Yellow Rock by Elle Marlow Read Free Book Online Page B

of renewal. Washed in the water, washed in the blood, she mused, as she continued over the rough terrain. Stopping for breath, and to spot more signs from Dutch’s mule, she snuck a look behind her. The lights of Hell’s Creek appeared as tiny dots on the horizon. When she turned back to the direction where Dutch had disappeared, it was nothing but endless country lit only by the intermittent lightening that cut through the night.
    As she started out again, she eventually found a manure pile left by his mule, and quietly thanked her luck that the animal had ate so much at the hitching post earlier. The trail of manure piles made it so much easier to track him, and she knew she was close now.
    The further she got into the desert, she guessed she’d really must be crazy for deciding to take this chance to find a man she hardly knew. However, there was no question that if she’d stayed in town and in that saloon, she’d never be able pull herself out of the darkness. There was something about the prospector that calmed her no matter where her brain wanted to take her. She might be crazy but she wasn’t stupid, she needed him.
    She heard the mule and saw the tip of Dutch’s cigar glowing like a beacon in the night. She was heading straight for it when the sound of a cocking hammer and the tip of a gun against her temple stopped her cold.
    “God help you, lady what in the world are you doing out here?” Dutch’s voice, melted into her ear. Thank god, she’d found him. “I wanted to be with you,” she explained. Realizing how childish she sounded, so she tried again. “I had to come find you. You can’t leave me in that awful place.”
    “Jumpin’ Jehsophat, I don’t believe this. Does Everett know you came all the way out here? How did you even manage to find your way so far in the dark?”
    “It’s not a big deal. I spent a great deal of my youth tracking game with my father. Besides, your mule left a manure pile straight to you,” she explained. Still, Dutch held the barrel of his gun against her head and at a time when she should have been crazy from fear, strangely, she felt very calm, relieved, actually. “Are you really going to shoot me? Just because I’d rather be with you than sleep at a whore house where the proprietor and his patrons can’t keep their hands to themselves?” The pressure from the gun barrel released from her skin, and she allowed herself a deep breath.
    “No, I’m not gonna shoot you. But I have a good mind to whoop the tar out of Clem next time I’m in Hell’s Creek.”
    Rain began to fall in earnest, bouncing off her head and his hat. She wished she could see Dutch’s expression through the darkness, but she could tell by the softening of his voice that maybe he understood why she’d fled and wasn’t as angry as he sounded.
    “I have shelter over here,” he said with a tad of reluctance, lightly touching under her arm to guide her through a maze of boulders to his lean-to. She settled herself under the shelter while Dutch whispered out a long line of profanity, mostly to himself. Then he cut through the darkness with sharp tone. “You took an awful risk. You could have been killed trying to find me.”
    She laughed. Tracking him was the only part of her journey so far that hadn’t been so terrible. “Don’t be silly. A thousand times I should have already died. I’m not afraid of death anymore. I wanted to find you and I did.”
    “Silly? Lady, haven’t you heard about this mountain?”
    “No.”
    He threw his cigar out into the rain. She watched the ember tip fade out once it hit the wet ground. “Well, why me?”
    “Because, you’re a nice and decent man.”
    It was his turn to laugh, only his was one of surprise. “I’m nice…decent…How do you know? And that’s not a good reason to follow a stranger into the dark wilderness. What if I was crazy?”
    She snorted. She couldn’t help it. “Haven’t you heard? They call me crazy. Where are we