Blood Blade Sisters Series Read Online Free Page B

standing warily to the side, and Lucy, who sat on a bale of hay near the door, holding a rifle on her lap. He turned back to Cilla.
    “You did this? Three women ?” His words were gravelly, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat. “Where are your men? Why was I brought here? Wait—are you…are you the Richardson sisters?”
    Cilla hid her surprise that he knew who they were. Though they were fairly well known around these parts—three sisters living on their own and running a ranch was not something you stumbled across every day—but a stranger? She didn’t answer him. She was the one asking the questions.
    She brushed her free hand against her thighs and rolled her eyes as the man took in her clothing. Her father’s remade breeches were snug and left little to the imagination, but she’d figured out long ago that skirts and petticoats were unfit for ranch work. Breeches were more efficient.
    Cilla cleared her throat to bring the man’s attention back to her. He drew himself up to his full and considerable height and Cilla had to look up to keep her eyes locked on his. But she wanted his full attention. There could be no mistaking what she was about to ask him.
    His eyes narrowed and she licked her suddenly dry lips before she continued. “We had to bring you here, but I never meant you any harm.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “You meant me no harm ?” His gravelly voice coated every word with anger. Recognition finally sunk in as he stared at Cilla and Lucy. “ You ,” he said. “You and her over there. You robbed the coach. You’re not…you can’t be Blood Blade!”
    The incredulous amusement in his voice did not endear him to Cilla. “We’ll ask the questions,” she said. “You’re new in these parts. What are you doing here?”
    “Didn’t know it was a crime to be new. Surely you get lots of new faces coming in and out of here.”
    “Not since the gold dried up. Prospectors generally head north of here. There’s nothing left for newcomers in this town, which brings me back to my original question. Why are you here?”
    He shook his head with a disbelieving laugh. “I came looking for Blood Blade.”
    “Why?”
    “Why does anyone want him? I want to hire him to find something for me. I can pay. I was told the Richardson sisters could contact him for me. Never dreamed I’d find a bunch of women dressed up like bandits and robbing coaches.”
    “Yes, and that presents a problem for us.”
    “I won’t spill your secret. I told you, I need your help. Female or not, your reputation proves you can get the job done.”
    “That’s very un-male of you.”
    “No point in arguing otherwise. I call it as I see it. Always have.”
    Cilla glanced at her sisters. “What do you want us to retrieve?”
    “I’m looking for my brother. He sent a letter from this town three months ago and no one has heard from or seen him since.”
    Brynne gasped and Cilla knew the realization of who this man was must have hit her at the same moment it had occurred to Cilla. Cilla flicked her sister a warning glance and turned her attention back to the man.
    “Sorry. We don’t do missing persons.”
    The man clenched his jaw. Asking for help was clearly not something he was used to doing.
    “You are the Richardson sisters, aren’t you? Which one is Brynne?” he looked between Brynne and Cilla, having obviously dismissed Lucy as being too young.
    “Look, mister, we don’t know anything about you. And we don’t know what happened to your brother, either.”
    “Then let me go and I’ll be on my way.”
    “Well,” Cilla said, training her gun at him once again, “here’s where we run into that little problem I mentioned.”
    His eyes narrowed as he glared at her, but Cilla held her position. “See, you know who we are now. We can’t have you out there telling the world.”
    The man stared at her, the silence between them hanging so heavily Cilla could almost taste it.
    “I guess you won’t take my word for