Josie abruptly stopped fighting and glowered up at him. His arms were still holding her tight, squeezing her shoulders together. “What did you say?” she asked.
He lowered her to the ground and repeated himself. “I said that’s how Leroy referred to you. But I think he was teasing.”
Shrugging out of his arms, she backed up and continued to stare. The racing of her pulse began to slow. Pushing a strand of flyaway hair from her face she stammered, “You…you knew my pa?”
For the first time, she took a real hard look at the cowboy. His mouth drew into a tight line, but he was awfully good-looking, for an outlaw. His sun-soaked face was unshaven, his jaw was square like a chiseled piece of granite, and his brown eyes were…well, they were so beautiful and mesmerizing, she felt like climbing right into them.
She changed her mind about the mesmerizing eyes when he spit out his hateful answer. “I knew your pa, all right,” he growled. “He was a no-good, low-down, common thief who got what he deserved when they hung him.”
Shocked by the venom spewed from the man’s mouth, she opened her own mouth to retort, but for once, nothing came out. After staring into his flashing eyes for several moments, Josie lowered her head, realizing she couldn’t argue with him on that count. “What did he do to you?” she asked, softly. Her lungs suddenly felt deflated.
“He stole my life,” he answered, curling his lip. “All my plans were ruined on account of that sonofabitch. He took what was rightfully mine, and I fully intend to get it back. Right here, right now.”
“What was it he took?”
A few silent moments ticked by before he spoke. “I was prospecting at White Oaks a few months ago. Leroy and I found ourselves camping next to each other, and we occasionally shared tools. He was a good one for a tall tale, and he wasn’t a bad cook either, so I tolerated him, despite the fact that he didn’t consider bathing a high priority.”
Despite herself, Josie couldn’t help but smile.
“One day, I was sitting on a boulder, alone, eating my lunch. My eye caught the glistening of what looked like crystals in a nearby rock. Striking the stone with my pick, I exposed the largest vein anybody had found in White Oaks, as far as I knew. I worked like a dog for three long days and kept the discovery to myself. I didn’t trust anyone, especially not Leroy. There was a look in his eye that told me to be wary. He was a drinker, too. Put a few beers in the man and he’d blab everything he knew. Turns out, my intuition not to trust him was dead on, only he wasn’t the big, dumb fool I thought him to be. One morning it was all gone—my money, my future, everything I’d worked so hard for—and Leroy was gone with it.”
“How do you know it was my pa who took your discovery?” she asked, unconvinced his story wasn’t more than a yarn.
“Because another miner saw him hightail it out of camp before the sun came up the next morning. There was no one else it could have been. I figured Leroy followed me to the vein that last day, saw where I hid my stash, and skedaddled with it under cover of night when I was sleeping.”
Josie tilted her head. “Guess you were pretty stupid to leave your discovery stashed where anybody could have taken it,” she scolded. “If it’d been me, I would have slept with it under my pillow.”
He balled his fists like he wanted to punch something—or someone.
“You say he took your money? How much?” she wanted to know.
He narrowed his eyes into slits. “That lying, cheating pa of yours stole five thousand dollars from me.”
Josie’s eyes enlarged, and she slapped a hand over her heart. “I don’t believe you! Five thousand, you say? Cash money?”
“No. Not cash. Pure gold nuggets.” The man’s stare was defiant, daring her to say more.
She felt like a horse had just kicked her in the head. She blinked her eyes. “Gold, you say?”
He nodded.
“Then why on earth have you been following me? I don’t have any gold!” she exclaimed. “My pa didn’t give me any nuggets.”
His lips drew tight again. “No, but he gave you a map.” His head nodded firmly toward the parchment. “It shows a trail, and at the end of that trail is my gold. I’m sure of it.”
Josie shook her head. Her mind spun like a top, and the beats of her heart skipped. “I’m confused. What’s your name? How do I know you’re not trying to steal my pa’s gold? Maybe he mined the gold and it rightfully belongs to me? How do you even know about the map if my pa made it?”
