Winter's Rose by Melissa Lynne Blue

Author:Melissa Lynne Blue [Blue, Melissa Lynne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2020-03-12T16:00:00+00:00

Seven

Jack stepped backward, staring at the pistol trained on his chest in total disbelief.

What the hell just happened?

One moment he’d been making some measure of peace with Rose, and the next a disgruntled veteran, a man he’d once believed a close friend, wanted to kill him. Or cripple him. At this point Jack wasn’t sure what Jonah intended.

“No!” Rose cried, throwing herself between them, arms spread wide. “This is absolute madness. You can’t really mean to shoot Jack.”

Jonah’s attention shifted to Rose. “Get out of my way, Missy. I got no mind to shoot a woman.”

“Rose, get away from the gun,” Jack commanded, horrified at the site of her squared off with a pistol.

“Think about what you’re doing,” Rose implored, ignoring Jack completely. “You’ll go to prison if you shoot Jack.”

“Making him pay will be well worth it.”

“The war is over,” she continued. “More violence solves nothing. My husband has devoted his life to helping people, and I know it’s hard to except, but medicine is an imperfect science. Outcomes, especially those in wartime, are not always what we wish.”

“Shut up. You just don’t want a one-legged, crippled husband.”

“One leg or two makes no difference to me. Has it occurred to you or your brother that his girl refused to marry him because he’s a drunk?”

Jack edged carefully to the right, carefully gauging Jonah. At this point Rose had him good and distracted. “Rose, get down.”

Without hesitation she ducked and hurled herself to the left. At the same moment, before Jonah could react, Jack hunched down and dove for Jonah. One shoulder connected with his midsection, driving him backward while the opposite arm grabbed the wrist holding the pistol and shoved it upward. The men crashed to the ground, and the gun skittered across the hard-packed dirt.

Rose scrambled to retrieve the weapon while Jack strove to subdue Jonah.

The ominous click of the pistol hammer caused Jonah to freeze. “That’s enough.”

Pinning Jonah beneath him, Jack glanced up to find Rose aiming the pistol directly between Jonah’s eyes.

“You know how to use that, little lady?”

“Do you want to find out?” she returned without missing a beat.

Impressed, Jack held Jonah firm.

“You came out here for blood, Jonah, but my husband and I have no wish to see more death. Now, I’m going to give you one chance to get out of here and never bother us again. And, because I’m feeling generous, I won’t even tell the sheriff about this little incident.”

Jack rose up on his knees, gathered Jonah’s collar in his fists and gave him a hard shake. “Come near me or my family again and I’ll kill you.”

Jonah’s eyes narrowed, but the darkness made it impossible to discern his expression. “Sure you won’t leave the dirty work to your wife?”

“I’ve got no problem getting my hands dirty,” Jack growled. “Now get out of here before I overrule her kindness.”

Jonah gulped convulsively. Jack released him, and the other man scrambled to his feet. He glanced briefly between Rose and Jack before dashing out of the cemetery, tripping over a tombstone in the process.

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