Sundown Comes Twice by Art Isberg

Author:Art Isberg [Isberg, Art]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Robert Hale
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

It took Judd and Lacey three weeks of hard riding through bitter, thorny dry lowlands to skirt the mountains before Judd arrived back in country familiar to him, and headed for Moses’ rock-bound home. The tall man in the stove-pipe hat saw distant dust plumes of riders coming closer. His eyes narrowed, and he shaded them with one hand, trying to make out who it was coming in. He recognized Judd’s horse first, then the rider in the saddle, and his eyes widened as a big smile broke out on his face. Judd Miller was still alive, and he was even bringing in a friend to visit. When Judd had left, Moses had prayed that the Good Lord would protect him, and now his prayers had been answered. Moses did wonder who it was that the man who always rode alone, had riding with him. When the pair reined to a halt, he stepped forward, still smiling, reaching up with his hand and locking it in Judd’s.

‘You don’t know how glad I am to see you again. When you left I wondered if you’d be all right. I see our saviour has done a splendid job looking over you.’

‘How are you, Moses? It’s good to see you again, too. I’ve brought someone with me,’ he indicated over his shoulder.

Moses could not see Lacey’s face because Judd’s horse blocked his view. He stepped around the front of the animal, and then looked up, extending his hand. Suddenly his face registered surprise: this visitor might look like a man with that flannel shirt, boots and big cowboy hat shading her face, but all those curls sticking out from under the hat and that pretty face, said she was all woman. Moses quickly regained the power of speech.

‘Well, I’ll be dam. . . .’ he caught himself, turning back to Miller. ‘You never fail to surprise me, and you sure did it again this time. Both of you get down out of those saddles, and come inside, after we take care of your horses.’

Once inside the spacious cave, Lacey took it all in, wide eyed in surprise, as Moses showed her round, and how everything he’d put together worked. He might be a man striving to live by God’s commandments, but he could not ignore Lacey’s rough-hewn beauty, as he led her around. Eventually he had to ask her the question that had been haunting him since they first met.

‘May I ask you something personal?’ he hoped she wouldn’t be offended.

‘Yes, what it is?’

‘Is there some reason you hide how pretty you are by dressing up like a man?’

She smiled at the odd compliment. ‘It’s because when my husband was killed, all I had left was our half-finished dugout, and most of his clothes. We had both worked on it, and I wore his clothes because I was getting dirty and sweaty each day. I couldn’t get much done in a frilly dress and lace-up shoes! Then when I was alone, I had

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.