RenegadeHeart Read Online Free PDF Page B

tray.”
    Tyree scowled as she swished out of the room. Never had any
woman looked at him with such loathing. He attacked his food with a vengeance,
admitting, grudgingly, that she was a hell of a good cook.
    In the kitchen, Rachel put the last of the dinner dishes
away, then joined her father in the den for a game of checkers. It was the best
part of the day, a time for sharing the day’s problems, a time when decisions
were made, ideas exchanged.
    A knock at the front door interrupted their game. John
Halloran opened the door cautiously, frowned as he invited his visitors inside.
    The voice of the fat, territorial marshal penetrated Logan
Tyree’s dream, waking him instantly. Eyes closed, Tyree listened while John
Halloran assured Marshal Brody that no one answering Tyree’s description had
been seen on the Lazy H.
    “But you’re welcome to search the place if you’ve a mind
to,” Halloran offered.
    In the back bedroom, Tyree held his breath as he waited for
the marshal’s reply.
    “No need,” the lawman responded gruffly. “But if he comes
sniffing around, you shoot first and ask questions later. He’s a hired gun. A
killer.”
    “A killer?” There was genuine alarm in Rachel’s voice.
    “Yes, ma’am,” Brody said. “A cold-blooded murderer. Gunned
down two men in a Texas whorehouse for no reason at all some years back. Never
even gave ‘em a chance to draw. Killed a man here in Arizona, too. And that’s
just three of many.”
    In the bedroom, Tyree had a mental picture of the worried
glances passing between Halloran and his daughter, and his hand closed over the
.44 lying under his pillow. Would Halloran turn him in, now that he knew he was
harboring a fugitive?
    Tyree’s eyes probed the dusky room. The window was the only
way out of the house other than the door, and while he didn’t particularly
relish the prospect of running off into the night stark naked, he would do it
if he had to because, by damn, he wasn’t going back to prison!
    “He sounds quite desperate,” Rachel said anxiously.
    “Yes, ma’am, damn desperate,” the marshal replied, warming
to his subject. “And lucky to boot. We lost his trail out in the desert a
couple weeks back, but we figured he’d head south for the border, so we trailed
in that direction. We were circling back when a sandstorm caught us. Damned if
it no sooner blew over than a handful of redskins run off with our horses. Damn
savages! Took us three days to walk to the Bar J for fresh mounts. Three damn
days! If I ever catch that bastard, Tyree, he’ll pay for those three days.”
    “Well, we’ll keep our eyes peeled for him,” Halloran said
sincerely. “You can be sure of that.”
    “Pa—”
    “Later, Rachel,” Halloran said. “You and your men are
welcome to spend the night in the bunkhouse, Marshal. You’ll be comfortable
there. It’s the first building on the left.”
    “That’s mighty kind of you,” Brody said. “Evening, ma’am.”
    “Breakfast is at six,” Rachel said. “You and your men are
welcome to join us.”
    “We’ll be there.”
    Rachel turned angry eyes on her father as she closed the
door behind the marshal and his posse. “Pa—”
    “Hush, daughter.”
    “I will not hush. And I will not have that dreadful man in
this house another night.”
    “You wanna turn a sick man over to a lawman like Elias
Brody? Why, I’ll bet Tyree would never make it back to Yuma alive.”
    “That’s not our concern.”
    “Isn’t it? He’s a human being, Rachel. It’s not for us to
judge him.”
    “Oh, Pa,” Rachel murmured helplessly. “You should have been
a preacher.”
    Halloran chuckled. “Maybe. Let’s go check on our patient.”
    Tyree was sitting up in bed when Rachel and her father
entered the room. The .44 was nestled in his right hand, aimed in the general
direction of the door. Rachel could not help thinking the gun looked right at
home in Logan Tyree’s calloused hand.
    “That’s two I owe you,” Tyree