My Heroes Have Always Been Hitmen (Humorous Romantic Shorts) (Greatest Hits Mysteries) Read Online Free PDF Page B

door to my room.
    I spent the next couple of hours mentally preparing for the fight. The whole town knew what was about to happen. I could hear people talking beneath my window all morning. I cleaned my gun and double-checked my ammunition. Everything was in working order. Now I just had to wait.
    Penny Philpot took up most of my thoughts. She was a unique woman. One I hadn't experienced before in the cultured salons and tailored lawns of Newport. Penny was beautiful, resourceful, courageous, and smart. And I had fallen for her.
    I had no idea if she felt the same way about me. I 'd like to think she did. That she'd pack up her little brother and run off with me after the showdown. But I wasn't sure. This was a woman who'd already lost one man. It was highly likely she wouldn't want to put herself through that again.
    I needed to drop this line of thinking and focus on the upcoming fight. After all, I was here to play cowboy and do a job for the Bombays.
    And what would I do with Penny and Percy Philpot anyway? I couldn't just ride back into Newport with a frontier bride and her little brother. I couldn't stay here either, after killing the town's marshal.
    A knock at the door brought my thoughts back to the task at hand.
    "It's time," Jeb's voice said through the door.
    I rose to my feet, put on my new silver spurs, gun belt, and hat, and left my room for the street below.
    The sun was blazing above us as Marshal Figgins and I squared off at opposite ends of the street. I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't wearing spurs. He was supposed to wear jingling spurs! If he lived, I'd have to show him the novels in my saddlebag. But then that was silly, because he wasn't going to live.
    We were only about fifty paces apart , and I could see the hatred burning in his eyes. We were really going to do this. I tried to look menacing, but in all honesty I was very happy. A real cowboy gunfight at high noon! I'd be a legend back home. Well, okay, so my mother and sister would most likely roll their eyes, but still…
    I looked around and spotted Penny and Percy standing on the boardwalk outside the hotel. Her face was impassive , but she held her little brother tightly against her. Jeb was nowhere to be seen, as expected. He had other work to do.
    " When the clock strikes noon, we draw and shoot," Figgins shouted, pointing at an enormous clock on the bank.
    I nodded , suppressing my glee—this was so exciting! We had fifteen seconds to go. The clock's second hand seemed to tick so loudly I felt it in my blood. Ten seconds to go…seven…six…five…four…
    The marshal's eyes narrowed, and I realized he was going to shoot early. Once a cheater…
    Three…two…
    A bullet whizzed by me, nearly taking my hat off. I whirled to my right and took out two gunmen who were poised to shoot from the alley. I had four shots left. A rifle cracked behind me twice, and I looked up to see Jeb smiling at me from the top of the hotel. Two more men with guns in their hands fell forward from the next alley on my right.
    I heard the click of a pistol 's hammer on my left, and I turned and shot one more man who was coming at me from the hotel. Another rifle crack, and one more man at the end of the street fell.
    " Don't move, asshole." I couldn't believe I'd fallen for the distraction—this is a huge Bombay no-no. While I was being shot at (and early, mind you—cheater!) Marshal Figgins had grabbed Penny Philpot from behind and put a gun to her head. I steadied my pistol, but it was difficult to get a clean shot. Penny stood still as the marshal hid behind her, the coward. Percy looked up at his sister in fear.
    " I'll blow her brains out! I will!" the marshal snarled. I looked up at Jeb, but it was clear he couldn't get a good shot either.
    " Let her go!" I shouted. "This is between you and me!" It figured he'd hide behind the woman he'd wanted for so long. The tired, old, If-I-Can't-Have-Her-No-One-Can story. There was no style there, just brute