Ambush at Shadow Valley by Ralph Cotton

Author:Ralph Cotton [Cotton, Ralph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Western
ISBN: 9780451223791
Google: CEt2PuizNBMC
Amazon: B0015DYJ6W
Barnesnoble: B0015DYJ6W
Goodreads: 2697999
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2006-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Clarimonde and Soto spent the night in the barn, the two of them sleeping on a pallet of hay-stuffed blankets in a warm, dry stall she had to prepare for them. The following morning in the first blue hour of light, she walked from the barn to the well out front of the house with a blanket wrapped around herself. No sooner had she walked out of the barn than Soto, naked, had stood up from the pallet and watched her through a crack in the wall planks. He carried his big Colt, his thumb poised over the hammer, ready to cock it if need be.

When Cruzan, who had spent the last third of the night on the porch keeping guard, stepped down to help her lift a bucket of water, Clarimonde turned him down. Soto smiled to himself, watching her draw the heavy oaken bucket of water from the well and carry it back toward the barn. At the well, Cruzan stood scratching his head. ‘‘I’ve never known a woman to turn down a friendly offer of assistance,’’ he said to Memphis Beck, who had stepped out onto the porch, a freshly rolled smoke in his fingertips.

‘‘She’s obeying her master, I’d say,’’ Beck replied. Noting her bare feet and realizing that she wore nothing beneath the blanket, he watched her walk toward the barn. ‘‘Peculiar,’’ he commented to himself, striking a match down a porch post and lighting his cigarette.

Looking toward the barn himself, Cruzan said, ‘‘Her master, huh? Well, as far as I’m concerned, this Soto fellow has no interest in ever being a part of our bunch. The sooner we can find somebody else who mixes explosives the better,’’ Cruzan said, stepping back to the porch.

‘‘Maybe we’ve already found that person,’’ Memphis speculated quietly to himself, watching the woman until she disappeared inside the barn.

‘‘Huh? What’s that, Memphis?’’ Cruz asked, not hearing his lowered words.

‘‘Oh, nothing,’’ Beck said letting go of a stream of gray smoke on the crisp morning air. ‘‘Just thinking out loud.’’

Inside the barn, Soto had walked back to the pallet and lain down on his side, facing her in the dark as if he were still asleep. When Clarimonde stepped inside and closed the door, she set the bucket of water down and made her way to the kerosene lamp standing on a dusty shelf. She took a long match from a wooden box, lit the lamp and adjusted the light into a narrow, circling glow.

With better light to see by, she carried the bucket over, set it atop a wooden work shelf and poured water into a wash pan sitting beside it. She gathered her long hair, wrapping and twisting it atop her head to get it out of her way.

In the dim, golden circle of light twenty feet away, Soto watched her drop the blanket from around herself, pick up a small washcloth from the pan of water, wring it between her hands and begin washing herself. He watched her, enjoying every movement, every touch of the wet cloth to her skin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.