Love of a Bounty

Richard Helms looked out over the rocky landscape from where he sat perched on the canyons edge. He took a sip of his bitter coffee, crunched the undisolved grounds between his teeth and sat his tin cup on the rock beside him.

His bounty target was just down inside the canyon and around the bend of the nearly dried up river. He could hear the sound of laughter as the gang made camp. He was only interested in one man and that was Shade Bardlow and the five hundred dollar dead or alive bounty on his head.

He knew, of course, that the five other men riding with Shade would not just let him walk in and take Shade Bardlow. He would have to kill them all more than likely to get to Shade and that was just fine with Richard. Every one of these men were nothing but rapists, murderers and horse thieves.

Richard knew he needed to wait for the cover of darkness so he had about three more hours to sit up on this rock and wait before making his move. The moon should be bright enough for him to get down this rough canyon without trouble and if not then he’d fall and die. He really didn’t care anymore.

Richard thought back over the last year he had spent running from town to town chasing bounties. After leaving Catherine standing in the dust of his stallions flying hooves he had gone to town, thrown down his badge and rode like a bat out of hell to anyplace that wasn’t there.

He knew Catherine had not wanted to hurt him. She was a good woman and he had loved her enough to see that Emmett made her happier than he ever could and so he had simply rode away and left her to that happiness. He however had given up on ever finding the kind of happiness that Emmett had given Catherine. Twice now he had thought he’d found it and twice now it had been ripped away from him.

True, neither woman had had a choice. His Sarah certainly had not had a say in her own death and Richard had known the moment he’d seen Catherine’s face the morning Emmett had returned that she had no choice but to go to him.

Which left Richard alone with nobody but his black stallion who he had lovingly named Horse for company. Richard looked over at Horse as a horrible smell assaulted his nostrils.

“You damn nasty critter! If you’re going to pass gas could you please move your ass downwind of me first?” he demanded. Horse looked over at him, flicked his tail and then lowered his head back to the sagebrush he’d been eating.

“Might as well get a few hours of shut eye before dark.” Richard said aloud. He knew people would think he had lost his mind if they heard him having conversations with a horse but it wasn’t like he had anyone else to talk to and a man could easily go crazy out here alone if he didn’t speak to something.

Richard stretched out on the rock using his hands for a pillow. He pulled his hat over his face and fell into an alert sleep. Though he rested, his trained ears still heard every sound. The first rule that every bounty hunter learned was to never allow themselves to become unaware of their surroundings. Bounty hunters who did that ended up with a bullet in their back.

As darkness began to settle Richard stood up and dusted himself off. He checked the cylinders of both his Colt revolvers even though he already knew they were both loaded. He loaded his few belongings he’d taken out back into his saddlebags, grabbed Horse’s reins and led the big stallion down into the canyon.

The path was narrow and steep and more than once Richard thought the big stallion was going to lose his balance and fall over the edge and tumble down the sheer cliff but somehow they made it safely to the bottom. Richard looped Horse’s reins around a rock down in the canyon.

“You gotta stay here, pal.” he whispered as he stroked the stallion’s head. “Can’t have your big hooves letting the whole damn gang know I’m coming.” Horse nudged him in the back as he turned away and Richard sighed.

“I can’t have you coming along and getting shot you big pain in the ass.” he said. He thought about grabbing his rifle from the saddle but decided he wouldn’t need it. There were only six men after all and he had both his colts, the cover of darkness, and the element of surprise on his side.

He crept along the walls of the canyon using the dim light from the moon to avoid tripping over the many boulders in the path. The camp was silent as he approached. He knew they had not left anyone standing guard. They hadn’t thought they needed to. They had no idea that a bounty hunter had been less than a couple hundred yards from them the last couple of hours.

Richard looked into their camp. They had six small tents set up around a large campfire. The fire was illuminating the dead end of the canyon they were currently camped in and Richard smiled. He would be barely visible to them in the shadows and their own fire would end up being what helped him kill them all.

Richard stood behind a large boulder that would provide him cover once the bullets started flying and whistled loudly.

“Shade Bardlow! My names Richard Helms and I’ve come for you!” he yelled. He watched from his spot behind the boulder as all six men quickly jumped from their tents with their guns drawn as they looked into the surrounding shadows trying to figure out where his voice had come from.

“What business do you have with me, Mr. Helms?” One of the men said stepping forward. The man was lit up by his own campfire and Richard could tell by his red beard and large belly that it was Shade Bardlow.

“There’s a bounty on your head, Shade, and I aim to collect it. Dead or alive, the choice is yours.” Shade Bardlow looked nervous as he spit into the fire and gazed into the darkness.

“You’ll have to come through my men to get to me, Mr. Helms. You think you can get through all five of them?” he asked as his men formed a ring around him. Richard cursed. Why couldn’t cut throat bandits ever just give up and come easily?

“I’m pretty sure they won’t be a problem.” Richard replied pulling both his guns but staying down.

“You’ll never take me alive.” Shade yelled. Richard rolled his eyes.

“That’s what they all say.” he whispered to himself. One of the men fired a shot in Richard’s direction missing him by a mile. Richard smiled. They’d fired the first shot so the battle was on. Richard took a deep breath to steady his nerves, cocked both his revolvers and stood, firing at the men around the fire.

Two of the men dropped dead before they even knew what was going on and the remaining four men, including Shade Bardlow scattered. Richard could see one mans shadow as the firelight shone through the tent he was trying to hide behind. He fired a shot and as blood splattered across the tent the man fell dead. As the bullets flew Shade’s gangs horses all spooked and hightailed it out of the canyon.

“Three down and three to go! My odds are looking better, Shade!”

“Still not as good as mine, Mr. Helms.” Shade said and a bullet ricocheted off the rock wall next to Richards head.

“You got closer that time.” Richard yelled. Two more bullets flew at Richard, one passing so close to his ear he could hear the air and the other ripping a hole through the sleeve of his shirt but missing his arm.

“Enough of this.” Richard said. He could see all three men and it was time to end this now. He walked straight into their camp while bullets flew around him and aimed his guns. Soon the number of guns still shooting back at him was down to one.

“Come on, Shade. Give it up.” Richard said. Shade fired a shot and Richard felt the burning pain as the bullet grazed his leg. He hissed and bit back a curse.

“Have it your way.” Richard said matter-of-factly. He aimed at the top of Shade’s head which Shade clearly thought was hidden by the barrel he was crouched behind and fired. Shade’s hat flew into the air and Shade screamed and jumped up to run away but never made it a single step before another bullet ripped through his chest and he fell dead to the ground.

Richard stood in the firelight in the middle of the camp and reloaded both his colts before dropping them back into their holsters. He untied his bandana from around his neck and tied it around his lower leg where the bullet had grazed him.

Richard drug each dead man into the center of the camp. The only big bounty here was on Shade’s head but he knew the other men each had between fifty and one hundred dollars on each of their heads. No sense letting that money go to waste.

He walked back down the canyon to where he’d left Horse tied and Horse whinnied happily when he saw him.

“Damn near got myself killed that time.” Richard said to the big stallion. He jumped up into the saddle and rode back to the Shade’s camp. He emptied out all the men’s pockets and removed their gun belts, stuffing it all into his saddlebags. He collected all their guns off the ground and put those in the saddlebags as well.

He looked at all six bodies and wondered how exactly he was going to get them all to town, which was a good couple of hours of riding away. He took down one of the tents and laid it out behind Horse. Then he tied one end of a rope to the stained fabric and the other end to Horse’s saddle horn.

He then laid all the men in a pile on the fabric of the tent, grunting and straining with the weight of Shade Bardlow.

“Shade, I do believe you were a fat bastard as well as a good for nothing murderer.” he said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Richard knew that Horse was strong enough to pull the load but they would have to take the longer way out of the canyon because he’d never make it up the narrow, steep cliff side. He jumped up in the saddle and started Horse down the path.

“No time to sleep tonight big guy. We gotta get these bodies to Crow City before they start stinking any worse than they already do.” he said patting the stallion on the neck. He became lost in his thoughts as the stallion made its way out of the rocky canyon pulling his heavy load.

He forgot the first rule of bounty hunting and did not notice the sound of footsteps approaching from the right. What he did hear was the cocking of a revolver less than three feet from where he sat atop Horse. Richard’s hand instantly reached for his own gun as he looked over through the darkness at the person holding him at gunpoint.

“Don’t even think about pulling that iron cowboy.” they said. Richard cocked his head and squinted through the darkness. He’d swear that voice sounded like it belonged to a woman but the person beside him certainly didn’t look like a woman. They were wearing men’s pants, shirt, leather vest and long brown duster. He didn’t see any hair hanging out from under the brown leather stetson on their head either. It was too dark to see their face clearly but if Richard had to guess he’d say this was a boy…. A young boy too, judging by the sound of his voice.

“Son, what do you think you’re doing?” Richard asked. Tessa narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the man on the horse. She didn’t know why it bothered her for him to call her son. After all she worked hard to make sure she looked like a boy at all times. This country was too dangerous for a woman alone.

“I think I’m the one gonna be doin the talking so shut-up.” she said harshly. Richard shook his head.

“You ain’t gonna shoot me.” he said. She aimed the revolver at his head and smiled, though he could barely tell she was smiling in the dark.

“Try me. Now put your hands high up where I can see them and jump down off that stallion.” she said. Richard did as the boy said. Not like he had much choice with that gun pointed at his head and that boys finger looking real damn eager to pull the trigger.

“Now what?” Richard said as he stood with his hands raised. Tessa motioned to his waist.

“Remove your gun belt.” she said. “Real slow and easy like cuz if you do something makes me nervous I’ll just blow your damn brains out and be done with it.”

