Gunslinger by Connie Mason Read Free Book Online Page B

you accosted Miss Sommers.”
    “Naw, that wasn’t part of it. That was between me and Chloe. That’s another ax I got to grind with you, Jones. You stopped something that was none of your business. Chloe and me go a long way back. Don’t interfere, you might not like the consequences.”
    “Are you hankering to get your other hand shot up?” Desperado drawled.
    Tate reached for his gun with his left hand but must have thought better of it, for he let it drop at his side. “Pa is calling the shots now, but my time will come.”
    “Is that all, Talbot?” There were many things Desperado didn’t like about Tate Talbot. One of them was the way his lip curled when he talked about Chloe. What in the hell was between them anyway?
    “Look behind you. Even as I speak the barn is going up in flames.”
    Desperado looked over his shoulder and cursed viciously when he saw a bright red glow lighting up the night sky. “Was that necessary?”
    “Pa says it is. He wants to scare Chloe so she’ll think twice about driving her cattle to Dodge. If she sells them in Texas, she’ll get only five dollars a head, not enough to pay her taxes. That’s why she’s so anxious to take them to the railhead, you know. She can get twelve dollars a head there.”
    Desperado stared at the angry glow turning the night sky red and thought about the various animals kept in the barn: three mares due to foal and two prize stallions his father had bred. He felt like a lowdown skunk.
    Suddenly Desperado felt a terrible need to return to the ranch. He touched his spurs to his mustang and the powerful animal took flight.
    “Wait!” Tate called after him. “We’re not finished yet. Pa said you’re to do whatever is necessary to change Chloe’s mind about the trail drive.”
    Desperado returned to a scene straight from hell. The barn roof was ablaze and the fire was spreading fast. The terrified screams of trapped animals pierced the air. Everything was chaos as the cowboys ran around without direction. He looked for Chloe but didn’t see her. First things first, he decided as he firmly and deftly organized a bucket brigade. The brigade was in place when he saw Chloe stumble from the barn, leading one of the stallions.
    He sprinted forward, barking to one of the men to take the horse while he led Chloe away from the inferno.
    “There’s a mare still in there,” Chloe gasped between bouts of coughing. “I have to go back.”
    “I’ll get her,” Desperado volunteered before he realized what he was saying. For a moment he’d forgotten who was paying him. But he couldn’t stand aside and let a helpless animal perish in the fire.
    “Be careful,” Chloe called as he dashed inside the burning barn.
    Desperado immediately dropped to the floor where the air was less polluted and crawled on his belly toward the screaming horse. Apparently the fire had been set in the loft and was quickly spreading throughout the entire barn. The air was so thick with smoke he couldn’t see two feet in front of him. He felt sparks burn through to his skin as part of the loft dropped down, missing him by mere inches. Undaunted, he crept forward, inch by slow inch. The heat was nearly unbearable. Flames licked at him, searing his eyebrows and hair, and he came close to giving up. Then he saw the badly frightened mare thrashing around in a stall and he reached up to unlatch the gate. The mare reared, pawed the fetid air and leaped over Desperado in a desperate lunge toward the door.
    Suddenly a beam fell behind Desperado, sending a flurry of sparks in all directions, and he knew he was a dead man. His escape route had been blocked. Desperado had faced death many times during his professional career and he’d always assumed he’d die with a gun in his hand. Somehow burning to death seemed an ignominious end for a gunslinger of his illustrious reputation. Then he thought of Chloe and realized he didn’t want to die. He hadn’t even bedded the tempting spitfire