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“That’s not going to happen.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.” Jesse straightened and hoped the pain he felt didn’t show on his face. “My crew, my cattle, my cook. Where they go, I go.”
Jack smiled and stared at the fire. “Well, that’s going to be a problem. See, in my experience, cattle rustling is a tricky job. You always have someone who gets grand ideas of being a hero and always messes things up.” He glanced his direction. “I’m going to assume you’ll try and be the hero this time, so I’m going to save myself a headache and get rid of you before you can give me any trouble.”
“And how do you think you’ll achieve that?”
“Easy,” Jack said. He raised his arm, a shiny revolver clasped in his hand. “I’m going to kill you.”
Alex screamed no and jumped in front of him so fast, he didn’t even realize the gun had gone off until he felt the sharp sting of pain burn across his left arm.
So much happened at once he was dizzy trying to keep everyone in his line of sight. Jack sprang from the ground as Ben ran past the men circling the fire toward Jack before he was stopped, bodies scattering as a fight broke out amongst all the cowboys and Alex yelled before falling back against him.
He caught her, wincing as his arm burned. Her gasp of pain when he touched her drew his attention to her arm. She was bleeding. “Son of a bitch.” Picking her up, he ran toward the wagon and around to the back side, setting her on the ground before pulling his revolver from its holster and peeking up over the plank siding on the wagon.
The fight was still going, every cowboy he saw in some sort of scuffle and he hoped they stayed occupied for a few minutes.
He looked down at Alex, her gaze on her left arm. “Alex?”
“I think I’ve been shot.”
He grabbed the material of her shirt at the shoulder and jerked on it until the seams popped, then dragged the bloody sleeve down her arm, apologizing when she winced. The bullet grazed her. It had done the same to him. They were both lucky. “It just took the skin off a bit. It’s not deep.” He blotted the wound as gently as he could and glanced at his own arm when she touched him.
“You too?”
“Yeah. Just burns a bit. We’ll have matching scars, I’d imagine.” He glanced over the side of the wagon then back at her. “What the hell were you thinking jumping in front of me like that?”
She stuttered then shrugged. “You would have done the same for me.”
He would have. Hell, he would have jumped in front of ten bullets to save her.
She was looking up at him, her blue eyes wide with a hint of shock. He wondered if she realized what her actions said. She tried to take a bullet for him. She loved him, whether she realized it or not.
Someone yelled and he sat up to look at the commotion by the fire again.
“What’s going on?
“They’re still fighting.” He saw Jack by the fire, watching the commotion around him. “The blonde. I’ve seen him before.”
“Where?”
“On a wanted poster in the jail back in Willow Creek. I stared at it all night when Morgan gave me a cell to cool off in the night of the fight with Hugh.” He nodded across the way toward the fighting men. “That man’s name is Jack Walker. There’s a five-thousand dollar reward for his capture, dead or alive.”
“Not sure we can take him alive so I vote for dead.” Alex sat up on her knees beside him and looked. “So, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Does that mean you have a plan.”
“Other than not getting killed, no.”
She looked at him. “Not funny.”
He grinned. “Does that mean you care?”
“Of course I care.”