“What do you want with my gun belt?” Richard asked.

“Just do as I say before I decide you’re not worth the trouble of this conversation.” Richard was cursing loudly as he undid his gun belt and threw it down at this little punks feet.

Tessa knelt and picked up the gun belt keeping her gun aimed at Richard. She jumped up onto the big black stallion.

“You untie those damn bodies boy. Those are my bounties.” Richard said.

“Mine now.” she replied and with that she took off on the stallion at a pace that Richard knew was too fast for the load Horse was carrying. He cursed and kicked at a rock, nearly breaking his toe in the process. As he bounced up and down in pain he yelled in anger.

He’d been bounty hunting and chasing outlaws for twelve damn years and he’d just been bested by a gosh damned boy! He’d lost his horse, his money, his food, his water, his guns and his damn bounties, that he had just about gotten himself killed getting. Richard knew there wasn’t any point trying to walk to town on foot in the dark. There were bandits, mountain lions and snakes all over these prairies and without his horse or his guns he was better off waiting until daylight.

He walked a little ways off the trail and laid down on the dusty, sage covered ground. He put his hands behind his head and tried to get some rest. Tomorrow he’d make it into town and hopefully that brat boy would still be there and Richard Helms would show him what happened to people who stole from him.

Chapter Two

It was early morning when Tessa finally walked out of the sheriff’s office in Crow City with the money from all the bounties tucked safely in her pocket. She walked over to the tall black stallion she’d stolen the night before and felt a moment of guilt. She hoped the man she had stolen him from was okay.

She had never stolen anything from anyone before but she had been desperate. The man hadn’t known it but she had held him up with an unloaded gun since she’d long since run out of ammunition as she’d tried to shoot at pheasants and grouse to eat. Her horse had broken its leg and that had taken another of her bullets. She had been out of money and all alone with no one to turn to for help.

When she had seen him with such a healthy horse dragging all those bounties, she had known it was the answered prayer she’d been waiting on. Now she had a good horse, plenty of guns and ammunition and nearly nine hundred dollars to live on.

She led the stallion over to the stables and paid the hand working to give him a good rub down and plenty of fresh oats and hay and then she went to the hotel. She rented a room and had some hot water sent up to take a bath.

Once she was locked safely in her room she took off her hat and pulled out the pins holding up all her long red hair. It fell in waves down her back and she ran her hands through it. Her father had always loved her hair since it was the one thing she had gotten from her mother who had died from fever shortly after Tessa had been born.

She pulled off the rest of her clothes and unwrapped the cloth that she used to flatten her fairly large breasts and climbed into the tub, laying down and letting the hot water cover her to her chin. She still felt the sting of pain when she thought about her father as if his death had been yesterday instead of nearly two months ago.

Six weeks she’d been chasing the man who had killed her father in cold blood while he’d been sitting on the porch reading. Tessa had managed to hide under her bed and the man, whom she had heard her father call Trigger Jones, had not found her.

She wished now that she had not just stayed at her cabin frozen in fear for two weeks after burying her father. It had given Trigger Jones plenty of time to get far away and now Tessa could not find him anywhere. Of course she had no idea if ‘Trigger’ was really the man’s name and she had no idea what he looked like. She had only seen his hand and it had been missing a middle finger and covered in scars.

She worked hard to make sure that everyone who saw her thought she was just a teenage boy. There were too many men out here who would take advantage if they knew she was a young woman on her own. She used the lye soap that had been brought up with her water and scrubbed herself clean before climbing back out of the tub.

She wished she had some clean clothes to put on but she did not. She checked the strangers saddlebags that she had brought up to her room and found a clean pair of black pants but they were far too big for her. The shirt however she could make work.

She wrapped her bindings back around her chest wincing at the pain it always caused and then pulled on the new shirt. She tucked it into her dirty pants and rolled the sleeves up since they were a good six inches too long. She was tired and she knew that the saloon wouldn’t start filling up with men to question about Trigger until much later that evening so she curled up in the bed and went to sleep.

888

“Gonna wring his damn neck is what I’m gonna do!” Richard exclaimed as he limped down the dusty road toward town. It was late afternoon and he’d been walking all day. He managed to get a drink of water at a small stream but other than that he’d had nothing. His leg was on fire where the bullet had grazed it. He knew it was probably going to end up infected and if he’d had his saddlebags he had some salve he could put on the wound to help it heal but the damn pain in the ass little boy had taken it too.

Richard started thinking of all the ways he would kill the boy once he got his hands on him and it helped time to pass more quickly. Darkness was just starting to fall as he limped into town. He went straight to the doctors office and luckily enough the doctor was in. He got some salve for his leg, paid the doc with some change he had in his pocket and then went to the hotel. He used nearly all of his money to get a room and to have some water sent up for a bath.

He locked the door once he was alone and untied his bandana from his leg. He removed his pants and frowned at the wound. It was a small cut but the bullet had grazed pretty deep and it was dirty. He pulled off his vest and shirt and climbed into the tub hissing in pain as the hot water hit his leg. He looked down at the many scars covering his body and shook his head. He wasn’t sure how many times one person could be shot, stabbed and clawed and still live to talk about it but he knew he had to be getting close to that limit.

He finished cleaning himself off then stood and dried himself. He put the salve on his leg and then wrapped a clean piece of linen around it before pulling on his dirty pants, shirt and vest. He placed his hat back on his unruly black hair and left the hotel. He walked over to the stables and sure enough there in a stall was Horse. Richard was happy to see that the horse seemed fine but pissed to see that his saddlebags and rifle were no where to be found.

He walked up to the sleeping stable hand and shook him awake. The old man jumped up with a start and looked at Richard nervously. Richard was used to those kind of nervous looks. Something about having a face covered in scars made people look at you differently. The only person who never had had been Catherine.

“What can I do for you sir?” the man asked. Richard pointed back at Horse.

“That big black stallion is mine. He got stole from me and I’m looking for the damn boy that brought him into town.”

“I… I don’t want no trouble mister.” the stable hand said.

“Then tell me where the boy is and you won’t have none.” Richard said doing his best to sound extra threatening. He had no more interest in hurting this old man than he did in cutting off his own foot but he figured he’d get the answers he wanted more easily if the man was scared of him.

“I don’t know where he is right now. Alls I know is he brought the horse here, told me to rub him down and give him plenty to eat and then he went to the hotel. Most men round here gather at the saloon at night. Maybe you can find him that way.” the old man said. Richard nodded.

“If he comes back don’t you let him take that horse.” he said. Horse looked up and whinnied at the sound of his name and the old man nodded.

“I won’t let nobody take your horse.” he promised. Richard walked out of the stable and down the dark dusty street to the saloon.

He looked around the already crowded barroom but didn’t see the boy. Of course he didn’t know much of what his face looked like because it had been dark last night but he figured he’d recognize the tiny boy in here around all these men if he showed up.

Richard dug into his vest pockets and found five cents so he bought himself a beer. He sat down on a stool to wait and watch for the little thief to show up.

“Hey there cowboy. Would you like a little company?” a tall blond saloon girl asked as she walked up to him and ran her hand down his arm. He looked at her and frowned.

“Nope.” he said as he took a drink of beer. He could see the look in her eyes when she got a closer look at his scarred up face.

“You sure?” she asked. Richard looked her up and down and nodded.

“Yea I’m sure.” he said. Not only did he not have any money to pay for her but he had no interest in taking whores. He never had. Who wanted to be with a woman that countless men had paid to have before him? She pouted a little and then quickly walked away from him to another cowboy down the bar who seemed much more open to her invitation.

888

Tessa pulled her hat down tighter on her head making sure that all her red hair was tucked safely underneath it. She smeared a little dirt on her face finding that it helped take away some of her femininity and make her look more like a boy. She pulled on her long brown duster to hide any of her curves that her binding and oversized shirt didn’t and then walked out of the hotel and down the dusty road to the saloon.

She was always nervous when getting around big crowds of drunken men because you never knew when a fight, brawl or duel would break out or when some cowboy would see past her disguise and then she’d be in real trouble. However there was no better way to find Trigger Jones, or at least someone that knew him, then to go to places where he might hang out and dirty old saloons seemed like his kind of places.

She walked in and curled her nose at the smell of sweat and beer inside. She hated saloons. She had not been raised to be a real lady by her father. He had treated her more like a son and had taught her how to plow fields, plant crops and herd and brand cattle. But he had protected her from this particular part of manhood. She hated the sight of the saloon girls in their corsets and skirts hanging all over every man in sight. She hated the yelling and fighting that seemed ever present with so many drunk proud cowboys in one place. The one thing she didn’t hate was poker. She loved poker. From five card stud, to black jack, to texas hold’em she could play them all with a skill that rivaled that of most men.

She made her way over to a poker table that didn’t have many men sitting around it and laid some money down. The dealer dealt her in and she quickly won three hands of five card stud in a row. One hand because she had the better cards and two hands because she was good at bluffing.

“You’re good boy but don’t you think your mommy might be getting a little worried about you?” an old man sitting at the table asked. Tessa shrugged and deepened her voice when she replied.

“Don’t really care one way or the other.” she said. The old man chuckled.

“You got spunk don’t ya?” he asked. Tessa just shrugged and folded the bad cards she’d been dealt. The old man raised his hand and a saloon girl walked over.

“Bring a couple drinks over here for me and the boy that’s stealing all my money.” he said pointed at Tessa. The saloon girl nodded and walked away.

“What’s your name anyway?” he asked Tessa. She looked down at her new cards and shrugged.

“What’s yours?” she asked and the old man chuckled again.

“Hank.” he replied.

“Tom.” she lied using her fathers name. She upped the bid and the two other men at the table folded while Hank called. She laid out her three aces and he whistled and shook his head as he threw his cards down.

