Liz Ireland by A Cowboy's Heart Read Free Book Online Page A

it’s the person you care most about in the world!”
    She tapped her horse’s flanks and wheeled around. Will attempted to stop her. “Paulie, wait—”
    She kept going, though, hesitating only long enough to holler one parting shot over her shoulder. “And for your information, I’ll whistle whenever I want to!”
    Will sat apart, with one eye on the others and the other watching for signs of trouble. Trip and Paulie were splayed out near the glowing warmth of the fire, rattling on as usual. Oat was close to them, sitting up but half-asleep. Occasionally the old fellow would jolt awake again, especially when Trip or Paulie happened to mention something about Night Bird.
    “I wonder if we’ll ever find him,” Paulie said.
    Trip shook his head. He was always more sure of himself when he was on the ground, where there was nowhere tofall to. “I imagine if’n we do, it’ll be down in Mexico. They say that’s where he lives, ‘cause the law won’t follow him there.”
    “What about the Mexican law?” Paulie asked. “Mexicans can’t like having a renegade Comanche running loose any more than we do.”
    Trip scratched his head. “They say Night Bird is pari Mexican himself—the son of a captive woman from a border town.”
    Oat’s eyes snapped opened and he bolted upright, his hand reaching down for his gun. “Night Bird?”
    Trip chuckled. “We were just talkin’, Oat.”
    “We’ve haven’t seen or heard anything,” Paulie assured him.
    Oat shook his head with such force that the bulbous end of his nose quivered. “When Night Bird comes, you won’t hear him.”
    The three exchanged anxious glances.
    Will decided to put his two cents in. “If that were the case, then we might all just as well go to sleep.” They looked back at him quizzically. “No man is invisible. If Night Bird comes, one of us will see him.”
    “Those three railroad men didn’t see him—they were all three armed and none of them looked like they had even had time to reach for their guns,” Trip said.
    The story of the three men who had been ambushed by Night Bird had been through so many versions that it was hard to know exactly what had happened. Most people seemed to want to believe that Night Bird silently appeared and disposed of his victims as easily as an owl swoops down on a mouse.
    “I wonder what would turn a man so mad that he’d take up thievin’ and murderin’ that way,” Trip said.
    “Having your land stolen out from under you wouldmake you a little bitter, too,” Will told him. He bore little sympathy for Night Bird, but he thought he could understand what could turn a man so wrong.
    “What land did that Indian ever own here?” Trip asked.
    Will nodded toward the horizon. “We fought a war to win this land from the Mexicans, but we just took it from the Indians and expected them to be happy about being nudged up to less desirable parts.”
    “We wouldn’t have nudged anybody if they’d just left us be,” Trip argued.
    “But we were the trespassers, and then we expected them to abide by our laws—not their own.”
    Trip looked disgruntled, but said nothing more.
    “I guess Will’s right,” Paulie said, turning back to the fire. “Maybe we’re lucky there’s only one Night Bird, not thousands.”
    “Thousands!” Oat cried, startled by the very idea.
    Will kept his eyes on Paulie. He was surprised that she would take his side after their scene earlier in the day. She had seemed so annoyed. In fact, since he’d come back, she’d been more moody than he could remember her ever being. Especially with him.
    Of course, he’d been moody, too, but he knew the reason for his own odd behavior. He was perplexed and torn up over all that had happened with Mary Ann. But could what Paulie said be true? Was she really in love? And with whom?
    He’d been pondering those questions all afternoon. He had to hand it to her; her little revelation had completely distracted his mind from brooding about Mary