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“The best,” he grits out. “I’m absolutely brokenhearted over your bitch sister. What a missed opportunity, to be part of your family of waspish, irritating little harpies.”
“If you’d been nice, we’d even have let you take the Potter name. Better than Eckhard, anyway. The hell kind of name is that? Where are you even from?”
“Better places than this podunk town.”
Declan gathers himself with a weird dignity for a smarmy asshole, but I guess he keeps all his smarm in his balls, and Sierra stomped some of it out of him.
He draws himself up, rising to his feet on legs that visibly quake.
Guess he’s still too proud to let me see him kneeling for too long.
“Now,” he says, looking down at me with this sad attempt at contempt. “Unless you want me to hunt that sister of yours down like a mad dog and shoot her, I suggest you try being more informative.”
I grin.
Sierra’s just as much of a country girl as I am.
She knows these mountains, the paths, and our ranch.
She knows how to shoot, too, just as well as I do.
Declan ain’t hunting shit.
She’s gone, and he’s not gonna find her unless she wants to be found.
Which leaves me free to keep shooting my mouth off, while I keep secretly tugging at the ropes.
“What do you want to know? I could tell you how to trim a horse’s hooves when they start to overgrow their shoes, or how to prime a pump that’s been dry for a while, or—”
I expect the bolt of pain that slams into me like a tornado touching down on my head.
Turns out, expecting it doesn’t make the back of his hand hurt any less.
Everything goes whirly as my chair tips over.
Slowly at first, then gravity grabs hold and it’s boom, down, me flopping on my side like a fish on the floor.
“Ow,” I force out. “Was that really necessary?”
“Necessary, but apparently useless. You’re still running that mouth,” he mutters. “I repeat, unless you have something useful to say…shut it.”
The threat’s pretty freaking clear.
So is the menace as he strides closer, his dirty boots filling my vision.
I’m already bracing for pain, but I just grin.
“You’re so gullible,” I say. Nothing like a little truth to make him think I’m lying. “There’s nothing here but ghosts. I’ve never been guarding any treasure. Don’t you think if I had silver buried out here, I’d have fixed my money problems?”
“Nice try.” He squats down in front of me, bringing his face into my line of sight.
It’s hard to see what my sister ever found attractive. “You knew it was here. You just couldn’t find it. So you’ve been keeping people out until you could. I saw you, riding out here with your man, looking for the silver to save your ass.”
“So you’re a stalker on top of hitting ladies? Charming.” I let out a harsh laugh. “A big idiot, too. I told you. There’s nothing here but ghosts. You should thank me for keeping people safe. The boys who died out here didn’t go down happy. And angry dead people tend to stick around.”
“Don’t insult my intelligence.”
“Too late! Already called you an idiot.” I’m gonna get myself killed like this, but I need to keep him on the hook. “Believe me or not. But I heard one story about this gang of outlaws. Scum of the earth types. Real violent. And they weren’t all that happy about getting outsmarted by the law. And you? You’re out there digging up their graves right now. How do you feel about that?”
Me and my big mouth.
Declan drags me up so I’m dangling with the chair tilted against the floor, my whole body dangling from his grip, my scalp on fire.
He brings his face closer so I can smell his wet, meaty breath.
“Stop playing games with me, little girl,” he grits out. “You forget. I know all about the dead body. There’s no old-time outlaws and no fucking ghosts, Libby Potter. That man hasn’t been dead that long. How do you feel about jail time as an accessory?”
“A hell of a lot better than I feel about your dental hygiene,” I strain out. “Yeah, I know who killed that guy. You wanna hear it?”
His eyes narrow. “Do tell.”
I conjure up my nastiest smile. “The same dead bandits who’re gonna kill you. That guy tried to steal from this place, so Danny the Rattlesnake and his buddies took him out.” I stare right at him like I’m fucking possessed. Might as well play into it. “I can hear them, Declan. I can feel them. They’re telling me, you’re next.”
He just stares at me coldly.
I don’t know if my acting sucks or he just doesn’t care.
But he lets me drop, my vision reeling as I hit the floor hard.
“Sick of your shit!” he snarls.
Then he turns and walks out.