“Some guys have all the luck.” he said. Just then the saloon girl came back over with the beers.

“Hey there cowboy. You’re a little young for a place like this aren’t ya?” Tessa shook her head.

“Nope.” she said not even looking up at the saloon girl. She had been hit on plenty of times in dirty saloons by these kinds of women and it always made her sick to her stomach. The saloon girl laughed lightly and then walked away.

Tessa looked down at the beer in front of her. She knew she had to drink it in order to keep up appearances but she also knew she was terrible at handling alcohol. It didn’t take very many drinks before she was passing out in her chair.

She took a swig of the horrible tasting liquid and quickly sat her glass back down and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She played several more hands and then from behind her she heard the name she’d been waiting six weeks to hear.

“I’m telling you that Trigger is wanting to get part of the old gang back together.” a man said.

“Why? Doesn’t old Trigger know that every bounty hunter in the world would like to have him? There’s a five thousand dollar bounty on his head!” another man said. Tessa’s eyes widened. There was a piece of information she had not known. If he had a bounty then that meant his picture would be posted at sheriff’s offices and train stations. Why had she not thought to look before?

“Well that’s what he’s doing.” the first man said.

“Where’s he hiding at?”

“South about five days ride, out in the middle of nowhere. You know old Trigger. If he doesn’t want to be found you ain’t gonna find him.” Tessa had heard enough. She finally had her first real lead to go on. She excused herself from the poker game, pocketed her winnings and walked out of the saloon.

She walked down the dark street and to the sheriffs office. She started looking over the bounty pictures posted under the lantern light on the outside wall. She found the name she was looking for and quickly ripped the paper down. She scanned it quickly and was disappointed to see that there was no picture under his name.

She stuffed the bounty paper in her pocket and reminded herself that at least now she knew where to start looking for him. She just needed to head south and eventually she would find him and put a bullet in his head the same as he had done to her father.

She walked back to the hotel to pick up the saddlebags. She had sold most of the guns that had been inside earlier in the day but even though the revolvers of the man she had robbed were too heavy for her to handle properly she had not been able to bring herself to sell them so they were still stuffed in the saddlebag.

She had bought herself plenty of ammunition for her own gun and had kept the rifle that had been on the saddle of the big horse figuring it would come in handy when it came to hunting since she had not been having much luck with her revolver.

She hooked her own gun belt around her waist, threw the heavy saddlebags over her shoulder staggering beneath the weight, picked up the rifle and then walked out of the hotel. She wanted to get started heading south as soon as possible since she didn’t know how long Trigger would be there.

She was just walking across the dark street when suddenly a rope was around her arms pinning them to her sides. She let out a yell when a man came down on her. She fought against him feeling a fear so raw and animalistic in nature she could not even think clearly. She was sure this man was going to rape her.

“Dammit boy calm down before I knock your head off.” the man said. Tessa recognized his voice and stilled instantly. She realized that he had tied her hands and feet together while she’d been fighting him. She cursed the darkness and the hat pulled low over his eyes as it kept her from seeing his face.

“How did you find me?” she demanded trying to keep her voice deeper than normal. Richard snorted as he grabbed his saddlebags from the ground and tossed them over his shoulder.

Tessa noticed how tall he was and how he had handled the saddlebags as if they weighed nothing more than a feather, whereas she had barely been able to move beneath their weight.

“Not hard to find a skinny little boy when he robs you and then takes all your stuff and your horse to the nearest town and hangs out for a while.” he said. Tessa turned red with embarrassment and was glad the darkness would keep him from seeing it.

“Untie me.” she said. Richard laughed harshly and bent down over her. She tried to scoot away from him but couldn’t as he grabbed her gun from her gun belt. He looked it over, shrugged and then stuck it in the waistband of his pants.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded. He ignored her and picked his rifle up off the ground. He didn’t even spare her a glance as he started walking toward the stable.

“You can’t leave me tied up like this!” Richard stopped and then turned back around and Tessa suddenly wished she’d kept her mouth shut. She still could not see his face but every thing in his posture told her he was barely containing a very bad rage.

“Don’t you start telling me what I can and can’t do.” he hissed. Then he pulled a long knife from a strap on his leg. She swallowed hard as the lantern light from the stable glinted off the blade. She nearly screamed as he lowered the blade down and then in two quick movements cut the ropes binding her.

Tessa jumped to her feet and held out her hand.

“Give me my gun back.” Richard shook his head as he hooked the knife back to his leg.

“Nope.” he said. “Give me my damn money you got from those bounties.” Tessa shook her head.

“No. I need that money.” she said.

“So do I you stupid boy.” Richard said. “I’m the one that about got killed earning that damn money now give it to me before I pound your face in and take it the hard way.”

Tessa reached into her pocket and removed the big wad of money. She looked down at it wondering how she was going to chase after Trigger with no money, no horse and no weapons. Richard snatched the money and put it in his own pocket. Then he turned and walked away.

“You can’t just leave me here with nothing.” Tessa said. Richard stopped. There was something in this boys voice. Something that sounded much too feminine to be a boy. He turned and looked again. There was no way to know in those damn clothes and he couldn’t’ see their face because it was dark and his or her hat was pulled down low.

“You didn’t have a bit of trouble leaving me with nothing.” Richard said. “At least I’m leaving you here in town where someone might take pity on you. You left me out in the middle of nowhere with nothing around but the damn coyotes and mountain lions.” He turned to walk away again and again that voice pleaded with him.

“Please…” Richard couldn’t explain for the life of him what the sound of that tiny voice did to his heart. If this was really a boy, which he was starting to doubt, then he had serious problems. He sighed. Whether this was a boy, girl, woman or gosh damned elephant it made no difference to him. Whoever it was had robbed him at gunpoint and then left him stranded for dead.

“Please mister, at least give me my gun.” Richard shook his head. No way was he giving this skinny little thief a gun. That would just end with Richard dead on the ground with a bullet in his back. He reached into his pocket and pulled out fifty dollars. He walked over to the boy/girl and held it out. Whoever this person was took the money and Richard quickly turned and walked to the stable.

He saddled Horse, put the rifle in the sling on the saddle and then hopped on Horse’s back. When he came out of the stable the boy/girl was gone and Richard was glad. There had been something not right about the way his heart had reacted to that tiny voice and he was quick to put a few miles of distance between himself and town before setting up camp for the night.

Chapter Three

Tessa walked out of the hotel at dawn the next morning. The stranger had given her fifty dollars and so she walked over to the stable to see about getting a horse. She needed to chase after that damn man and get her gun back or else she could forget about going after Trigger.

She walked in and the old man that ran the stable looked at her and shook his head.

“I ain’t got that horse no more.” he said. “ A man said you stole it and he came in and took it back.“

“I know.” Tessa said. “He said I stole it because I did steal it.” The mans eyes widened.

“You know horse thieving is a hanging offense don’t you?” he asked.

“Well obviously he didn’t tie a rope around my neck did he?” she asked. “Now I got fifty dollars and I want to buy a horse off of you. I know you have several in the corral behind the stable.”

“Fifty dollars huh?” he asked as he rubbed his bearded chin. Tessa nodded but she could see that the old man was hoping to cheat her.

“I’m gonna warn you that I’m a fair judge of horseflesh so don’t try to give me some old nag.” she said. The old man nodded and led her back around to the corral. He pointed to a medium sized brown mare with a white star on it’s head and blond mane and tail. The horse looked healthy enough and she nodded.

“I’ll take her.” she said. “I need a saddle.” The old man shook his head.

“I don’t know what to tell you. That horse is fifty dollars. If you want a saddle it’ll cost you another ten.” Tessa crossed her arms over her chest and thought. She pulled her father’s pocket watch from her pants pocket and looked down at it. She knew it was worth at least what any saddle he would have would be worth. She didn’t want to part with the watch but didn’t see that she had much of a choice.

“Here. This ougtta cover the cost of a saddle.” she said. The man took the watch and looked it over then nodded. He walked back to an empty stall and pulled out a simple leather saddle and reins. Tessa pulled the fifty dollars from her pocket and handed it to him as he handed her the saddle. She walked around to the corral, saddled the mare and slipped the reins over her head. Then she jumped on the mares back and started out of town in the same direction the stranger had taken last night.

888

Richard poured some bitter coffee into his tiny tin cup and took a long drink. Sure wasn’t the best coffee he’d ever had but then again it wasn’t the worst either, he reminded himself as he thought about the few times he had had the misfortune to taste Bianca’s coffee.

He pulled a pouch out of the saddlebags and pulled out a piece of jerky and a stale biscuit. He was chewing on the jerky when he heard hooves pounding toward him. He pulled his gun quickly and turned to see that skinny ass boy from the night before.

“What the hell do you want?” he demanded as the boy rode closer.

“My gun.” Tessa replied. Richard holstered his gun and sat back down shaking his head.

“Nice horse. Did you steal that one too?” he asked. Tessa shook her head as she jumped from the mare and walked over. Richard looked up at her and she couldn’t stop the gasp that came from her.

His face was dark and tan and covered in scars. Three long scars ran down his right cheek while smaller scars were all over his left. Even his lip had a small scar across it. She saw that his eyes were bright blue and seemed very alert as he looked at her.

“What happened to you?” she asked before she could stop herself. Richard shrugged.

“Got lucky.” he said. She was puzzled by his answer.

“Lucky?” she asked raising her eyebrow. He nodded.

“Sure. I’m still alive ain’t I?” he asked. Richard looked up at the woman and saw her smile. He was certain this was a woman. He would have bet both his and Horses lives on it. There wasn’t a single boy in the world that had big brown eyes like that, or soft full cheeks, or big pouty lips. When she smiled her whole face lit up. He shook his head to stop his mind from continuing on its current path.

