High Gun at Surlock (2006) Read Online Free Page B

minutes of silence Jessie moved over to confront him. ‘You’ve a very fast horse,’ was her opening. ‘I suppose it’s necessary for a wandering gunman,’ her tone grew cold, ‘in case the law shows up.’
    ‘I’m not wandering at the moment,’ he replied in a nonchalant tone of voice. ‘As for my mare, I’ve never found any quicker on a run of a mile or less.’
    ‘What’s her name?’
    He glanced at her and immediately felt a weakness in his knees. The beguiling charm he had surmised from a distance had not done her justice. She was notably more attractive close up.
    ‘Nipper,’ he replied, adequately concealing his infatuation.
    Her slender eyebrows drew slightly together.
    ‘Nipper?’
    Kyler displayed an impish smile.
    ‘You don’t want to turn your back or bend over in front of her. She has a mischievous way of getting your attention.’
    Understanding flooded her attractive features. Jessie almost smiled, but the notion vanished at once. She rotated about and started to walk away. Kyler spoke up to stop her.
    ‘You could have won the race,’ he ventured carefully. ‘If you hadn’t pulled in your horse, we wouldn’t have caught you before the finish line.’
    She wheeled about to face him.
    ‘I wanted to beat you,’ she admitted candidly, ‘but not if I had to cheat to do it. I couldn’t force myself to stoop as low as you or the other stinking Huxton killers!’
    ‘I hired on as a teamster, Miss Yates, nothing more.’
    Fire leapt into her eyes. ‘You were hired to break our backs and steal our family business. We were here first.’
    ‘I’m not—’
    She cut him off, hissing her words vehemently.
    ‘We were here before there was even a town. Our express office was one of the first wooden buildings in Surlock. Everything else was wagons or tents! My uncle and his son were both killed during the Indian wars. We paid a high price for the right to haul freight and run our stage-line!’
    Kyler held up his hands, palms outward, trying to fend off her verbal assault.
    ‘Like I said, I was only hired to drive a team, ma’am.’
    ‘Of course, I couldn’t expect you to understand, not a low-life, hired gun, scavenger! It was silly of me even to think of explaining anything to you!’ And with that outburst she whirled about on her heels and strode smartly out of the stable.
    Kyler didn’t try to stop her. He knew winning her over was going to be like breaking through a slab of thick ice. A man didn’t manage it in one blow, he had to chip away a little at a time until he penetrated all the way through the dense crust.
     
    ‘What do you think of the new man?’ Huxton asked Phoenix.
    ‘He owns a fast horse. I didn’t think there was an animal in the territory that could beat Jessie’s stallion.’
    ‘Speaking of the Yates family, I don’t want any of our men pushing them around or causing any trouble during the celebration. This is a festive time. We don’t want to do anything that might hurt our reputation around town.’
    ‘I’ll see to it,’ Phoenix replied, ‘but being a latecomer in the freighting business, it already makes you the usurper.’
    ‘It’s a natural response,’ Huxton admitted. ‘The Yates family has been around since the town was only a sprout.’
    ‘Staying in business is going to be an uphill ride for them,’ Phoenix observed. ‘You’ve money, men and new equipment. They have worn-out rigs, a couple of their hired men have quit, and they’re having a hard time handling the accounts that have remained faithful to them.’
    ‘You sound almost sympathetic.’
    Phoenix shrugged. ‘I don’t have any compunction about my job, but neither am I fond of setting out to ruin someone’s livelihood. The Yates clan seem like decent folks.’
    ‘I made them a reasonable offer for their business. They refused to sell.’
    ‘Not everything is for sale, Huxton.’
    ‘Everything and everyone has their price,’ he maintained. ‘Big Mike is still running the