The Time-Traveling Outlaw Read Online Free Page B

him. He squinted, trying to get a better look.
    “I said, are you hurt?”
    “When is this?” he said.
    “Pardon?” she said.
    “What year is this?” he asked. He knew what year it wasn’t.
    “I’m sorry about your clothes, Mister,” the woman said. “You can use that to cover yourself up.” 
    She took a blanket from the seat beside her and tossed it at his feet. He bent down and picked it up, wrapping it around his waist and tying it fast.
    “It’s May fourth,” she finally answered. “1861.”
    Holy shit , he thought. “It worked,” he said. “They really did it.”
    “Mister, I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m sorry you got robbed,” she said. “But I hope you’ll understand if a young woman doesn’t offer a strange man a ride. Besides, I’m headed that way.” She pointed down the road. “I suggest you head the other way, into Lockdale, and have Doctor Gleeson take a look at you. He’s a fine doctor.”
    The shock of realizing he’d traveled over a hundred and fifty years through time sank in. He looked up at the woman, only now seeing her clearly for the first time.
    She was wearing work boots under a denim skirt, along with a rough cotton blouse. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. And she was beautiful, with bright hazel eyes and a button nose. She looked like—
    “Natalie?” he said. “It can’t be.”
    She started to say something else, but he wasn’t listening to her. He was focused on the sound of approaching hoofbeats. 
    Logan turned his head to look up the road, where three riders approached.

3: Sally

    Sally watched Logan as he rode beside her on the dead man’s horse. He was bloody from the fight, still wearing her blanket around his waist, still naked from the waist up. The bloodied bandanna was wrapped tight around his right hand, holding the horse’s reins. He looked strangely at ease.
    “Logan?” she asked.
    He turned his head.
    “Just before I met you,” she said, “there was a strange light by the road, almost like lightning. Did you see it?”
    “No,” he said.
    Well, okay then. She didn’t ask a follow-up, and he didn’t offer any. She had so many other questions, though. But he had just saved her life, and she reckoned the questions could wait.
    They rode in silence until they reached a pair of twisted mesquite trees that had grown together. There was no proper road to her land, and no marker. Those were things she and William meant to do together.
    She turned Maisy off the left side of the road, and Logan turned as well, falling in beside her. Approaching her home made her happy and sad at the same time, but these days mostly sad, filled with thoughts of what could have been mixed with fears of losing the place. 
    The world was hard. She could deal with that. She didn’t mind the struggle or hard work. But the world also seemed increasingly ugly and cruel. Out here, the powerful could do what they wanted with little or no oversight. Out here, the sheriff wasn’t the law. The government wasn’t the law. Powerful men like Camden Sturgess were the law. They did what they wanted and they got what they wanted. And she was afraid that soon enough he would get this land. Then she didn’t know what she would do.
    Until then, it was still hers. As they approached, she saw the small house and the barn off to the left. The sun was starting to set, basking the whole scene and soft orange light. She felt the heaviness set into her chest, tears starting to well in her eyes. But she forced them back. She had to be strong. There was no time for all that.
    She looked at Logan again. She found herself doing a lot of that since he first appeared on the road. Sitting astride the horse like that, wearing her blanket like a kilt, he should have looked silly. But he didn’t. He looked perfectly natural, like some kind of ancient warrior returning home after a battle in a faraway land.
    Maybe this strange man coming into her life was