This was a woman who was dressed as a man, he already knew she cussed like a man, and she had stolen everything he had and left him for dead just the other night. Clearly she was not the type of woman that he needed to be seeing as anything other than a pain in his ass.

“Can I have my gun?” she demanded.

“What’s your name?” he asked. Tessa put her hands on her hips and cocked her hip to the side and he wondered if she realized just how unman like that simple motion was.

“Tom.” she replied. Richard grunted and nodded as he took a bite of his biscuit. Clearly she wanted him to believe she was not a woman. Okay, he could play along with that he supposed.

“Have a seat, Tom.” Richard said pointing to a rock about three feet away from him. Tessa sat down and glared at him.

“My gun.” she said. He threw the pouch full of jerky and biscuits at her.

“Get ya a bite to eat.” he said. Tessa wanted to refuse but her stomach was growling too loudly for her to ignore. She reached into the bag and pulled out a biscuit while Richard grabbed another tin cup from his saddlebag and poured her some coffee. He handed it to her and tried to ignore the spark he felt in his hand as her fingers brushed his.

“Thank you.” Tessa said. Richard simply shrugged. She took a big swig of the coffee and instantly started coughing and sputtering.

“Watch out. That stuff’s pretty strong.” he said fighting back a smile. Tessa sat the cup aside and took a bite of the stale biscuit hoping it would take some of the bitterness out of her mouth. She would swear she saw a glint of mischief in his eyes but she hardly knew him enough to know for sure.

“I want my gun.” she said again.

“How do I know you won’t try to shoot me?” he asked. She rolled her eyes and held out her hand.

“Shake on it?” she asked. “I’ll give you my word.” Richard laughed loudly and shook his head.

“Your word? Damn you must think I’m five kinds of a fool or something. Boy you’re the one that stole from me and now I’m supposed to take your word on something?” he asked. Tessa dropped her hand down and looked down at her feet unsure of what to say.

She wasn’t proud of the fact that she had stolen from him but it had been the only choice that she had had. Of course now she was in a worse situation than she had been before because this damn tough as nails bounty hunter had her gun.

“What if I told you that I’m getting ready to hunt down a big bounty and if you give me my gun then I might just let you in on it.” she asked. Richard raised his brow as he looked at her.

“You’re a bounty hunter?” he asked his voice full of disbelief. Tessa nodded hoping that he wouldn’t be able to tell she was lying. Of course technically she was a bounty hunter right now because the man she was after had one heck of a bounty on his head.

“Yep.” she said. “The man I’m after has a five thousand dollar bounty on his head and I’ve just found out where he’s been hiding. If you help me catch him half the bounty is yours.”

“How bout I just have you tell me who it is and where he is and I’ll go catch him and keep all the money?” he asked. Why the hell was this woman dressed in men’s clothes and chasing outlaws? He didn’t know but he sure as hell wanted to find out. He wasn’t the type of man to like the idea of any woman, even a thieving little pain in the ass like her, to be in danger.

“Well that doesn’t leave me any better off than I am right now does it?” she asked as she took another bite of her biscuit. Damn this man. He was trying to prove to her that he was better than she was. She watched him take a big swig of his bitter coffee and swallow it without showing any sign of disgust. Well two could play at that game. She picked her cup up as well and downed all that was left, even going so far as to crunch the grinds between her teeth before swallowing.

She felt her stomach turn over and hoped that she wouldn’t turn green or throw it all back up and destroy her display of toughness. Richard shook his head but chuckled. He admired her grit. He opened his saddlebag and tossed her the revolver. She stuck it in her holster.

“Now about the rest of what I told you…” she said. He sighed.

“Who is this man?” he asked.

“Are you going to help me?” she asked. She hoped that he would. She didn’t know anything about him but she could tell that he was tough and he seemed to be a fair man. After all he could have very easily killed her for stealing his horse but instead had left her unharmed and had even gone so far as to give her money. Having him on her side would definitely improve her chances when she went up against Trigger.

“Who is the man?” he asked again.

“Trigger Jones.” Richard nearly choked on the jerky he was trying to swallow.

“What the hell would make a kid like you want to go after a man like Trigger Jones?” he demanded. Tessa glared at him and he saw her cheeks flush with anger.

“I’m hardly a kid! I’m a grown wo…” she stopped suddenly. He grinned.

“Yes? Continue. You were about to tell me that you are a grown woman.” Tessa’s mouth fell open.

“No I wasn’t.” she said quickly.

“So Tom, tell me. What is a grown woman doing dressed as a man, calling herself Tom and chasing after one of the most wanted men in the country?”

“I ain’t a woman dammit.” she said and in an effort to prove her point she spit into the small campfire. Richard shook his head. He had never seen a woman spit before. He knew one thing for sure… This was a woman but certainly not a lady.

“Ok Tom, calm down before you blow a gasket.” he said swallowing the rest of his coffee. “Now why exactly are you after this man?” Tessa kicked at the dirt with her boot.

“Because having five thousand dollars sounds damn good to me!” she said matter-of-factly.

“But if I help you out you’ll only get half that.” he reminded her. She nodded.

“Yea well that still sounds pretty damn good to me.” she said.

“Sounds good to me too.” Richard admitted. Not only that but there was no way he was letting this little whip of a woman, who seemed determined to have everyone to think she was a boy, go after Trigger Jones by herself. She’d never be able to take him down without getting herself killed in the process.

Of course, if she had wanted to, she could have very easily killed Richard himself just the other night and besting Richard Helms was not something that very many people could brag about. So maybe she wasn’t as helpless as she looked.

“So tell me, where is this Trigger Jones hiding out?” he asked. Tessa shook her head.

“Not so quick. First I want your word that you’ll help me and not just leave me here and go after Trigger on your own.” She regretted saying this almost instantly when she saw the flash of anger in his intense blue eyes as he looked at her.

“If there is one thing you can trust, Tom , it is my word. And you have my word that I won’t take off and steal your bounty. I’ll help ya out and split it with you if we both live through collecting it.” Tessa looked at the big, rough, scarred up hand he held out and placed her much smaller smoother one in it. She wondered if he squeezed too hard on purpose as he shook her hand and then he released it quickly and went back to eating his biscuit.

“Now that that is settled.” he said. “Where do we find Trigger.”

“South.” she replied. Richard turned and looked back behind him to the south. He looked back at her and shook his head.

“Don’t see him.” he said. Tessa barely stopped the laughter that she felt rise in her. She was pretty sure that he knew darn well she was a woman but until she was absolutely certain she was going to try to convince him she was a boy. One thing that would give her away for sure would be to laugh since she had not yet figured out how to do that in a manly fashion.

“About five days ride.” she said. Richard nodded.

“Big state, Texas. A lot of south to it. Can you be any more specific on where he might be?” Tessa bit her lip and Richard found himself watching the way her tiny white teeth pressed against her full, pink bottom lip. He shook his head and cleared his throat. Obviously he’d been too long without a woman and had lost all control over his own thoughts.

“I was figuring on heading south and hanging around the saloons along the way. You’d be surprised what you can learn from cowboys who drink too much and talk too freely.” she replied. Richard nodded. He already knew that was the truth. That was the second rule of bounty hunting. Learning how to listen and observe to find what you were looking for.

“Well I’ll tell you what, Tom, since south is back toward town why don’t we go and rent us a room for the night. We can stock up on food and supplies for the trip and head out at first light.” he said. Tessa could barely contain her excitement. She had no doubt that with this tough man’s help she would be able to avenge her father’s death.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” she replied. Richard nodded and without another word he stood and cleaned up his small camp. He saddled Horse and jumped on then looked at Tessa who was still sitting on the rock. She had been too caught up in watching him to get up and help. He moved with a deadly kind of grace. He was tall and obviously very strong and she found herself unable to look away from him.

“You comin? Or are you content to just sit down there on that rock?” he asked from atop Horse. Tessa stood quickly and walked over to her mare jumping on.

“I’m comin.” she said.

“Alright big guy. Looks like you get to spend another night in a warm cozy stable before we hit the trail.” Richard said patting Horses’ neck as they started back toward town.

“You talk to your horse?” Tessa asked with disbelief. Richard grunted and looked over at her.

“Don’t judge me Tom . I’m not the one lying about who I am.” Tessa shook her head.

“I’m not lying. My name is Tom Bradshaw and I’m a bounty hunter chasing after Trigger Jones.” She saw him roll his eyes before looking back out over the horizon.

“Whatever you say Tom.” he said.

“Besides I wasn’t judging you.” she added. “I just ain’t never heard somebody talk to their horse like it was a person before.”

“Me and Horse have been through a lot together.” Richard replied rubbing the stallions neck. “He’s the only one I got that gives a damn about me.” Tessa nodded but said nothing. She couldn’t explain why, but hearing him say that made her sad. Maybe it was the way his voice had seemed so certain of what he was saying.

“Guess you really were pissed when I took him then huh?” she asked. Richard grunted and shook his head but didn’t look at her.

“Hell no. Damn troublesome beast is all he is.” he said. Again Tessa found herself biting back a laugh. It surprised her. She hadn’t been tempted to laugh in two months since her father had been murdered but this morning it seemed like she was holding back laughs constantly.

They rode the rest of the way back to town in silence. Richard paid the old man at the stable to give Horse a stall for the day and night and then walked back out to find Tessa still sitting on her mare.

“You gonna come down sometime today?” he asked. Tessa shrugged.

“I’ll just hitch her up at the hotel. I don’t have any money.” she said. He raised his brow.

“I gave you fifty dollars woman. Are you telling me you spent it all already?” Tessa glared at him.

