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Mrs. DuVere stepped between them. “The first man who puts a bullet hole in my wall is going to be prying my dainty booted foot out of his ass. Am I clear?”
Both men scowled, but the tension between them dissipated somewhat, and she jerked her head in a sharp nod. “Good. Then let’s move this upstairs,” she suggested. “We obviously have some things that need discussing, and there’s no need to do it down here where anyone might come through the door.”
Nora sagged against Adam, relieved that his imminent death had been averted. For the moment. Of course, they still had a lot to talk about, and the sheriff wasn’t known to be the most lenient man. And that was when he wasn’t provoked. But for the moment, at least, he seemed willing to let Adam have his say.
Once they were situated upstairs, the sheriff pierced Adam with a glare. “Talk.”
…
Adam’s gut twisted, but the time for hemmin’ and hawin’ was over. He needed to come clean. About everything.
“I first came across Spurlock a year ago. There’s a warrant out for me, but even still, I wouldn’t normally be a case that interested him. He likes a challenge. Likes to bring in the notorious ones. The big names.”
“Like Quick Shot?” Mercy said, her anger barely under control.
Adam hesitated a second before nodding.
“So why’s he after you?” Woodson asked. “No offense, Brady, but you’re small potatoes to a man like Spurlock.”
“True.” Adam wasn’t offended in the slightest. Hewassmall potatoes and wanted to keep it that way. “He didn’t set out for me. He just sort of stumbled across me one night in a saloon just outside Denver. One of the men I’d beat in a card game decided to take his revenge by letting Spurlock know there was a warrant out for me. He must have figured he might as well, since I was there. Easy pickin’s.”
“Except?” Woodson said.
Adam gave him a small smile. “I’m not easy. And I’m good at getting out of sticky situations.”
“So you got away from him before he could bring you in.”
Adam nodded. “Spurlock is like a dog with a bone. He doesn’t quit. And he has some sort of personal vendetta against me now for daring to escape from him the first time. I’ve managed to stay ahead of him so far. But no matter where I went, how careful I was, he’d find me. The last time, I got out only minutes before he arrived.”
“And yet you came to my town, chose to stay,” Woodson said, his voice laced with enough threat that Adam had to clench his fists to keep from reaching for his guns. But he didn’t. Wouldn’t have, even if Woodson had drawn on him. He’d deserve it. He put these people in danger. The people who’d taken him in. He should have left weeks ago, the moment he’d realized Woodson was there. Yet another mistake in his long history of making them.
He looked at Nora, though, his gaze taking in every inch of her. He was sorry that staying in Desolation had put his new friends in danger. But he’d never regret that it had brought him to her.
Her eyes locked with his for a moment, and she drew in a deep breath. And then turned to Woodson.
“With all due respect, Sheriff,” Nora said, “you also came to this town, not so long ago, with a price that is still on your head. The only reason this lawman and others like him haven’t come looking for you is because they assume you’re dead. If Adam is at fault for his past putting the rest of us in danger, then so are you.”
Adam sucked in a slow breath and reached over to take Nora’s hand. When what he really wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and never let her go. That might have been the first time, ever, that someone had stood up for him. Even if he didn’t deserve it.
Mercy, however, obviously didn’t share his sentiment. She stared at her friend, horrified, before her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. But Woodson put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.
“It’s all right, Mercy. She’s not wrong.”
Mercy looked like she wanted to argue, but Adam blinked at the sheriff in surprise. He completely agreed that Nora was correct in what she’d said. But he hadn’t expected the sheriff to agree as well.
Nora squeezed his hand, and the sheriff continued. “I came to this town with a past that was hunting me. And almost immediately made another enemy who threatened the town. I haven’t forgotten. We all came here to escape our pasts. So I won’t fault you for that, Brady. However,” he said—Adam had known there’d be a however coming. “I specifically remember telling you that you better not bring trouble to my town. You could have warned us before what hunted you was already here, breathing down our necks.”
Adam nodded, but Nora was shaking her head. “There was no way he could have known this man would find him. And I’m sure he would have told us, at least me, I’d hope, eventually. He hasn’t even been here a full month. Who of us here rode into town and immediately announced all our secrets to anyone who’d listen?”
He put a soothing hand on the back of her neck, lightly massaging it. His heart was so full that she cared enough about him to defend him, to Gray Woodson of all people, that Spurlock could march in and shoot him right then and he’d die a happy man.
“None of us knows everything about everyone,” Preacher said, and Adam’s heart swelled even more. “That’s one of the perks of this town.”
Doc nodded. “It’s unfortunate that this man has found him, but I don’t think any one of us sitting here can truly cast stones.”
Adam leaned forward. “Thank you. All of you. And for what it’s worth, I am truly sorry it has come to this. I didn’t ride into this town knowingly putting anyone else in danger. Hell, Woodson, you being here would have actually made me steer clear of this place if I’d known about it. I’ve spent years avoiding you,” he said with a small grin at his old enemy.
Woodson snorted, but his wife still didn’t look inclined to forgive him.
