Ask No Tomorrows Read Online Free Page B

business
runnin’ a place as big as mine. They don’t think I have enough
sense. But they are wrong, I’m a good rancher.”
    Sam stopped
again. “And you plannin’ on just leavin’ the place to this Harry
fella? Just up and leave it?”
    “ I
don’t know.” She shook her head and stared at Sam, and Sam saw the
forlorn look on her face. “I mean I didn’t plan all this. I have to
have some time to sit down and think about what I need to do. I
haven’t had time to even think on it, much, this just happened
today. I’ve been more concerned with gettin’ away with my life.”
She paused now and stared at the dirt he’d shoveled. “I been too
busy runnin’. I figured once I was safe I could figure it
out.”
    “ So
for now, you’re just gonna walk off and leave them to it?” Sam
questioned, his eyes going to her hand on his dog. “Let them go
ahead and figure out how to get that land deed changed. Then you
won’t have anything to come back to.”
    Riley seemed
to bow up at his accusation. “For now, they want to kill me. I am
not ready to die, sir. I wanted to get away. Once I’m safe I can
figure out something,” she insisted. “Maybe hire me a gun hand to
take care of them or somethin’. You interested in that kind of job,
by any chance?”
    “ I’m no gunman.”
    She fell
silent for a few minutes, eyeing his gun with curiosity.
    “ How far you figure you gotta go to be safe?” Sam asked,
finding the situation almost funny.
    “ I
don’t know…this has never happened before, I don’t have any idea. I
haven’t had time to think of the situation enough to know what to
do.”
    Sam shook his
head, his disgust clearly written for her to see on his face. “You
don’t just walk off a piece of land and let someone have
it.”
    “ I
know…” Tears were not far from falling, he heard it in her voice.
“I know…that’s true. But I haven’t had enough time to decide what
to do yet. I been a little busy stayin’ alive…”
    “ Don’t you have anyone back there that can help you?” Sam
asked, not daring to look at her as his heart began to respond to
her.
    “ Not anyone I can trust, no. You see it’s the biggest spread in
the area, and everyone wants it. I’ve even been offered money by
several since my Pa died. But I refused to sell, of course. That
didn’t set well with most the other ranchers. They figured on me
sellin’. They killed my oldest hand, he was the only one I trusted
for sure,” she explained, as one tear floated down her dirty cheek.
“They put a snake in his bed, so it looked natural. No one will
know what really happened but me.”
    “ A
snake…how do you know this?” Sam expression changed now, as though
he were finally taking her serious.
    “ I
heard them talkin’ this morning as I was hidin’ out.”
    “ You must have hid out close, to hear everything,” Sam
acknowledged.
    “ Oh
I did, right under their noses, in fact. But I know the place
backwards and forward. I knew where to go. They didn’t.”
    Sam took her
in, his glance going over her now. She was small and dirty and it
was hard to tell if she was pretty or not. Sweat and dirt had mixed
all over her face. Her hair was pulled back by some kind of ribbon,
dark. Her clothes were more practical than flattering, it was hard
to tell just how much of a woman she was, but Sam wasn’t looking at
that. He needed to size her up, but sizing a white woman up wasn’t
that easy. He’d never tangled with a white woman before. And this
one was different somehow, innocent-like.
    “ This spread you got, you say everyone wants it?” Sam figured
quickly.
    “ One of the biggest in the state,” she wailed. “But I don’t
have it right now and if Harry has anything to do with it, it won’t
be mine long. He fully intends seein’ the lawyer.”
    “ Good grief, they’ll be out lookin’ for you then. Makin’ sure you’re dead.” Sam shook his head and
frowned. He couldn’t get involved in this. He’d be on