Last Train to Bannock [Clayburn 02] Read Online Free PDF Page B

from him. "This makes it a hundred dollars' worth of wages I've advanced you."
        Clayburn nodded. "At this rate you won't owe me anything but a good-by drink when we get to Bannock."
        Fifteen minutes later he'd memorized all her thumbnail notches. After that his fingertips were able to read the cards she'd marked as he dealt them. By the time she realized that he was not just having a phenomenal run of luck, he'd won back his wages plus forty-two dollars of her money.
        She eyed him suspiciously as he showed three aces to beat her three kings. He raked in the pot, smiling innocently.
        Suddenly she gave a soft laugh. "Took you longer to catch on than I expected."
        "You make it hard for a man to concentrate."
        The way those greenish eyes of his looked at her began to have an effect that surprised her. Deliberately, she kept her tone light, "I couldn't resist trying, just to find out what you were made of. I did warn you there was only one thing I don't cheat about."
        Clayburn nodded. "You warned me. Now I know you meant it."
        Cora stood up. "Well, now that we know a little more about each other, I think I'll turn in for the night. I want to be fresh tomorrow."
        His eyes followed her for a moment. She moved with a pantherish grace that accentuated her sensual looks. He got up and went to the window, closed the shutters and locked them.
        She watched him, head cocked a little to one side. "Making yourself at home?"
        "Just taking precautions. If it was Adler that had Farnell stopped, he could try stopping you next."
        "Your concern is touching, but unnecessary. I do know how to take care of myself. You can feel quite safe about me. Or were you thinking of guarding me all night?"
        His mouth quirked in a grin, but his eyes continued to look at her in a way that made her knees go weak. "I would feel safer about you if you weren't spending the night alone."
        Slowly she shook her head. "That's just a bit too fast for me, Clay," she said softly, finding that it required an effort to keep her voice steady. "I don't know you that well."
        Clayburn picked up his hat. "You will," he told her, and went out.
        He waited in the corridor until he heard her lock the door from inside.
        
***
        
        Wilks waited in the darkness of a cottonwood south of Parrish. He sat on the hard earth leaning back against the trunk of the tree, studying the stars overhead while his two horses nibbled at the sparse grass under the branches. The faint sounds of men approaching on foot brought him swiftly to his feet, his fingertips automatically brushing the grip of his holstered Colt.
        The figures of three men appeared through the starlit darkness. George Adler, flanked by the broken-faced bruiser and the slim kid. When they were close enough Wilks noted that they wore no guns, at least none that showed. Adler hadn't wanted to attract attention to their slipping out of Parrish by claiming their guns from the marshal's office.
        "Hello, Mr. Adler," Wilks greeted him. "Farnell get into Parrish all right?"
        "He came in just fine, Wilks. Exactly the way I wanted him."
        "He caught on soon as he saw me. Must've remembered seeing us together up in Bannock."
        "I hear you had some trouble getting the job done."
        Wilks laughed. "I didn't have any trouble at all. Ryle and Pollock did, though." He held out his left hand, palm up. "Pay-up time, Mr. Adler."
        Adler drew the money from his pocket and handed it over. Wilks counted it, stuffed it in his own pocket. He didn't take his eyes from Adler. "That's just two hundred. You promised six hundred."
        "Six hundred for the three of you," Adler said. "That comes to two hundred apiece. That's your third, like I agreed."
        "Uh-uh. You said six hundred for doing the job. The job's been done. Ain't my fault Ryle and Pollock ain't