The man drew a deep breath into his lungs, and then silently turned and retreated from the cave. Her gaze followed him as he stepped into the dark and sauntered past Traveler. When he returned a moment later, his arm was full of tinder. He tossed the sticks on the dying embers, knelt and softly blew on the ash, bringing the heat back to flame. She didn’t realize how cold she’d gotten until she felt the crackling fire warming up the toes inside her boots. Tapping her foot on the ground, she waited impatiently, wanting some answers.
“Sit down,” he ordered. He bent over and picked up his pistol from the ground and stuck it in the holster on his hip. Her breath caught as she watched him flick her derringer into the palm of his big hand, too. In all the confusion, she’d totally forgotten about the guns on the ground.
“I’ll keep this for now,” he told her. He slipped the small gun into the waistband of his tight black pants and took a seat in the dirt.
Josie pursed her lips and hesitantly sat crossed-legged near the fire, anxious for him to explain further.
“My name is Paladin. Grey Paladin. I’m not going to waste my breath trying to convince you that gold is mine. Believe me or not. I don’t give a fig. Either way, I’m taking that map and going after the nuggets. You and I both know your pa was a lazy, no account vagabond who probably never did an honorable day’s work in his life. And we both know he’s never done right by you. But that don’t mean I have to give up what’s mine.”
Josie gazed into the fire. “Vagabond? That’s fancy talk for a cowboy,” she teased, frowning at him.
“The truth hurts, don’t it?” he replied, harshly.
Her throat tightened. Tears wanted to fall, but she wouldn’t let them. The stranger had hit a nerve. Why was he being so mean to her? Why did the preacher want to hurt her? Why was the marshal and Del determined to hunt her down and ruin her life? She’d never had anything to call her own in her whole short life, except the cabin, and now it was gone. That and her ma’s porcelain bowl was all she’d ever laid claim to—all that ever meant anything to her. Now the bowl was gone in the fire, too. If her pa was giving her the opportunity to get out of New Mexico and start over, whose right was it to take that away? Not this dude, Grey Paladin, whoever he was. That was for damn sure.
Josie balled her fists, and inhaled and exhaled slowly. “So you knew my pa. That proves nothing. He was a common thief and you’re an outlaw. There ain’t no difference between the two of you.” Her gaze flew to the fire, dismissing him.
Grey searched her face, figuring he deserved that remark. Normally, it wasn’t his way to speak unkindly to women. It was just that he’d been smoldering for days. When he found his gold missing, and another miner told him he’d seen Leroy heading north, he’d packed up and followed his tracks. The vein he’d discovered had about dried up, and he’d tired of mining. Besides, he wasn’t a greedy man. The nuggets Leroy stole were enough to get Rusty back and buy a little ranch. That’s all he cared about.
Unfortunately, he’d lost Hart’s trail when a freak storm hit that first day out and washed away all signs of tracks. But he knew enough about Hart to decipher where he’d eventually end up. While they shared a camp, Leroy had talked non-stop about his daughter, Josephine, and how much he owed her for not being a good pa. He’d even told Grey they lived several miles outside of Dry Gulch, so Grey scrapped his plans of tracking Leroy north and headed to Dry Gulch to wait for him to show up. If Leroy still had the nuggets, Grey would get them back, forcefully, if need be. He was younger, bigger and st
ronger than that scrawny desert rat. If Leroy had stashed the nuggets somewhere up north, which Grey suspected was the case, then he’d beat the information out of him. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Sure enough, Hart had moseyed into Dry Gulch over a week later. However, it was just Grey’s bad luck to learn that the man had been arrested for stealing a horse and tossed in jail before he could confront him. The next day, it was all over town that Leroy and another man were to be hanged as horse thieves.
Grey stared into the fire and thought back to two days ago. Neither the marshal nor his deputy had allowed him into the jail to see Leroy, so he’d decided to wait around town, hoping Leroy’s daughter would show up for the hanging. There wasn’t much else he could do, anyway. For once, luck had been with him, and his strategy paid off. He would have known her anywhere from the way Leroy had described his pretty, half-breed daughter and her big gray mule.
