The River's Daughter by Vella Munn

Author:Vella Munn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2015-04-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

On a warm, clear afternoon two days after his meeting with the Rogues, Barr rode into Jacksonville, which now churned with activity like a disturbed and angry bees' nest. As he headed toward the longest-standing tent, his horse pricked her ears and nickered at a team hitched to a wagon, but Barr felt no such excitement. He'd already parted ways with Matthew who wanted to talk to a certain miner if he could find the man. Now, although he should be looking for Captain Hunt, Barr pulled on the reins, halting his mare. The air smelled of animals, dust, unwashed bodies. The narrow road under his mare's hoofs had been beaten into a solid, lifeless sheet of dirt. Sounds—squeaking wheels, loud voices, restless animals—resounded around him.

What was it Dark Water had said, that the thought of walking into Jacksonville terrified her. As a trio of men stepped inside the dusty tent saloon, he found himself echoing her. The truth was, he'd felt himself a part of her since, and even before, they made love.

After two almost sleepless nights, he still couldn't believe they'd become lovers. For a moment, when she stood naked and vulnerable before him, he'd almost whirled on his heels and gotten the hell out of there. But her softness had called to him louder than any reason. The words of caution echoing inside had been silenced by her body and his need for her.

She must have heard the same cautioning cry. Otherwise she wouldn't have scrambled to her feet as soon as they released each other, fumbled her way into her clothes, and disappeared without a backward look.

He shifted in the saddle, fighting off the stirring he felt simply because he remembered the warmth of her fingers.

When his mare nickered again, Barr guided her toward the assay office. He'd started to swing out of the saddle when a gray-whiskered miner stepped outside. He glanced up at Barr. Smiling, the man explained that he'd uncovered over one thousand dollars in gold since the last time he came to town.

Barr congratulated him and asked if he knew where Captain Hunt might be.

"Try the marshal. If you're looking to volunteer to fight the Rogues, he'll be glad to see you."

Barr thanked the man and headed on down the street. He tried to distract himself by noting the construction taking place, but the shanties and two new split lumber houses only served as proof of the town's permanence.

When he stepped inside the badly faded tent the miner had indicated, he found Hunt talking, not to the trader who'd just been elected sheriff, but to Albert Decker. He had no idea what the Indian agent was doing here. None of the possibilities improved his mood.

The captain stuck out his hand. "Good thing you showed up," he said after the obligatory handshake was over. "We were going to come looking for you. There's been a lot more folks complaining to the governor. They want something done about the Rogues, and right soon."

Barr suppressed the impulse to shrug.

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