Pale Moon Stalker (The Nymph Trilogy) Read Online Free Page A

then," Max said, then asked, "Are you homesick?"
    She shook her head. "No. I need time away from the memories back in Dakota lands. But eventually I'll return there to live out my life."
    And find a real husband. The thought rankled. He pushed it aside. "No interest in St. Louis?"
    "It was a good place to learn what I needed to know."
    "Yes, how to outwit the wily white-eyes," he said wryly. "Tell me more about what you studied in St. Louis. Healing arts? Teaching?"
    "We have a doctor and several missionaries who care for our ill and teach our young. No, I read law with one of the most successful attorneys in the city." She watched that silvery eyebrow rise just as she'd expected it would.
    "I might have to let go our family solicitor. Poor Jerome…"
    "You'd be unwise to dismiss him," she said with the hint of a smile. "I know nothing of English law."
    "That's a relief. Jerome Bartlett's been with the Stanhopes for decades. Quite a decent chap."
    Suddenly, their carriage came to an abrupt halt in a tree-shrouded grove. Sky was thrown against Max's shoulder. She could feel his arm reaching inside his jacket for the .32-caliber Hopkins & Allen pocket revolver she knew he carried.
    "Stay down," he commanded as the driver jumped from his perch and vanished into the darkness.
    Sky had learned her lesson well the day Will died in her arms. She never again went anywhere unarmed. As Max looked from side to side for an approaching thief, she plunged her hand into her small beaded reticule and extracted her Colt Derringer just as a shot rang out and her husband cursed.
    "Are you hit?" she whispered.
    "No," he muttered, sliding from the carriage when he detected a figure emerging from the bushes. He palmed the .32 so that it would be invisible in the gloom, and raised what appeared to be empty hands. "Don't shoot. I'll give you my money—"
    A harsh guttural laugh echoed in the darkness. "More'n that, I'm thinkin'," the thief said as he raised his pistol and took aim.
    Max's arm came down lightning fast and he rolled to the ground. From a prone position he fired as the startled thief's finger closed on the trigger of his gun. He missed. The Limey did not.
    Sky held her Derringer level, watching their assailant crumple. Max stood up and walked over to the man on the ground, kicking his weapon away. Suddenly, a slight movement caught her eye from the side of a large tree. "Max, watch out!" she shouted, firing at the man taking aim. She knew she was out of range, but the shot did the trick. The thudding of footsteps pounded away from them as he crashed through the undergrowth.
    "Are you all right?" she asked, struggling to alight from the carriage in her slim skirt.
    "No. Blasted suit's ruined," he replied calmly, holding up his left arm to reveal a tear in the sleeve from a bullet.
    "You can afford a new suit. New arms are difficult to come by, even for a baron. Consider yourself very lucky," she said in a chiding voice.
    "I always have been...so far." There was a darkness in his voice before he shifted his attention to the unconscious man, who moaned softly. "Bastard was a frightful shot."
    "Why would he try to kill you when he thought you were willing to give him your money?" she asked, looking down at the man lying on the ground. A rough customer, probably from New York's infamous slums. "Our driver was part of the robbery setup."
    "Most certainly—and I was stupid, not suspecting it." Stupid because all I was thinking about was a carriage ride in the moonlight with my beautiful wife. Sighing, he knelt and checked the injured man for weapons, pulling a knife from his belt and slipping it into his pocket. Then he hoisted the man over his shoulder. "Maybe the police can break up a ring of thieves if this chap starts talking."
    Sky watched him carry the thug to the carriage and deposit him beneath the driver's seat. The fellow had to outweigh him by a good twenty pounds. This was a feat Will could have easily accomplished, but she would