When Grey watched her come and go from the jailhouse the morning of the hanging, he hoped and prayed Leroy had told her about the gold. After all, riches wouldn’t do the man any good in hell, and he’d mentioned more than once how he’d never done right by the girl. It only made sense he’d want to make up for the grief he’d caused her whole life. What better way than to bestow five thousand dollars worth of gold on her?
Grey was sure Leroy had made a map of some kind, because of that same miner who’d told him Leroy had struck out north. When questioned about Leroy’s behavior earlier in the day, the miner had admitted watching him draw some scribbles on a piece of parchment. Leroy had apparently told the miner it was a card for his daughter, but Grey knew better.
He’d observed the girl in town, and had even followed her out to the farm that evening after the hanging. He’d figured he could bully her into giving him the map, if he had to. In town, he might have gotten himself arrested, but get her alone on her farm, and he was sure she’d hand over the map with no questions asked. The problem was, someone had beaten him to her.
From behind some downed pinon trees, he’d watched as her cabin went up in flames. When her mule came flying out of the barn and he saw Josie was headed toward the forest, he’d kicked Lightning into a gallop and took a shortcut to get there first.
Josie lifted her head for a moment and their gazes connected. As Grey stared into those bright blue eyes, he felt his heartstrings being tugged. He could see she was holding back tears. It wasn’t his intent to make her cry. Hell! Seeing a woman cry was worse than eating a raw habanero pepper. Both stuck in his craw.
He shook his head. It wasn’t the girl’s fault her pa had been such a rascal. Leroy had left her all alone in the world; that much was clear. Grey tore his gaze from her and stared into the flames, trying to put himself in Leroy’s shoes for a minute. The old man probably had the best intentions, which was to leave her the nuggets and give her a second chance at life. A young woman without a man to provide and care for her didn’t fare well in the wild and dangerous west. Particularly when that woman was a half-breed. Still, that didn’t give Leroy the right to steal another man’s loot—or her the right to keep it.
“Look, Miss Hart,” he started, wanting to get this settled.
“My name’s Josie.” Her big, round, doe eyes peered up at him.
Grey’s heart jumped inside his chest. The girl’s mouth was shaped like a little pink heart, and her lashes were long and thick. Her hair was as black as a raven’s feather. The long braid she wore down her back was loose, and stray tendrils fell around her bronze face. Those blue eyes were about as pretty as the ocean he’d read about in school. She looked young and innocent, and would even be kind of attractive if she wiped that scowl off her face.
“Look,” he repeated, determined not to get distracted by her looks. “I apologize for calling your pa names. And I also apologize for calling you a half-breed a while ago.”
She sniffled and wiped her nose with her shirtsleeve. “It’s alright,” she said, softly. “You just spoke the truth. A person should never feel bad about being honest.” She pulled the map from her back pocket. “I guess this really is yours.” She stood, walked around the fire, and handed the parchment to him. Then she went back to her spot, sat down, and continued to study him behind damp eyelashes.
Puzzled, Grey accepted the offering. “Why are you doing this? I’ve only known you a short while, but I can tell you’re not the type of gal to give in to something so easily. Frankly, I’m surprised you’re not putting up a better fight.” He opened his black coat and slid the paper into an interior pocket.
She shrugged. “I don’t blame you for coming after me. I can’t keep what’s not rightfully mine. My pa was a liar and a cheat. Everyone in Dry Gulch, and the entire New Mexico territory, knew that. I suppose there would be no reason for you to tell an untruth. That map must be yours. Can I have my gun back now?” She fluttered her lashes and held out her flattened palm.
Grey noticed her weepy eyes had dried up quick. She almost had him there. He squinted. “Not so fast, little lady. You don’t think I’m that dumb do you? You just might be getting ready to pull a trick on me.”
Josie stuck her tongue out, and then scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and threw it across the fire. She aimed for his face, and would have hit it, too, if he hadn’t have had good reactions and ducked.
