Diablo Read Online Free Page A

blinded by the sun. It was high overhead and glaring. Kane half closed his eyes until they gradually adjusted to the brightness, then opened them again. They were in a canyon, surrounded by rugged mountains he couldn’t identify. He turned his head and saw the main street of a town.
    â€œWelcome to Sanctuary,” his guide said as Kane peered around. A blacksmith shop. A barber. A saloon. A general store. Even a mayor’s office and what looked like homes. Some were neat, some ramshackle. All in all, he could have been in any of a dozen small towns.
    Except there was a preponderance of men, and none of them were wearing gunbelts. His own had been taken at the beginning of this journey.
    His guide followed the direction of his eyes. “No guns are worn in Sanctuary. Except by Mr. Thompson and his deputies, like me,” the man added with a small smile. “He’ll tell you all the rules.”
    The guide gestured to the mayor’s office. “He’ll be expecting you.”
    Kane dismounted. He looked around again, trying to identify something, anything. He thought he saw flashes of light and believed them to be from lookouts in the hills, gun barrels glinting in the rays of the sun.
    â€œWho will be expecting me?” Kane asked.
    The guide shrugged. “He’ll tell you what he wants you to know.”
    Kane approached the office just as the door opened, and a boy ran into him. His hands went out automatically to steady the boy and found something soft instead. He heard a gasp, then the stranger stepped back with a short curse.
    Startled, Kane stepped back also. The stranger, about half a foot shorter than his own six feet, was dressed in worn, ill-fitting denim trousers, a dark shirt, and vest. The light brown hair was cut short, shorter than commonly worn by men, and was carelessly brushed back from a face he couldn’t quite see. Then the face tilted up toward him, and he realized it didn’t belong to a boy.
    Large brown eyes the color of dark chocolate, shaded by long, black lashes, looked at him contemptuously. A small nose in an elfin face wriggled as if it were smelling something undesirable. Kane was instantly aware of his three days’ growth of beard, and the trail dust and sweat that covered him. With the scar on his cheek, he must look like the devil himself.
    He bowed. “My apologies, miss, both for my clumsiness and my appearance. I’ve been riding—”
    â€œI know,” she interrupted, her mouth grim. “You’re Diablo.”
    He tried to hide his astonishment as he wondered who she was. Her exact age was impossible to judge, but clearly she wasn’t a child. She obviously was unimpressed by Diablo’s reputation, and he doubted she was an outlaw on the run. He tried again. “I prefer Kane. Kane O’Brien.”
    â€œLike the man who killed his brother.” Her remark, said with disdain, hurt more than she could know, and inwardly he winced. She was angry with him and he didn’t know why. He was usually successful with women, even with the scar on his cheek. Or perhaps because of it. He frightened even while he attracted. But this woman’s gaze didn’t focus on the scar. She just dismissed him, something that had never happened to him before. And he found that intriguing, challenging.
    Nearly as much as he found her face fascinating. He’d seen far more beautiful ones, but few that piqued his interest as this one did.
    Maybe he’d been too long without a woman’s company. He’d spent the last three months in a cell, and two years prior to that on the run.
    â€œWho do I have the pleasure of … almost running down?” he said in a voice that usually charmed the most reticent of women. But there was no answering smile. Only when her eyes met his did a flash of uncertainty streak across her face. Something passed between them, something so swift and strong that Kane felt jolted. She must