Just This Once Read Online Free

But hear this. Woman or no, you’re a
thief, and the next time you try to steal from me, you’re landing
in a jail cell. Got that?”
    She nodded. She started to sidle sideways,
but the stranger seized her again, making her gasp. He hauled her
up close against his powerful frame and the color drained from
Josie’s face. For a long moment he stared down at her, his eyes
glinting in the sunlit alley.
    “You caught me on a day when I’m in a good
mood. So just this once I’m giving you a break. But don’t press
your luck.”
    “I won’t.” Josie moistened her lips with her
tongue. “I won’t,” she repeated as he continued to stare menacingly
into her eyes. She wondered what he was like on a day when he wasn’t in a good mood. And knew she didn’t want to find out.
She was stunned by the strength of him as he held her, the solid,
overwhelming power emanating from every bone and muscle of his
being. But there was something else too. A seething heat beneath
the icy surface. A black, restless energy infused with danger.
After being married to Snake, Josie’d had her fill of danger.
    Then why, she wondered, did this man’s
keenly dangerous eyes fascinate her as much as frighten her? Why
this sudden heat burning her skin from within?
    Strangely, the dark-haired man seemed to
draw her in, to drag at something in her soul. She gulped, fighting
the pull, fighting the flaring heat that scorched her. Something
about those eyes enthralled as much as frightened her.
    What had she been thinking when she’d
started this? Why had she tangled with a man like him?
    “I won’t bother you again,” she promised in
a whisper that caught in her throat.
    He let her go. Her skin still burned where
his hands had touched.
    “Get the hell out of my sight.”
    Josie gulped at the hardness of his eyes.
She turned nimbly and fled through the tumbleweed-strewn alley.
    Not once did she look back.
    She kept close to the buildings, praying she
wouldn’t run into Snake. Her heart was hammering double time as her
feet skimmed along the dirt. She slipped and stumbled in her haste,
nearly falling once as she staggered into a trash can, but she
never slowed for an instant. Her mind raced even faster than her
feet, flashing with questions about Snake, trying to put the
encounter with the gunslinger out of her mind for good.
    Was Snake alone? Was the whole gang with
him—Spooner and Deck and Noah? Did they already know she was
here?
    It was nerve-racking just getting back to
the Golden Pistol, then sneaking in the back door and scurrying up
the stairs.
    But she made it.
    And only when she had slammed and locked the
door to her room, and leaned against it for a minute, did she start
to tremble.
    The shudders shook her delicate shoulders,
and made her knees quiver beneath the gingham skirt, but gradually,
with effort, she gained control of her emotions. Conquered the
fear.
    Slowly, unsteadily, she made her way to the
bed and sank down upon it. Her fingers dipped into her skirt
pocket. And drew out the gunslinger’s wallet.
    This was followed by his pocket watch, an
ornate gold beauty dangling on a thick gold chain.
    A shaky smile crossed her lips. And the last
of the fear receded.
    Josie tossed her loot on the bed and hugged
her arms around herself. Nice work, she thought, resting her chin
on her drawn up knees. Even though she’d left him the bills he’d
tucked into his shirt pocket after the poker game, it was still a
very good haul. Pop Watson would be proud.
    Now all she had to do was stay alive. And
find a way to ditch this town before she got shot, locked in jail,
or strung up.
    Jumping up from the bed, Josie grabbed her
straw valise. She had little time to lose.
Three

    E than Savage slept
for no more than three hours that afternoon, despite having played
poker throughout the preceding night. Then he had himself a bath,
and a sandwich at the grease-and-smoke-filled cafe at the edge of
town, and returned to the Golden Pistol in time to see