“That gun’s mine,” she hissed. “I need it for protection. Marshal Kendall’s posse is coming back for me. They won’t know I gave the map to you. But when they find out, they’ll still kill me.” Her blue eyes burned with fury.
“You’re a regular little hellcat, aren’t you?” Grey lifted the black Stetson off his head and tipped it. Some of the dirt she’d thrown sprinkled to the ground. After he placed the hat back on his head, he locked eyes with her. He’d been burned by feminine wiles before, and this girl had the blood of Leroy Hart running through her. He couldn’t trust her as far as he could throw her.
He’d read a lot of stories when he was in school growing up. Some of them were about people and animals living in far-off places like Africa and Australia. He remembered learning about the sneaky crocodiles. The fact that they cried big tears didn’t make them any less dangerous. Maybe this Josie Hart was like one of those crocs. If he didn’t watch out, she might bite him in half and gobble him up whole.
“I believe I’ll keep your gun a bit longer,” Grey answered with a smug grin. He patted the derringer, snug against his hip.
Her pretty little mouth curled into a snarl. “You’re going to leave me alone, unable to protect myself? If those men murder me, my blood will be on your hands, I hope you know.” Her chin jutted toward him, and her nose wrinkled in disgust.
Grey stood up and moseyed to the mouth of the cave again. Outside, his horse snickered. He pulled a striped wool blanket from his saddlebags and sauntered back to the fire with it draped over his arm. “Stop the dramatics, Miss Hart,” he said. “Don’t worry your pretty little head. I have no intention of leaving you unprotected tonight. I’ll be right here beside you, in case the posse returns. But you and I both know they won’t be back tonight. I heard Marshal Kendall say they were returning to Dry Gulch for fresh horses. They’ll come for you tomorrow.”
Josie gasped and clenched her teeth tight.
“That’s right,” he chuckled. “When you were hiding in the thicket, I was so close, I could hear your heart beating. And you were correct when you guessed I’d set that trap to ambush you. I didn’t count on that big mule of yours to jump as high as the moon though. And I sure didn’t count on that posse following you. But it all turned out for the best, wouldn’t you agree?” He crouched to the ground and snuggled against the cave wall, making himself comfortable.
Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish’s. It was obvious she was finally at a loss for words.
Grey motioned for her to join him. “You’d better get all the sleep you can, Miss Hart. You’ll need your wits about you when you try to outrun that gang early in the morning.”
He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders. “Why, sure. It’s late, and I’m dead tired. My horse is already asleep. Where else would I go at this hour? Besides, I don’t see your name painted on the wall.” He glanced around, as if to make a point.
“Your tiredness is not my problem,” she snapped. “But I know one thing. You have a black soul to match your black duds. You don’t even care if I get murdered. I won’t share my fire with you.” She turned away from him and held her shaking hands over the flames.
“Your fire?” He chortled. “I restarted that fire when you carelessly let it go out. That makes it mine to enjoy while I sleep. However, I just happen to be in a charitable mood now, Miss Hart.” He touched his coat where the map was nestled inside and grinned again. “So I’ll share my fire with you.”
“Would you stop calling me Miss Hart?” she said, obviously annoyed. “My name is Josie, I told you.” She scooted against the cave wall and folded herself into a ball with her hands around her knees. When she turned her back to him, she finished up with a weak threat. “If you call me Miss Hart one more time, I’ll stomp on your hat.” Then she stuck her shirt pillow behind her head and lay against it.
When Grey laughed again, he saw her look over her shoulder and roll her eyes. “Just make sure my head’s not in it when you do your stomping,” he replied. “Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” He pulled the endangered hat down over his eyes, stretched out his long legs, and closed his eyes.
“Bedbugs, my foot,” she grumbled.
Chapter Six
The next morning, Grey woke before the sun. He rubbed an ache out of his neck. He was used to sleeping out of doors and on the hard ground, but that didn’t mean his body liked it any. Give him a soft mattress and fluffy pillow any day of the week. Unfortunately, it had been some time since he’d been able to appreciate those comforts. But he’d have them again, very soon, once the nuggets were safely in his hands.
Trail of Golden Dreams Page 5