“I told you I’m not a woman. And yes I spent it all. This horse cost me fifty dollars and I had to trade my daddies pocket watch just to get the saddle and reins.” Richard shook his head and cursed. If the woman had paid fifty dollars for that mare then she’d paid too much.. Maybe it was worth twenty-five or thirty but certainly not fifty. It just furthered his belief that she needed his help. Anyone who would pay fifty dollars for a horse just because someone said they had too had no business running around alone chasing after someone like Trigger Jones.

“Get off the damn horse.” he said. Tessa found herself obeying him instantly. She would have bet her life that not very many people refused this man when he told them to do something. He grabbed the mares reins and walked her over to the stables. Tessa saw him talking to the old man and the more Richard talked the angrier the old man seemed to become.

Finally the old man grabbed the mares reins and walked her into the big stable.

“What’s he doing with my horse!” Tessa demanded as Richard walked back over to her with his saddlebags and rifle over his shoulder.

“Putting it up for the day.” he said.

“But I can’t pay for it.” she said. Richard shook his head as they walked toward the hotel.

“The man agreed to do it for free for the night. He agreed with me that you paid too damn much for that horse and saddle and deserved a night free.”

“He didn’t look like he was agreeing with you about much of anything.” Tessa said. She saw him smile and noticed that the lines around his eyes deepened… He was actually kind of handsome, in a rugged way, when he smiled.

“Naw, guess maybe he didn’t see things exactly the way I did but the end result is the same. He’s gonna take care of the mare for the night at no charge to you.” Richard didn’t add that he had agreed to pay for the mares keep for the night.

“Anyways I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t overpay for that mare. That’s a good horse.” she said. Richard snorted.

“No, Horse is a good horse and I wouldn’t even pay fifty dollars for his stinking hide. That mare was worth maybe twenty-five dollars or so at the most.”

“Do you like fighting or something?” Tessa demanded as they walked into the hotel. Richard looked down at her.

“Why you wanna fight me?” he asked with a grin. Tessa felt her heart beat a little faster at the sight of that grin and his bright blue eyes looking down at her. She scolded herself silently. She didn’t have time to be seeing this man as anything more then a partner to help her kill Trigger. She had no time for anything more and even if she was interested in falling in love this was the last kind of man she needed.

This man clearly lived a hard life judging by the scars on his face and he was a bounty hunter. Not exactly the kind of man her father would have wanted her to think about settling down with and he did not seem like the kind of man who had any interest in settling down to begin with.

“Can I help you?” the sleepy looking hotel clerk asked from the counter.

“Change of plans. I’m staying around an extra night.” Richard said pulling some money from his pocket.

“What about the boy?” the man asked. Richard wondered if maybe the clerk needed some glasses. How could anyone who saw Tom’s face in the light of day possibly believe for five seconds that she was really a boy? It was blaringly obvious, to Richard at least, that she was a woman.

“My little brother is gonna room with me.” Richard said. Tessa glared up at him. She knew damn well that he knew she was a woman so what exactly was he doing saying they were going to share a room.

“I am?” she asked. He didn’t look at her as he nodded.

“Yep. We gotta make our money last. No point wasting it on two separate rooms.” he said. “Besides, brother, we got some things to talk about.” he added as he wrapped his arm around Tessa and gave her a brotherly squeeze. Tessa raised her hand to her hat to keep it from falling off as her head bumped against his hard as stone arm.

“Room twenty. Upstairs.” the clerk said. Richard nodded and without another word he headed up the stairs. Tessa nearly had to run to keep up with the pace his long legs set.

Once they were in the room Richard threw the saddlebags in the corner and collapsed on his back on the bed.

“Sure beats the hell out of a rock.” he said fluffing the pillow under his head. Tessa nodded and sat down in the arm chair. She had no sooner gotten comfortable and Richard was on his feet again and walking for the door.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Gotta buy some grub to take with us and I could use some new clothes.” he said stopping with hand on the door knob and looking back at her.

“You coming?” Tessa shook her head. She would take advantage of him being gone and enjoy one final hot bath before they hit the trail.

“You need anything while I’m out?” he asked. She shook her head again.

“No, I ain’t got no money anyway.” she said. Richard nodded.

“Suit yourself.” he said and walked out. Tessa gave him several minutes to make sure he was gone before she walked downstairs and asked for some hot water to be carried up to their room.

She sighed happily as she laid down in the tub. She dreaded the thought of being on the trail and unable to have a warm bath. Finally her luck was changing. She had her first real lead on where to find Trigger Jones and she had a partner to help her take him down.

Tessa wished she could enjoy her bath longer but knew that Richard could come back at any moment. She dressed and was just finishing hiding all her long red hair beneath her hat when the door opened and Richard walked in.

“Took a bath huh?” he asked. An image flashed through his mind of what this woman would look like out of those ridiculous clothes. There wasn’t much to her chest he could tell but the image he came up with was still pretty damn tempting. He wondered what her hair looked like beneath that hat…

“Yea.” she said snapping him out of his thoughts. “Did you get everything you needed?” she asked pointed at the packages in his hands. He nodded and threw one of them to her.

“Your pants were looking a little wore out so I got ya some new ones and I got ya a bandana too. The land we’ll be heading for gets pretty dusty and it’s handy to have one to cover your face with.”

“Thank you.” she said. He nodded and then to her horror he pulled off his vest and shirt. Tessa felt her mouth go dry at the sight of his naked torso. She had never seen a half naked man before other than her father and he had been old and pale… Nothing like what this man looked like. He was hard and strong and tan. Scars and dark hair covered his muscular chest and stomach.

He turned and walked toward the tub as he undid his gun belt and tossed it aside. Tessa stared at his back and her eyes widened… Were those whip marks? Richard started to undo his pants.

“What are you doing?” Tessa demanded. Richard smiled though she couldn’t see it because his back was still to her.

“Takin a bath.” he replied. Tessa ran for the door.

“I’m gonna go get a bite to eat.” she said. Richard nodded to his vest in the floor.

“You’ll need money.” he said. Tessa grabbed a couple dollars and then ran out the door. She could hear his laughter as she shut the door behind her.

Chapter Four

Tessa stayed gone nearly an hour and when she returned he was dressed and stretched out on the bed seemingly fast asleep. Tessa sat down in the arm chair and closed her own eyes only to jump and nearly let out a scream when she felt his breath on her face.

“Have a good lunch?” he asked with a grin as he stepped away from her. She took a second to make sure her heart was not going to blow up and then nodded.

“Yes.” she said. He looked around.

“You didn’t bring me any?” he asked. She shook her head.

“No.”

“Well why the hell not?” he asked as he walked over and sat on the bed. Tessa shrugged.

“I just figured you ate already.” she replied. He nodded and looked out the window at the dusty street below. He wasn’t wearing his hat and Tessa looked at his face lit up in the bright sunlight and realized that she didn’t even know his name.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Richard.” he replied.

“Ya got a last name Richard?” she asked. She saw him smile though he was still looking out the window.

“Helms.” he replied. Then he looked over at her.

“What is your name?” She blinked a couple times and then started picking at the small tear in her pants.

“Tom Bradshaw like I told you.” she replied.

“Horse shit. You are no more a Tom than I am a Sally.” Tessa bit her lip to keep from laughing at the thought of this man being named Sally and then shook her head.

“That’s my name.” she said. “Sorry you don’t believe me.” Richard sighed and decided to give up on getting her real name for now. Why she was so determined to pass off as a boy he didn’t know but it seemed like she’d made her mind up.

“So where’s your parents, Tom?” he asked. Tessa shook her head.

“Dead.” she replied. “Where are yours?”

“Dead.” he said. “But I’m a bit older than you. What happened?”

“How old are you?” she asked.

“Thirty-two and getting older every damn day.” he replied. “What about you?” He knew that it wasn’t proper to ask a woman how old she was but since Tom wanted to be a man he figured the question was alright.

“Twenty-two.” He nodded. That’s about what he would have guessed.

“What happened to your parents?” he asked.

“That’s kinda personal don’t ya think?” she asked. Richard shook his head.

“We’re sharing a room and gonna be riding together for a while. Wouldn’t hurt to know the guy I’m riding with.” he said.

“My mama died shortly after I was born. My pa raised me and he was killed about two months ago.” she said. Richard nodded. He would bet his life he already knew who had killed her pa.

“Trigger Jones killed your pa?” he asked. Tessa wondered how he knew that. Suddenly she worried that maybe he knew Trigger and she realized that she had trusted him without knowing anything about him. What if he was just messing around with her and was going to take her to Trigger and hand her over to him?

Richard could see the fear on her face and he knew the direction her mind was taking.

“Calm down. It wasn’t hard to figure out what happened. I’ve been around a while and I know damn well you ain’t no regular bounty hunter. I also know that Trigger Jones is a cold blooded murderer. Your pa was killed and now you’re gunning for Trigger. Don’t take a genius to put two and two together and find out ya get four.”

“I never was much good at math.” she said suddenly feeling a little foolish for thinking this man was going to hurt her. If he was the type of man that ran with Trigger she would have died last night when he’d caught up with her after she’d stolen his things.

“So this isn’t really about the bounty at all is it?” he asked. “This is vengeance.”

“No this is justice. That man killed my pa in cold blood cuz he wanted to marry me and my pa refused….”

“Last time I checked a man can’t marry a boy.” Richard said. Tessa realized she’d just told on herself, not that it really mattered. She knew he’d already known she wasn’t a boy.

“You know damn well I ain’t a boy.” she said using her regular voice instead of the deeper false one she’d been using. “My name is Tessa Bradshaw and Tom was my father.”

“Tessa’s a real pretty name.” Richard said and then he looked at her, his eyes suddenly more serious.

