Arkansas Smith Read Online Free PDF Page B

this Arkansas Smith? This man with a big reputation? ‘I should kill you two,’ he snarled again, as if there was no other option.
    ‘Weren’t our fault, sir,’ Clay said. ‘I shot McCord myself.’
    ‘Then you’d do better to leave the whiskey alone and improve your aim,’ Lance told him and tossed the stub of his cigar into the fireplace. ‘You two’ll have to hide out somewhere until we know what’s happening. If McCord names you two you’d be better off away from here. We’d all be better off.’
    ‘I don’t think he’d know we was behind it,’ Jim said, ‘even if he does survive.’
    ‘No?’ Lance looked out of the window, the sky brilliantly blue, and the sun impossibly bright.
    ‘No,’ Jim shook his head. ‘We and the other boys went in too quickly. Clay plugged McCord as soon as he appeared in the bedroom doorway. It happened too fast for him to have seen anything.’
    ‘And he weren’t moving when we ransacked the place,’ Clay added. ‘He sure looked dead to me.’
    ‘That’s too much chance for me to take. Not now that we’re so close,’ Lance said. ‘No, until we find out what’s going on, I want you two far away from here. I’ll send word when I want you to return.’
    Jim and Clay looked at each other and then to Jakefor support, but, once again, none was forthcoming. Lance continued to pace the room, seemingly lost in thought. A long silence hung over the room until John Lance turned on his feet and took a long lingering look at the two cowboys.
    ‘The fact that McCord may be alive doesn’t change anything. We’ve got the signed document.’
    Both men nodded, eagerly. The document was the important thing. At least that part of their mission had been a success.
    ‘Clear out immediately,’ Lance said, and pinched the bridge of his nose against the startings of a headache. ‘Ride over to the old Bowen place. Hide out there and stay put until you hear otherwise.’ His voice was firm and everyone in that room knew there was no point offering further argument.
    John Lance had spoken.

SIX
    If he’d had time to consider the situation Arkansas might have found the sight that greeted him amusing. As it was there was no such time and he ran to his horse, which he had always kept saddled, and spurred her into an immediate gallop.
    The object of his pursuit – a woman, who had come from God alone knew where – was holding on for dear life and screaming as her horse, a pure white creature, galloped. It reached the corral fence and then veered off to the left, caused the woman to slip in her saddle and she screamed even louder as she felt her grip on the reins loosening. Any moment now and it seemed she’d be thrown to the hard ground.
    Arkansas spurred his horse harder, gaining more speed from the sorrel that had suited him so well in so many tricky situations and, true to form, she gave him the extra push needed to gain on the other horse. Arkansas reached out and grabbed the reins of the woman’s horse and then by pulling his own sorrel back, he expertly brought it to a halt. He dismountedand then held out his arms, helping the woman down.
    ‘Snake,’ she said, unsteady on her feet so that Arkansas had to support her.
    ‘There’s no need to call me that,’ Arkansas said, amused.
    ‘Spooked my horse.’ Her eyes suddenly rolled backwards and she fainted away into Arkansas’ arms.
    He smiled. Typical, he thought. He’d never seen a woman who didn’t faint clean away after a spell of blood-rushing excitement. He lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the cabin where he intended to revive her with a little water.
    She was a beautiful woman. Her skin was handsomely tanned, almost coffee coloured. She had a round face with thick red lips and luxurious black hair that fell down over her slender shoulders. Her eyes, currently closed, had been a chocolate brown. Arkansas would have placed her age somewhere around the mid twenties.
    He placed her down gently on the