared
inside her, burning up through her esophagus and exiting out of her mouth in
furious words.  “I still have reason to believe you’re lying to me, Mr.
Paladin. Like I suggested before, maybe my pa found that vein in White Oaks and
you tried to steal it from
him
.  I haven’t discounted that. 
Perhaps he was too smart for you!”

Grey growled
again.  “That ain’t so, and you know it.  Anyway, Leroy Hart was one
of the dumbest men I ever had the displeasure to meet.”

“I don’t know any
such thing,” she retaliated, choosing to forgo the insult hurled at her pa.
“Where’s your proof that the nuggets are yours?  Did you register your
strike, or get a receipt for the gold?”  When his face went blank, Josie
knew she had him.  She placed her hands on her hips and grinned.

“Alright,” he
said, pursing his lips.  “Enough talk.  Here’s how this is gonna
work.  We’re gonna follow your pa’s map and ride this trail
together.  When we find the nuggets, I’ll split them with you,
eighty-twenty.”

“Eighty-twenty!”
Josie cried.  “The sun must have boiled your brains.  If we’re
partners, we’ll split them fifty-fifty.  That should still get me to San
Francisco.”

Grey kicked at
some rocks with the toe of his boot and grumbled under his breath.  “San
Francisco, huh?  I did all the hard work finding that vein.  I can’t
help it if your pa was a thief. You should be grateful I’m offering you
anything at all, girl.  You know, if I wanted, I could deliver you
straight into the hands of Wade Kendall. Then I’d be rid of you, and I wouldn’t
have to share, and I wouldn’t have to listen to your backtalk neither.”

Josie balled her
fists.  The desire to hit him was strong.  “You’re a cruel man with a
black heart, Mr. Paladin.”

“I’m not
cruel.  I’d say I’m being rather generous offering you twenty percent,
considering the circumstances.”

“Eighty-twenty is
what you call generous?”

“I’m only willing
to give you a token amount because I know Leroy didn’t do right by you.”

“Don’t do me any
favors,” she shot back.  “And mind your own business!  You don’t know
anything about me and my pa.”  She felt her lip quivering with frustration
and resentment.  What a mean, hardheaded man this duded up cowboy was!

Grey suddenly
picked up a rock and heaved it far.  All the muscles in his body seemed to
convulse.  Then he jerked the hat off his head and ran a hand through his
shiny black hair.  When he jammed the hat back on, he said, “Sixty-forty,
and that’s my final offer. Take it or leave it.”

Josie thought
about it.  She’d take it for now.  At least she’d
pretend
to
go along with it.  It’d be safer for her to travel with a man until she
reached Santa Fe, then she’d strike out to Nambe Falls on her own.  She
had no intentions of letting Grey Paladin have
any
of that money once
she got a hold of it.  She was going to San Francisco, come hell or high
water, where she’d buy a fine house and live like a real lady for the rest of
her life.

“Alright,” she
relented.  “Sixty-forty.”  She stretched out her hand and they shook
on it.  “Now, give me back my father’s map.”

Grey folded the
parchment into thirds and stuck it in the inside pocket of his jacket. 
“Nope.  I’ll hang on to it.  I have to protect my investment.”

Josie rolled her
eyes and stabbed a foot in her stirrup. “I took it once, I guess I can take it
again,” she said, with a smug smile.

He hauled his
weight into his saddle and turned Lightning in a circle.  “What are you
mumbling about, Miss Hart?”

She kicked
Traveler into a trot and hollered over her shoulder, “I told you before to stop
calling me, Miss Hart!  And don’t call me
girl
either.  My
name’s Josie!”

Grey threw back
his head and laughed.

* * * *

They camped that
night beside a small cemetery, which was protected by a broken down fence and
could be entered by passing through a gate that was hanging by its
hinges.  There were five stones marking individual graves, all clustered
together.  Right before the sun set, Josie stepped through the gate and
visited each tomb, reading the names that were carved into the simple
monuments.  All of them shared the same surname, leading her to believe it
was one family buried in the wilderness together. As she glanced around at the
dry terrain dotted only with clumps of sagebrush, she wondered how they’d died.
Massacred by raiding Apaches?  Fever?  Starvation?  She also
wondered who’d buried them all.  There was nothing but utter nothingness
for miles on end.  This stretch of desert wasn’t called the devil’s frying
pan by accident.  What a desolate place to spend eternity, she thought
sullenly.