“So Trigger wanted to marry you, your pa said no and so he killed your pa.. How did you escape?”

“I hid under the bed and he was in such a hurry to get away that he didn’t find me.” she said. “I’ve been chasing him for six weeks now and last night was the first time I got any kind of lead.”

“When a man like Trigger Jones don’t wanna be found then it’s damn hard to find him.” he said. Tessa nodded.

“I aim to find him.” she said. Richard nodded.

“So what are you dressed up as a man for and calling yourself Tom?” he asked.

“My pa always taught me that it was dangerous for a woman out in this country alone. So I guessed I’d be better off going as a man… Course since I don’t have a beard or nothing I had to pretend to be a boy instead.” she said. “And I find I actually like the pants and shirts you men get to wear. It’s much easier to ride a horse and get around in these than in a damn skirt.”

“Aint’ never heard a woman that cusses as much as you.” Richard said shaking his head.

“My pa hated it too but I don’t care. If a man can say those words so can I.” Tessa said growing defensive. Richard chuckled and held up his hand.

“You got a temper don’t’ ya?” he asked. “Calm down girl. I never said there was something wrong with the way you talk. I just said I ain’t never heard a woman talk that way is all.”

“So are you still going to help me get Trigger?” she asked. Richard nodded.

“I said I would didn’t I? And like I told you before, if there is one thing you can count on, it’s my word.” he said. “Sorry about your pa by the way. Must have been hard on you.”

“Yea but at least I still have his gun.” she said laying her hand on it. “I plan on killing Trigger with Pa’s gun.”

“Then you might want to load it before we get there.” Richard said. Tessa looked at him questioningly then quickly pulled her gun and checked it. Sure enough it wasn’t loaded.

“You took the bullets out of my gun before you gave it back to me?” she demanded.

“Course I did. I didn’t want you blowing my head off.” he replied. He walked over to his saddlebags and pulled out a box of ammunition for her revolver. He handed it to her and she snatched it from his hand angrily.

“You let me wander around town by myself with an unloaded gun! What if somebody had started trouble and I’d had to get in a gunfight!”

“You’d a got killed.” Richard replied with a shrug. Tessa was about to yell some more when he sat back down on the bed laughing.

“Calm down girl. I could see out the window the whole time. You went to the store, stayed a few minutes then went down to the diner and you were in there damn near an hour before coming back here.” Tessa didn’t say anything else as she quickly loaded her gun and then stuck it back in her gun belt.

“So you didn’t trust me enough to give me a loaded gun?” she asked. He shook his head.

“Nope. But I do now. Besides there ain’t no way a young pup like you would ever get the best of me anyway.” he teased. He saw anger flash in her brown eyes. Yep she definitely had a temper.

“I seem to remember that I got the best of you just the other night.” she said matter-of-factly. “And you didn’t know it, but my gun wasn’t loaded then either.” Richard opened his mouth to speak but then clamped it shut again. He looked at her for several long seconds and she wondered what he was thinking. Suddenly he burst out laughing. It was a loud laugh and Tessa got caught up in it and began laughing along.

“Well I’ll be damned. As if my pride wasn’t wounded enough when I thought you were a young boy stealing my damn horse and guns right out from under me… Now it’s damn near trampled to learn I was bested by a woman with an empty gun!”

“Well I’m gonna head down and see what I can get into. You coming?” Richard asked as he stood up. Tessa shook her head.

“No I’ll just hang out up here.” she said. “I try not to go around much in the day.”

“Your secret is safe with me Tom. I won’t tell a soul. As far as anyone needs to know you’re my little brother.” He gave her a little wave and then walked out.

888

Richard didn’t come back again and once darkness started to fall Tessa decided to go down to the saloon. She had a little bit of money left from this morning after buying her brush and some lunch and figured maybe she could make some more and buy her pa’s watch back from that old man at the stable.

She looked around for Richard in the barroom but it was too crowded and smoky to tell one cowboy from another. She made her way to one of the poker tables in the back and sat down to play some texas hold ’em. She played a long time but finally made back enough to buy her pa’s watch and have some left over.

She left the saloon still wondering where Richard could be. She knew he hadn’t up and left her because his saddlebags had still been in the room when she’d left. Unless of course he’d been waiting for her to leave the room so he could come in and get his stuff and leave without her knowing so he could have the bounty for himself. If that was the case she would just chase after him. She needed half of that money to keep her pa’s farm up and running.

She walked into the stable and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Horse still standing unsaddled in his stall. She knew that Richard would never go anywhere without Horse.

“Can I help you?” the old man said walking over to her. Tessa nodded.

“I want to buy that watch back from you.” she said deepening her voice as she always did in public.

“Don’t got it no more.” he said. Tessa felt her heart fall to her feet.

“What the hell did you do with it?” she demanded.

“Ask your damn friend with all the scars. He came in here a couple of hours ago and bought the damn thing from me. Paid me twenty whole dollars.”

Tessa walked out of the stable feeling confused. Why would Richard have bought that watch and why would he have paid so much more than what it was worth? And where the hell was he now? She decided to go back to the hotel and get some sleep since Richard would probably want to leave at dawn.

When she walked in the room she saw that he was already there. He was curled up on the floor with one of the pillows from the bed under his head and he was sound asleep. Tessa tiptoed as quietly as she could around him and to the bed. She pulled off her duster and her hat. It had been a long time since she’d let her hair down in front of anyone but Richard was asleep and since he already knew she was a woman she knew it wouldn’t matter.

She pulled all the pins from her hair and laid them on the table by the bed. Then she grabbed her new brush and brushed out the long red waves. Her hair hung nearly to her hips when it was loose and she took her time to remove every tangle.

She thought about waking Richard up and asking where her watch was but decided it could wait until morning. She had never slept alone in a room with a man and didn’t want him waking up and deciding that maybe he wanted her as more than just a bounty partner.

She spared him one last glance and sighed as she took an extra blanket off the small bed and carried it over to him. She covered him up and then climbed up into the bed, blew out the tiny candle on the bedside table and curled up to try to get some sleep.

Richard didn’t open his eyes until he could hear her steady breathing signaling that she was asleep. He was surprised by the way his heart was responding to her simple act of covering him up.

Richard was not a man who lost his heart easy and he had had no intention of ever losing his heart again. The wounds on his heart were deeper and more scarred than the ones on his body, but for some reason this tiny little woman had him turned inside out.

He knew that what he needed to do was get up while she was sleeping, grab his saddlebags, jump on Horse and ride away as fast as he could but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He admired this woman’s courage and her grit. He liked her fiery temper and the way she thought she could pass off as a boy to keep herself safe. But he knew she’d get killed if she went after Trigger Jones alone and for reasons he didn’t quite understand his mind was telling him that letting her die just was not an option.

He rolled over onto his side and drifting back into the half asleep state that was his normal.

Chapter Five

“Damn, it’s hot.” Tessa said wiping the sweat from her brow. Richard agreed but chuckled.

“If you wanted cold you came to the wrong state.” he replied. Tessa snorted.

“I’ve lived in Texas my whole life. I just usually make camp somewhere shady through the hot part of the day and travel mostly in the evening and at night.” Richard looked out over the horizon and could see a little patch of trees in the distance. He could tell by how green it looked that there was a river there as well.

“We’ll head that way.” he said pointing. Tessa followed his gaze and nodded. They rode in silence to their destination and Richard walked over to the river to wash his face. Tessa opened the small saddlebag on her own mare to get a biscuit and was surprised to see her fathers watch inside. She pulled it out and felt tears fill her eyes as she looked over at Richard’s back where he was crouched by the water.

He had kept her so busy all day that she had forgotten all about the watch and him buying it. Now, finding it in her saddlebag, she knew that he must have bought it just to give it back to her. But why would he do that after what she had done to him? He certainly didn’t owe her anything.

He turned from the river and saw her standing there with the watch in her hands and tears in her eyes. He saw that she quickly blinked the tears away and so he pretended he hadn’t seem them.

“Thank you.” she said. He nodded as he pulled some biscuits from his own saddlebag and sat down under the shade of a tree to eat.

“Why did you do this though? I talked to that old man last night and he told me that you paid twenty dollars for it. This watch isn’t worth that.” she said.

“The way I got it figured. That watch is one of the last things you got of your pa’s and that means it’s worth any price ya gotta pay to keep it.”

“Yeah but I didn’t pay the price. You did.” she reminded him. He waved his hand.

“Early birthday present.” he said.

“My birthday was last month.” she said.

 “Late birthday present.” he replied. She couldn’t help but laugh and she stuck the watch in her pocket.

“Once we get the bounty I’ll pay you back.” she promised. He just shrugged and continued eating his biscuits.

They weren’t stopped for long when Richard signaled it was time to go and they were back on the trail headed south. They rode until it was near dark and Richard stopped them again.

“We’ll make camp here. If we ride hard tomorrow they’ll be a town we can stay in tomorrow night.” he said. Tessa nodded and then started gathering sticks and brush for their fire.

They were both settled around their fire eating jerky and biscuits when Tessa stood up and started walking out of camp.

“Where are you going?” Richard asked. She turned to face him.

“I.. I uh.. I have some things I need to take care of.” she said. He raised his brow.

“Things?” he asked. She stuck her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. Richard wished she’d take that damn big duster off so he could see her hips under those pants. She had had that damn thing on every single second except this morning when she’d woken up. He had been sure he was gonna lose complete control over his own damn body when she had climbed out of bed in just her shirt and pants.

Those pants had hugged her legs and her hips and her rear and he had never in his life seen a woman look so damn tempting. Add to that the long red hair that had been hanging in shining waves down her back. It was the kind of hair that seemed to scream for a man to bury his hands in it and he had been forced to make an excuse to leave the room until she had that hair tucked safely under her hat.

