The Gallows' Bounty (West of Second Chances) by Desiree Banks Read Free Book Online Page A

realized his touch would be unwelcome.  Her steely gaze of determination told him as much, even though it cloaked her fear.
    “I don’t expect you to trust me any time soon,” he added.  “Just give me a chance.”
    As he spoke, he hoped he was taking a good chance on her.  Despite his cavalier action of giving her the gun, he still wasn’t completely sure he could trust her with it.
    He was about to find out, though, for she raised the gun and leveled it at him.  She cocked the hammer and began to squeeze the trigger.  Damn, he was going to have to draw on her.
    In one swift movement, his hand went to his own gun, but at the last moment he halted his shot.  She had drawn her gun away from him and fired it into the knot of a nearby tree.  She hit it dead center without steadying her gun hand with her other one.
    She was a crack shot.
    “Just in case you were wondering if I could use it.”  She spoke the words as a threat and Boden took it to heart.
    “Understood. Now let’s get out of this storm before it decides to fall on us.”
    His hand shook as he placed his pistol back in his holster.  He would have been dead if she’d picked him for her target.  Not because she was a faster draw or a better shot, but because he wouldn’t have been able to pull the trigger.
    And how much good had it done to give her that gun?  She looked unsure of him even now.  He wondered how long it would take him to remove that wary look from her eyes.  Could he?
    Ezra guided them back to their horses, Willow keeping a short distance between them.  It seemed that for the moment there was a truce between them, either that or she was too tired to fight him anymore.
    The rain began to pour from the skies, and Ezra picked up the pace. The mud beneath his feet made the uphill climb a difficult one.  He wondered how his horses managed to carry his hide up such slopes without falling.  Boden turned and waited for Willow to catch up with him.  She, too, was having a time of it; and her long, sopping skirts weren’t helping much.  Why women had to wear such damn heavy skirts, he didn’t know.
     
    WILLOW WAS RIGHT BESIDE him before she noticed he waited for her, so intent had she been on keeping on her feet.  She looked up at him only after he thrust a hand into her line of vision.  She blinked, squeezing large drops of rain from her lashes.  She hesitated to place her hand in his.
    “I’d rather you didn’t go sliding back down this here bank,” Boden explained.
    Her only answer was to lift her hands, palms out.  They were plum full of splinters.  He wrapped his hand around her wrist as softly as his big hands could muster.
    “I suppose I can help you up the hill without hurtin’ you if I take hold like this,” he explained.  With his free hand, he removed his hat and placed it on her bent head.  That gained him another consternated look before they made their way toward the horses.
    Once they reached the hilltop and the horses, Willow gladly shook free of his hold. Although it didn’t make her uncomfortable or anxious, she wasn’t sure how she felt about Butcher Boden’s touch. He’d given her a gun, a hand up, and a hat.  In under an hour, he had done more for her than anyone had for a very long time.  Not to mention he’d killed the man who had attacked her the day before.  This man was supposed to be a famous, heartless gunslinger.  She wondered when he’d start living up to his intimidating reputation.
    She was sure he would.
    She made her way to Beast and began to mount up, but a pair of hands at her waist made her question her fledgling trust.  The pistol rested uselessly in her skirt pocket.  The hands lifted her to the ground, and immediately removed themselves from her waist.
    “Here, put this on first,” Boden said. He removed the slicker he was wearing and draped it over her shoulders.  Rain hurriedly soaked him to the skin.
    “I thought you were a hated bounty hunter,” she