Man From Boot Hill Read Online Free

Nick’s heels, carrying him all the way back to the little cabin he’d built outside of Ocean.
    As soon as he swung down from the saddle, Nick headed for the door and pushed it open. Catherine’s face was the first thing he saw.
    The brunette stood up from where she’d been sitting and rushed over to greet him. She didn’t even seem to notice how close Nick’s hand was to his gun as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.
    “Surprise!” she said.
    Nick barely even knew what to think. His mind was still swimming with what had happened as well as the memories that were his constant burden. Finally, he managed to calm himself enough to speak in something other than an angry snarl. “What are you doing back? It’s not time to close the restaurant yet.”
    “I left early. Something told me you’d like it if I paid you a visit. Weren’t you thinking about me?”
    “Yeah. Of course I was.”
    Catherine took a step back and held Nick at arm’s length. She looked him up and down, which was more than enough to tarnish the smile that had been on her face. Her smooth skin accentuated the fine lines of her face in much the same way that the cut of her dark green dress accentuated her figure.Long, dark hair flowed freely to the middle of her back, just the way Nick always liked it.
    “What is it, Nick?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
    “There was some trouble.”
    A look of horror flashed across Catherine’s face. “Did somebody come after you? I thought that was all over.”
    “It is. This is something different.”
    “Different how? Just tell me what happened.”
    Nick immediately went to the small room attached to the back porch. Normally, it was a place used to store meat or other supplies. A section in one corner, however, was designated for a different purpose and was sealed off by a locked wooden panel.
    “Some men rode through the graveyard while I was there,” Nick explained as he unlocked the panel with a key kept in his watch pocket. “They had guns. They rode away, but some of them came back to try and gun me down.”
    “Oh, Jesus. Do you know them?”
    “I recognized one of them, but he wasn’t anyone who would want to shoot me.”
    “Who was it?” she asked.
    Opening the panel, Nick reached inside for a handful of bullets as well as a battered leather holster that had only started to collect dust. “He was one of the boys working for Joseph Van Meter.”
    “The one who owns that ranch outside of town?”
    “That’s the one. I went there for a job a whileback and just caught sight of the kid. I didn’t even say a word to him.”
    “Then why would he want to kill you?”
    “That’s what I aim to find out,” Nick said as he strapped the holster around his waist and stuffed the extra bullets into his pockets.
    Suddenly, Catherine took special interest in the gun at Nick’s side. “Wait a second. You only kept the holster in there? When did you start carrying that gun around again?”
    “I never stopped, Catherine. We may be starting a new life, but that don’t mean the old one will just forget all about me.”
    “It won’t if you keep digging it up and—”
    “This doesn’t have anything to do with me,” Nick cut in. “It’s got something to do with the rest of that gang. They intend on cleaning out the Van Meter place, and that kid I spotted must be a part of it. That’s why they didn’t want me to tell anyone else about it.”
    “You told me,” she pointed out. “What am I supposed to do now?”
    “Sit tight and keep the shotgun ready, but I doubt you’ll need it. Those boys who came after me didn’t have the first clue who I was, so they’ve got no reason to know about you.”
    Catherine took a deep breath and lowered herself onto a chair. “Are you sure they weren’t just some bunch of cowboys?”
    “I know killers when I see them, and these boys have taken shots at plenty more men than me. Notmany more, but enough so they got a taste for