“Yeah things. You know the kinds of things I might want some privacy for.” Recognition dawned in his eyes and he nodded.

“Just don’t wander too far.” he warned. She nodded.

“I won’t. And I got my gun.” she replied. He looked back down at the knife he was sharpening and she walked away. He didn’t like her wandering alone in the dark but he had to remind himself that she had survived six weeks out here without him so she really didn’t need his protection to go use the bathroom.

888

Tessa walked until she could no longer see the light from the campfire and then hid behind a bush as she relieved herself. As she crouched behind the bush she became lost in her thoughts about Richard. He was tall, dark and handsome that was for certain. He could make her angry enough to scream in one breath and then laugh out loud in the next.

She was starting to feel like she could really trust him. After all he had not abandoned her yet and had even bought her fathers watch back for her. She wondered why he was helping her? For some reason she didn’t think it was only for the money. There seemed to be more to him and more to the way she had caught him looking at her off and on during the day.

Tessa was just pulling her pants up when she heard the sound of the rattle behind her. She froze in place, her heart began pounding and she felt sweat pop out on her forehead. She looked behind her and saw the largest rattlesnake she had ever seen coiled up only a few inches from her foot.

She felt panic welling up inside of her. She pulled her gun just as the snake lunged to strike her. She let out a scream and jumped and her gun went flying out into the darkness. She fell and found herself face to face with the giant rattler. She froze as she listened to the steady sound of the rattle and watched the snakes tongue flick in and out as it stared at her. She knew if she moved she was dead.

“Richard!” she managed to scream. She was five seconds away from jumping away from the snake and taking her chances on being bitten when she heard Richard’s voice.

“Tessa?” he called. “Tessa, where are you?”

“I’m over here!” she replied not daring to move to wave him over. “There’s a snake, Richard! A big snake!”

“Shoot it.” he said as he walked toward her. She hoped he could see well enough in the moonlight. The last thing she needed was him to get himself snake bit trying to come to her rescue.

“I lost my gun.” she said. She heard him chuckle.

“Just stay still or it will bite you.” he said.

“Thanks. I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Well if you’re so smart, I’ll just leave ya to it then.” he said.

“No please!” she begged and he could hear the fear in her voice.

“I aint’ gonna leave you.” Richard assured her. He walked around the bush and whistled when he saw the rattler. It was the biggest one he’d ever seen and he had seen quite a few. He pulled his revolver and aimed it at the rattlers head which was only a couple inches away from Tessa’s.

“This is gonna deafen the shit out of ya.” he said and he saw her close her eyes tight. He squeezed the trigger and the rattling stopped as the shot echoed in the air. Tessa was on her feet and in his arms before he even had his gun holstered. He wrapped his arms around her and held her comfortingly. He could feel her trembling and he could feel her hot tears soaking through his shirt. He rubbed her back and just held her waiting for her to calm down.

“You’re okay.” he said gently. She had a death grip on his neck and he felt his heart filling with tenderness toward the poor woman. Clearly she was scared to death.

“My brother.” she said with a sniff. “I watched my brother die after being bitten by a rattler.” Tessa remembered the way his leg had turned black and he had laid screaming in pain for days before finally dying. Richard pulled her off of him gently.

He walked over to the rattler, pulled out his knife and sliced the still deadly head off the big snake. Then he grabbed the rest of the body and threw it over his shoulder. Rattler was damn good eating.

He wrapped his arm around Tessa, finding her gun would have to wait until morning, and led her back to the campfire. She was still shaking beneath his arm.

“You’re alright, Tessa.” he said as they walked. Tessa took a deep breath to try to still her shaking as he sat her down beside the campfire. He pulled his knife, sat down across from her and went about skinning the snake as he told his body to stop aching to have his arms wrapped around her again. Hadn’t he learned his damn lesson yet about falling in love? Not that he was in love. Because he wasn’t.

“What happened?” he asked after several quiet moments. She dried her face with her hands and tossed a rock off into the distance.

“I was about to head back to camp when I heard it rattling. It was only a few inches from my foot and I was scared to move. I went to pull my gun but it struck at me and I jumped. My gun went flying and I fell face to face with the damn thing.” she said. He saw a shiver run down her. He could think of one hundred things he wanted to scold her about right now like, wandering so far from the campfire, not checking the ground before using the bathroom, and dropping her gun but he decided she was too shook up and it could wait until morning.

He cut up the meat and placed it on a stick over the fire to start cooking it. He grabbed their canteens and stood up.

“You coming down to the river with me or staying here?” he asked. She jumped up and moved to his side and he couldn’t ’help but smile. Then he felt like smacking himself. It shouldn’t make him feel so proud that she trusted him to keep her safe. All he was coming along with her for, was to make sure the foolish woman didn’t get herself killed.

Tessa couldn’t explain it but with him next to her she felt safer than she had ever felt in her life. She didn’t have any reason to. She didn’t know if he would risk himself to keep her safe. For all she knew if a bunch of bandits showed up he would gladly shove her to them just to save his own hide.

But there was just something about this man that made her feel safe. Maybe it was the way he moved with such deadly grace. The way his bright blue eyes were always aware of everything around them. The way he had just saved her life and then held her comfortingly while she cried instead of telling her how foolish she’d been to wander so far away and then lose her gun on top of that.

He refilled their canteens at the small stream and then they walked back to the fire. They sat in silence while the snake cooked and after they had eaten, Richard laid out his bedroll on the ground. Tessa laid out hers as well on the other side of the fire.

“Goodnight Tessa.” Richard said. Tessa shook her head.

“You really should call me Tom. What if you get used to calling me Tessa and then you slip in front of somebody. You were practically yelling my name earlier.” she said. Richard shrugged.

“I figured with the view that snake was getting behind that bush he done knew you weren’t a Tom.” Tessa blushed and bit her lip and Richard felt his heart beat a little faster.

“Let’s get some sleep.” he said as he laid down. Tessa laid down as well and pulled her hat over her head to try to get some rest.

888

Snakes were everywhere. She could hear their rattles and she struggled to get away but there were too many. She screamed as they bit her and wrapped themselves all around her. She felt them squeezing her tighter and tighter and she fought against them for all she was worth as she screamed. She looked beside her and saw her brother lying there black and rotting and began to cry.

“Tessa honey, stop hitting me!” Richard’s voice broke through her nightmare and she opened her eyes to find that it was not snakes holding her tightly but Richard’s strong arms. She let herself be held as she tried to push away the horrible image of her brother’s body.

She breathed in Richard’s comforting scent and listened to the beat of his heart before pulling away and looking up at him.

“You called me Tessa again.” she said matter-of-factly as she wiped her face. She saw him grin in the dying firelight.

“That’s cuz I just didn’t feel right holding a Tom in my arms.” he replied. She couldn’t help but laugh. “Now you ready to get some more sleep?” he asked. He could see the fear still on her face. Whatever her dream had been he knew she wasn’t over it yet.

“Get up.” he said and she stood quickly. He grabbed her bedrolls and moved them over beside his own. He laid down and held out his arm for her. She looked at him uncertainly. Part of her was dying to curl up in his arms and the comfort, warmth and strength they provided. But another part of her was still on the fence about how much she could trust him. What if he decided to take advantage. She already knew how powerful and strong his body was and knew there was no way she could defend herself against him if he attacked her. Richard saw the look on her face and shook his head.

“You’re hurting my feelings, Tom.” he said matter-of-factly. “What kind of man do you think I am anyway?” Tessa went to him then. The part of her mind that was craving his closeness quickly buried her doubts. She laid down with her head on his chest and he wrapped his arm tight around her.

Tessa felt like her entire body was on fire lying against him this way. She could feel nearly every inch of his long hard body up against hers and she knew instantly that he would not have to work too hard if he was going to take advantage of her because right now she would give in to him in a heartbeat. Her own thoughts shocked her. She had never been with a man. Had never really thought about being with one, but suddenly she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what it would feel like to be with Richard.

Richards thoughts were not much different from Tessa’s. He could feel the softness of her body pressed against his and he suddenly worried that he’d made a mistake. Right now his blood was on fire to have this woman but he had just got done telling her she could trust him. His own feelings toward her surprised him. Not the way his body was responding to being pushed against hers.. That was just an honest male reaction. No what surprised him was the way his heart, which was bruised and battered, was filling with more and more tenderness every single second he spent with her.

Hell, maybe he was falling in love with her. Which scared the hell out of him. His track record was not good. He had been in love twice and both times had ended with his heart being shattered apart. What if he let himself fall in love with this fiery woman and she broke his heart too? He knew that if he fell in love with her it was going to be stronger and harder than he’d ever fallen before…. And he didn’t like feeling that vulnerable.

She snuggled up tighter against him and he felt his body responding. He just prayed she wouldn’t notice. He put his hat over his face and pretended to go to sleep. He started trying to think about anything but her tiny body up against his and knew he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep tonight.

Chapter Six

Richard woke the next morning when his hat was pulled from his face and the sunrise hit his eyes. He instantly realized that Tessa was no longer in his arms and he felt a moment of disappointment. Then he heard her laughter and his heart skipped a beat at the sound. He rubbed his face and sat up and saw that Horse had his hat in his mouth and was looking down at him with his big brown eyes.

“You damn flea bitten ass! I’m gonna sell your stinking hide in the next town we come to, to some business man making soap!” Richard said as he yanked his hat away from the stallion and put it back on his head. Tessa could see the smile on his face and knew he wasn’t really angry at the black stallion.

“Breakfast?” she asked handing him a tin plate full of leftover snake and stale biscuits. He nodded and started eating. She poured some coffee into a tin cup and handed it to him. He took a drink and was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted.

