The Gunsmith 385 by J. R. Roberts

Author:J. R. Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2013-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

They got dressed and she showed him what stalls to put their horses in. She helped him by unsaddling and brushing down Travis’s horse, and they put feed out for both of them.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“Great.”

“Out of breath.”

“Maybe,” he said, “but that would make two of us.”

“Think Travis will know what we been up to?”

“Maybe not,” he said, “and speaking of Travis . . . why me, and not him? He’s younger, better looking—”

“I went for experience,” she said. “I don’t think I made the wrong decision, do you?”

“Definitely not.”

She smiled. They left the barn together and walked back to the house.

As they entered the kitchen, Travis said, “I was just about to bring him back out there.”

“He’s done already?” she asked.

“Wolfed it down,” Travis said.

“Okay, then, better take him back out there and tie him up good.”

“I’ll stay out there, too,” Travis said. “I’m ready to bed down, and we want to get an early start.”

“Whataya gonna do with me?” Davis demanded.

“We don’t know yet,” Clint said. “Just be grateful we fed you.”

“Well, I didn’t do noth—”

“Shut up!” Travis said, swatting the back of Davis’s head.

“I’ll be right out,” Clint said. “One last cup of coffee.”

“Sure.” Travis turned to the outlaw, pulled him up from his seat by the back of his shirt. “Come on, you.”

He pushed him out the door ahead of him.

Laura covered her mouth and looked at Clint.

“What?” he asked.

“You think he knows? And he thinks he’s leavin’ us alone so we can . . . you know.”

“Well, we already . . . you know . . . I do need to get an early start tomorrow. And I’m tired, for some reason.”

“Maybe,” she said with a mischievous smile, “I should have picked the younger man.”

“Just give me another cup of coffee, woman,” Clint growled at her.

* * *

Clint walked back to the barn after his last cup of coffee and found that Travis had set himself up across the building from Davis, who was tied up and snoring.

“I see you got him bedded down all right,” Clint said.

“Yeah, although I don’t know how he can sleep so soundly all trussed up like that.”

“It’s the sleep of the guilty,” Clint said.

“Huh?”

“A guilty man sleeps soundly because he knows he’s guilty,” Clint said. “An innocent man lies awake, worried that he’s going to be blamed for something he didn’t do.”

Travis frowned and said, “I guess that makes sense.”

“That’s the way it was explained to me anyway.”

“Enjoy your last cup of coffee?” Travis asked, changing the subject.

“I did, thanks.”

“You sure you want to sleep out here with us peasants?” Travis asked.

Clint grabbed his bedroll and walked to one of the empty stalls.

“Why don’t you just go on and sleep in the house?” Clint asked.

“Hey, the lady never looked at me twice,” the younger man said.

Clint dropped his bedroll down on the floor of the stall. A few feet away was the bale of hay he and Laura had used. He was surprised it didn’t bear the outlines of their bodies.

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