Whiplash by Paul Lederer

Author:Paul Lederer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781480487529
Publisher: Open Road Media

SEVEN

‘Riding out with the lady, are you?’ Nate Arbuckle asked, as Sandy was tightening the cinches on his saddle.

‘She has a way of asking that makes it kind of hard to refuse,’ Sandy answered.

‘Yeah, well… watch out for her. And for yourself,’ Nate said. ‘Here’s something you might need.’ He handed Sandy a recognizable green box of .44 cartridges. ‘Here’s hoping you don’t need them all.’

‘There’s always hope,’ Sandy replied. Stuffing the .44s into the saddle-bags as well, he swung aboard the roan and walked the eager animal out into the brilliant morning sunlight. Sitting upright in his saddle was enough to make Sandy wince with the pain it caused his battered ribs, but Corrine seemed not to notice. She did notice his face, however.

‘You’ve got a couple of nice bruises on your face. I didn’t notice those last night. What happened?’

She seemed innocent of the attack that Sandy had suffered after leaving her house. Perhaps it was only coincidence that she had instructed him to leave by the front door. Randall, Cavett and Cox might have been waiting out there because they naturally expected him to leave that way.

Sandy hoped so. He didn’t like to think he might be riding into a deceitful woman’s further plots. He could tell nothing by her face. There was no expression there except one of determination.

He had no idea how she expected to render justice to Amos Coyne and his friends. He asked her, ‘How do you expect to do anything against these men?’

‘They wouldn’t dare lift a finger against me,’ she said with certainty.

Now that might have been true back on Sky Box where they all worked for Vincent Skye, but this was a different situation. He asked her why she hadn’t summoned her crew of cowboys to trail after Coyne, and it was explained – to her satisfaction – that they needed their working men on the ranch. This quest was her own idea; she couldn’t pull valuable men away from their duties.

Which left Sandy, who apparently was not to be considered a valuable hand. Well, the woman was partly right. Sandy did still hold a grudge against Coyne although he felt that his part of the bargain had been achieved. He had told Vincent Skye of Amos Coyne’s wicked ways. That was all he had felt obligated to do. Now the slim, erect lady riding next to him expected him to do more: to risk laying down his life for her and the Sky Box. Since he was employed by neither it seemed a large request. Just as puzzling was why Corrine should have enough faith in him to select him for this task. Surely among the ranch hands were one or two who could have been chosen to make the ride with her.

Maybe she figured that any man crazy enough to make the long ride Sandy had to warn her father was crazy enough or angry enough to continue pursuing Amos Coyne. Her words, her expression gave him no hint, and Sandy knew that he was not bright enough to understand the workings of a woman’s mind.

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