Arizona Gold Read Online Free PDF Page A

the woman working as dealer. She was older than he had expected and not particularly pretty. Her bright red hair, however, was striking, and her blue eyes might have softened her hardness had they not been dulled with what could only be grief.
    Unlike the other girls around in bright, flashy, low-cut gowns, Opal was more sedate, in dark blue velvet with a high neck and long, tapering sleeves. And she was all business, her attention focused on conducting the game.
    Ryder watched and listened as a man who had just won called out to Opal, “Hey, gal. If you’ll take me home with you tonight, I’ll split my winnings.”
    She did not respond. Nor did she look at him.
    The man standing next to the amorous winner laughed and jabbed him with an elbow. “There ain’t enough money in all of Tombstone to buy Opal. Don’t you know that, Barney? She’s a one-man woman, fer sure.”
    “Only her man just got hisself killed,” Barney irritably snapped. “And she might be lookin’ for another, so mind your own business.”
    At that, Opal raised angry, scathing eyes. “Both of you got big mouths. Now, are you gonna play or flap your jaws?”
    “They better play,” someone else yelled. “I didn’t come here for no foolish chatter.”
    “Nobody tells me what to do!” Barney, who had been sitting down, leaped to his feet. His chair fell with a clatter, and all around more toppled over as men hurried to get out of the way of brewing trouble.
    Another man suddenly stepped from the smoke and shadows of a corner just behind Opal. In a deep, ominous voice, he barked out, “You’d best shut your pie hole and get the hell out of here, boy, or you’re gonna wake up in hell.”
    Barney whirled on him, hand inches from his holstered gun but making no sudden moves that might trigger a draw before he was ready. “Who the fuck are you, and what’s it to you? He’s runnin’ his mouth at me, and—”
    “And you’d best shut up,” Barney’s companion said uneasily. “That’s Nate Grimes, Opal’s brother. He’s a gunfighter, and he’ll kill you without battin’ an eye if you mess with his sister.”
    Ryder tensed, ready to get out of the way should there be any shooting.
    Barney’s Adam’s apple bobbled as he swallowed hard. Carefully, he shifted his hand from his side to hold it in front of him in a pleading gesture. “Hey, I didn’t mean no disrespect. I’ve always thought Opal was a looker, and—”
    Nate Grimes brusquely cut him off. “I think you’d best just leave, Big Mouth.”
    Nervously licking his lips, Barney gathered up his tobacco pouch and winnings and retreated with a conceding nod.
    Opal, furious, turned on her brother. “You had no business doing that. I don’t need you hovering over me like a vulture.”
    “Hell, somebody’s got to look after you,” he mumbled, drifting away.
    The excitement over, the faro game resumed.
    Ryder found a table where he could keep an eye on Opal without being obvious about it, and the night wore on.
    A few fights erupted, but Virgil Earp was able to keep the peace. Every so often shots would ring out from somewhere else in town, and he would rush in that direction to see if he was needed. Most of the time it was a drunk cowpoke kicking up his heels, but around midnight there was a gunfight in the street and both men involved were killed.
    Ryder sipped his beers slowly. Time passed. Finally, around three o’clock in the morning, he saw Opal begin to put her gaming tools away—the spinning device known as the goose, along with the numbered balls. Only a few men were still playing, and they grumbled, but she declared she was tired and quitting for the night.
    When she left the saloon a short while later, Ryder was waiting in a dark alley across the street. She never knew that he followed her to her shanty at the edge of town, for he knew well the silent way of the Apache.
    Once he saw where she lived, he melted into the night to retrieve the Indian garb he kept hidden