Burning Daylight by William W. Johnstone

Author:William W. Johnstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2019-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Jack McKinney stared at his younger son for a couple of seconds before he started shaking his head. “That’s loco. You’re just a boy.”

Aaron pointed at Thad and said, “I’m only four years younger than him. If he’s old enough, so am I.”

“Absolutely not—”

“This family discussion will have to wait, Jack,” Henry Stockbridge interrupted. “I promised our new arrivals food and coffee. Why don’t you join us?”

McKinney looked warily at Aaron and then nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll do that. But we’ve got a lot to talk about.” He glanced over at Luke. “Such as who this hombre is.”

Thad said, “Aaron claims he’s Ma’s new beau.”

Well, that impulsive move on Aaron’s part had just backfired nicely, Luke thought. McKinney looked at him with a mixture of anger and regret. “Is that true?”

Since the fiction was established, Luke decided it would be best to play along with it for now. “A man who would ride off and leave such a woman behind doesn’t have any right to complain when someone else appreciates her, my friend.”

“We’re not friends,” McKinney said coldly. “If you’ve been looking out for my boy, I’m obliged to you for that, but you never should’ve brought him here and you shouldn’t go sniffing around other men’s wives.”

“Don’t insult her by talking about her in such a degrading fashion.”

Stockbridge held up his hands and said impatiently, “Gentlemen! I’ve already told you that you can talk about all these domestic matters later.”

The massive, jug-eared man pointed at Luke and asked, “What about him and me settlin’ our grudge?”

“You can join us for dinner, Creager, if you’d like, and we’ll determine the particulars of that matter. If you promise to behave in a decent manner.”

“I’ll behave,” Creager rumbled, but he didn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea.

It was going to be a mighty uncomfortable meal, Luke mused. A jealous husband, a vicious outlaw, and a mad Englishman who fancied himself a knight for dinner companions . . .

He supposed he had been in worse situations, but he couldn’t remember when.

* * *

Three attractive young women served dinner—one Mexican, one Chinese, and a cool, slender blonde who, when she spoke, sounded like she came from back east somewhere. Philadelphia, maybe, Luke thought. How she came to be at the outlaw stronghold in the Arizona Territory badlands was quite a mystery, one Luke wouldn’t have minded solving, but he had more urgent matters on which to concentrate.

Stockbridge sat at the head of the long table. Three-fingered Jack McKinney was to his right, the burly Creager to his left. Thad was next to his father, and Aaron sat next to him. Luke would have taken a seat on that side of the table, but Stockbridge smiled and waved him into the chair beside Creager. The outlaw looked at him like a wolf casually regarding a lamb that he would get around to slaughtering later.

The food was decent—venison steaks, beans, potatoes, biscuits. The coffee was excellent, hot and strong the way Luke liked it.

As they ate,

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