Cougar's Prey (9781101544846) by Larry D. Sweazy Read Free Book Online Page B

death.”
    Pearl drew in a breath, exhaled softly, and looked upward for a long second. “Mother has very few strings left to pull, Josiah. You are more than aware of that. I don’t know how much longer she will be able to keep up the charade of wealth. The bankers visited yesterday. My life is about to change in a way I’m not sure I understand, Josiah, and you are the steadiest, most trusted person I have to count on. I know you didn’t kill Peter to get him out of the way. You had no choice.”
    It was not exactly a question, but the look on Pearl’s face seemed to demand an answer. Josiah let the words linger, did not respond right away. There would always be a moment to consider whether or not Josiah had any other choice than to shoot first—but there was no way Pete Feders was going to be taken in to face the crimes he’d committed, not without a fight. The choice of his life, or Pete’s life, or Scrap’s life, would have come quickly if Josiah had let the shot go. He might be dead now himself. There was no way to know. He only knew he couldn’t live with the regret for the rest of his life, like he was at the moment.
    â€œI had no choice, Pearl,” he finally said. “I didn’t want to kill Pete Feders.”
    â€œI know you didn’t. I know your heart. I felt it beating against my very own.”
    â€œAs much as I would love to spend every second from now until eternity alone with you along the river, I think we need to have Pedro take me home.”
    â€œI need you,” Pearl whispered.
    Josiah stiffened. “When the time is right.”
    â€œWhat if that time never comes?”
    â€œThen we’ll just have to treasure what time we’ve had together.”

CHAPTER 6

    Night came earlier as the winter season drew nearer and nearer. If a norther blew south from the plains, then the temperatures could drop to the high twenties at night. But that was rare, just like the sight of ice or snow in the state capital. Josiah had only seen snow once or twice in Texas in his life, and those were just flakes spitting from the sky and melting before they hit the ground. Snow was more common in his memories of when he was away at war, but he tried to forget those times.
    Most of the time, the breezes in winter blew up from the ocean in the south, keeping the afternoons nice and comfortable. The winter season was short, generally two months, and then spring colored the land with hope and opportunity. That season seemed pretty far off, out of reach. All of the hope had been drained from Josiah’s will. He was just plumb wore out, so tired he was almost staggering.
    As it was now, a norther was blowing straight down on Austin, dropping the temperatures to their lowest depths in recent memory. Once the sun dropped below the horizon, it was like everything that held any hint of warmth in the world had vanished.
    Josiah had left Pearl and the coach about a mile from his house and walked home, staying in the shadows as much as possible.
    He hugged his arms tight to his chest to stay as warm as he could and was glad to see a thin snake of smoke rising from the chimney of his house as it came into sight.
    He breathed a sigh of relief, glad to be within a block of home.
    It was still a struggle for Josiah to consider the city anything other than the place he lived, the place where he slept when he was riding with the Rangers. But Lyle waited inside the tiny house, and that made the city, and the house, as much the idea of a home as was possible for Josiah. Wherever his son was, then Josiah considered that place home. Period. He wasn’t permanently attached to his first home place, Seerville or Tyler, by any means. Not anymore.
    Walking slowly, Josiah could not get Pearl out of his mind. There was no question that he was attracted to her, longed to touch her, hold her, and found himself lucky to be in her presence. He felt even luckier that she