Branded

by Eric Red

  “Come with me on the cattle drive, Bess. It’ll be an adventure and I sure can use your help.”

  “I can’t, Joe. I’m a U.S. Marshal and I got a sworn duty to uphold. I’ve been away from Jackson for three months. If my daddy were alive he’d have had my badge for taking that long a leave of absence. But it had to be done and we got our man. It’s okay, my deputy Nate Sweet is a good man and he’s covering the office, but it ain’t fair to him, neither, his taking care of all my responsibilities. It’s a two-week ride back to Jackson so I need to get a move on and get home. Got a town to protect. Gotta earn my salary.” She trailed off.

  “I know.” He nodded. Her sense of duty was one of the things he most admired about her.

  “Buck up.” The lady marshal took the bounty hunter’s hand and held it in hers. “You don’t need my help anyway. After The Brander, how bad can this killer be? You’ll flush out this villain in that outfit in two days and be back in Jackson a couple days after me. You’ll see.”

  “I hope so.” Joe noticed Bess’s expression change when he added, “I’m doing this for Laura Holdridge. She deserves my help.” He saw she had let go of his hand.

  Bess looked off at the mountains, gathering her thoughts. Breaking his gaze was unlike her since she was so direct. When Bess turned her face back to him, Joe noticed it was flushed and not from the weather. “You like her, don’t you?” Joe saw the flash of jealousy in Bess’s face, a pain in her guileless expression she didn’t understand or know how to hide. Realizing he hurt his best friend’s feelings pained Noose inside more than a bullet in the gut. “I like her, Joe. She’s a good woman.”

  The worst part was Bess had it all wrong, but Joe didn’t know how to tell her. The two companions sat on their horses on the rise looking at each other with so much they couldn’t say, but now it was time for their farewells. “See you in Jackson,” Joe said, tipping his Stetson.

  Bess searched his eyes. “You got something on your mind, tell me, partner.”

  Joe wanted to tell Bess how he felt about her, but somehow the thought of that scared him spitless. “I hate good-byes, Bess.”

  “This ain’t good-bye,” Bess said softy with a smile, her eyes wet, a hitch in her voice. With those parting words, the lady marshal snapped the reins and turned her horse away from him to begin her long ride.

  And Joe almost said it.

  He wanted to. The words were on his lips.

  Bess, you have nothing to be jealous about.

  But Joe knew if he said that, he’d have to say the next part.

  You’re the only woman I want to be with.

  And then he’d have to say the rest.

  I love you.

  So Joe Noose said nothing.

  As Bess Sugarland rode away, a piece of Joe Noose rode with her. His heart.

  In its place, on his chest above his heart, the bounty hunter felt the old scar of the cattle brand burned into his flesh start to tingle and sting like a phantom pain, the way it always did when there were wrongs to right, justice to be done, and he had to act. The white-hot cold fury of the brand filled the empty hole where his heart felt it was missing, adrenaline pumped through his body and he was ready for action, his purpose clear for today: help the Holdridge woman track down the killer in her outfit and stop him from murdering her wranglers so she could get her cattle to Cheyenne.

  It was going to be a hell of an adventure, Joe Noose thought, tearing his eyes away from the distant speck of Marshal Bess Sugarland on the plain, swinging his gaze over to the valley where the procession of longhorn steer on the march moved out with the covered wagons, the drovers and their horses driving the herd with whoops and hollers and cracks of bullwhips. Laura Holdridge rode gloriously out front of the herd on her wagon, her golden hair blowing in the wind. The valley rang with the voices of the men as the ground shook with the thunder of hooves, sounds of jubilation and life. It was quite a sight.

  Joe was going to miss the woman he loved.

  But he’d see Bess in Jackson soon enough. Sure, it wasn’t going to be the same without her. For now, he had a job to do, and for a while at least, that was enough.

  The cattle drive was on the move.

  He better get on after them.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ERIC RED is a Los Angeles–based novelist, screenwriter, and film director. His films include The Hitcher, Near Dark, Cohen and Tate, Body Parts, and The Last Outlaw. He has written seven novels. The first two of his Joe Noose Western novels, Noose and Hanging Fire, are being published by Kensington Publishing in 2018 and 2019. Red divides his time between California and Wyoming, with his wife and two dogs. Find out more about Eric Red and his books and films on his official website, EricRed.com, on Facebook, OfficialEricRed, and on Twitter, @ericred.