“You’re gonna get me spoiled, Tom.” he said. She blushed and smiled and poured her own cup of coffee.

“I figured we’d both be better off if I made the coffee seeing as how horrible yours tastes.” she said.

“I’d say you figured right.” he replied and took another drink. “How’d you sleep?” he asked her.

“Fair I guess.” she replied. Truthfully she had slept better in his arms than she had ever slept in her life. She had never felt so safe and warm than she had wrapped up against him.

“How did you sleep?” she asked him. Richard shrugged.

“Fair I guess.” he replied. Truthfully he had slept deeper than he ever allowed himself to sleep. The fact that she had been able to get up and make coffee without waking him proved that.

“Did you find your gun?” he asked. She looked down at her empty holster.

“No.” she said. “I didn’t want to wander off and have you wake up and yell at me the way you yell at Horse.” Richard laughed.

“I’d yell at you worse. Horse get’s special treatment cuz I like him so much.” Richard stuck the last of the snake and biscuit in his mouth and stood up.

“Where ya going?” Tessa asked.

“Find your gun, brave heart.” he teased. Tessa stood up and put her hands on her hips and he recognized the sign that her temper was rising. He fought to hide his smile.

“The damn thing lunged at me and I fell.” she said defensively. “Not my fault the damn gun slipped.”

“Calm down, sharp shooter.” he said. He could hear her cursing under her breath as he walked away and started looking for her gun. He found it quickly enough and on his way back he stopped at the bush and looked at the snakes head lying there in the sand.

He cursed at the image in his head of her lying face to face with that giant rattler. He didn’t know what he’d have done if he hadn’t gotten to her in time. He walked back to camp to find that she had their bedrolls put away and was stomping out the fire.

“Here ya go, Wyatt Earp.” Richard said tossing her the pistol. She glared at him as she put it in her holster.

“You think you’re something don’t ya?” she demanded. He shook his head as he jumped up on Horse.

“Nope.” Was all he said. Tessa jumped on her mare and they started down the trail.

“I bet I can outshoot you!” she said before thinking. The grin he gave her when he looked over at her told her that her mouth had just overloaded her backside big time.

“Ya think so huh?” he asked. She nodded though suddenly she didn’t feel so sure. He looked out over the horizon.

“See them crows flying around up there?” he asked. Tessa looked and saw the black specks up in the sky above them. She nodded.

“Yea I see them.” she said.

“Can you hit one?” he asked. She swallowed hard and looked at them. She didn’t know if she could or not but she certainly wasn’t going to tell him that. She nodded and pulled her gun.

She emptied it into the sky and was disappointed when not a single crow fell. She stuck her gun back in her holster and looked over him feeling more than a little embarrassed.

“Guess I can’t.” she said. He nodded and pulled his hat down tighter on his head.

“Yea me neither.” he admitted. Tessa felt anger flush her face but before she could reply he nudged Horse into a gallop and took off. She shook her head. This man was the biggest pain in the ass she had ever met and God help her but she loved him. She pulled her hat down tighter and took off after him.

888

They rode into a small town about sundown. There were no stables here so they just hitched their horses up in front of the small hotel and rented a room.

“Too late to get something to eat at the diner. Guess we’re having jerky for supper.” Richard said tossing her a piece.

“We going to the saloon?” she asked taking a bite. Richard shook his head.

“I’m going to the saloon.” he replied.

“Well then I’m going with you.” she said matter-of-factly.

“Saloon ain’t no place for a woman.” he replied. She put her hands on her hips and he sighed. He could tell by that simple action that he was fighting a losing battle.

“Well I ain’t a woman remember?” she said. “My name’s Tom and I’m your little brother.” Richard sighed and started out the door.

“Come on then, little brother. Let’s go get us a drink.” he said.

“Stay close to me. This town is full of nothing but drifters and outlaws and there ain’t no law to speak of around. We don’t want no trouble while we’re here.” Richard said as they walked into the dark dirty little saloon and sat down at the bar. The bartender, a tall heavyset man with a thick white mustache and deep wrinkles walked up to them.

“What can I get ya?” he asked. Richard stuck some money on the bar.

“Two beers.” he said. The bartender nodded and grabbed two dirty cups from under the bar filling them both to the top.

Richard and Tessa turned on their stools with their beers in hand and scanned the barroom. Richard took a big swig of his beer and looked at Tessa out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t know if she drank or not but she took a small swig of the beer and he grinned.

“Take it easy there, Tom. You’re awful small.” he said. Tessa glared at him. This damn man seemed to live to make fun of her. She knew darn well that she needed to take it easy with the beer but she also wanted to prove that she was just as tough as he was. She took another bigger swig of the beer and wiped her mouth on her shirtsleeve as Richard chuckled.

Tessa saw a dark haired saloon girl eyeing Richard and felt jealousy spark in her. Then she reminded herself that Richard was not hers and that she was supposed to be his brother. The saloon girl walked over and waved her very impressive cleavage in Richard’s face nearly pressing it against his nose.

Tessa’s eyes flew to Richard’s face and she saw that he was indeed looking at the woman’s breasts. Richard cleared his throat and scooted back away from the saloon girl on his barstool. He took a swig of his beer and looked up at her heavily painted face.

“Looking for some company, cowboy?” she asked in a purring voice that Tessa was sure not many men resisted. Tessa tried to act like she wasn’t paying any attention to the two of them but really her heart was feeling very vulnerable right now. If Richard accepted this whores invitation, Tessa knew her heart would break.

“Nope.” he said simply. The whore ran her long painted fingernails down his arm.

“You sure? I can give you a real good time.” she said. Richard nodded.

“I’m sure.” he said. He could feel his temper rising. Dammit he wasn’t interested in this whore and wanted her to leave and he could feel Tessa’s eyes watching him. Richard had never had any interest in whores and he could still remember the way Tessa’s soft body had felt in his arms the night before… No quick romp with this saloon girl was going to compare with how that had felt.

“Oh come on now…” The saloon girl said sitting down on his knee in her tight red corset and panties. “Don’t disappoint me.” she purred in his ear. Tessa gasped and covered her mouth with her hand when Richard simply put his hands on the whores bare legs and shoved her off his lap. Her backside hit the ground hard enough to thud. Richard stood up while the whore was still down on the ground sputtering in disbelief. He grabbed Tessa’s arm and pulled her up from the stool.

“Come on, Tom, let’s go play some poker.” he said and led her through the barroom. Tessa’s heart was safe for now at least. Sure Richard had not given her any indication that he was falling for her the way she had for him but at the same time he had turned down that saloon girl so maybe that meant something.

“You just threw that woman down on her ass.” Tessa said as they walked. Richard nodded.

“She just didn’t seem to be in a mood for listening so I thought actions might work better.” he replied. They settled down at the only poker table in the small saloon and started playing five card stud. Richard was impressed by how good Tessa was and after she’d won a fair amount of money off of him he started to figure out her tells and began to win his money back.

He also saw that she seemed to be getting very drunk as she continued swigging down her big glass of beer.

“Tom, ain’t you had about enough beer?” he asked. Tessa shook her head. Her brain felt all fuzzy and she wasn’t thinking quite clearly when she said,

“Hell no! I’m just getting started.” she stood up and made her way back to the bar to get another beer and on the way back to the table she heard some cowboys talking.

“Trigger’s gonna get himself killed.” one of the men said. Tessa’s head whipped around. Perhaps if she didn’t have so much alcohol in her system and her judgment hadn’t been so clouded she wouldn’t have done what she did next but she walked up to the table and cleared her throat.

“You men talking about Trigger Jones?” she asked. Richard heard her from the poker table and turned quickly to see her standing with her hands on her hips glaring at a table full of five drunk cowboys. He didn’t recognize any of them except one and that was Franklin Jones.. Triggers younger brother. He suddenly realized that Tessa was drunk off her ass and going to get her foolish head blown off.

“Who’s asking?” Franklin Jones asked.

“Tom Bradshaw.” Tessa replied.

“Boy, what you want to know about Trigger Jones for? He don’t need no young pups like you running around his heels.”

“I don’t aim to run around his heels, mister. I aim to blow his head clean off the way he did my pa’s.” The saloon fell silent and the other cowboys at the table with Franklin quickly stood and backed away. Franklin chuckled as he stood up and faced Tessa.

“You talk big boy. You want to get to my big brother I guess you’re gonna have to kill me first.” he said laying his hand on the pistol on his side. Tessa took several steps back and then took a wide legged stance with her hand on her own pistol.

Her drunken fog had cleared enough at this point to know that she was in some serious trouble right now and fixing to die. She could no more protect herself in a gunfight than fly but it was too late to back out now. This man would probably just shoot her in the back if she tried to turn and run.

Just then a throat cleared off to the side and Richard stepped forward. Franklin Jones looked over at him.

“Well I’ll be damned if it ain’t Sheriff Richard Helms.” he said. Sheriff? Tessa thought. He’d never mentioned to her that he was a sheriff. Richard walked over to stand in front of Tessa, shielding her with his body.

“I ain’t a sheriff anymore, Franklin. Now I just run around killing good for nothing scum like you and your brother.”

“Is that right?” Franklin asked spitting a long stream of tobacco onto the wooden floor of the saloon. “Well let me settle my business with that fool headed boy and then I’ll deal with you.” Richard shook his head.

“Can’t let you do that, Franklin. You need to learn to fight with men your own size.”

“Like you?” Franklin asked. Richard chuckled. Tessa wondered how he looked so calm. Didn’t he realize that even if he killed Franklin the other four cowboys standing behind Franklin would kill him?

“Richard, just leave.” Tessa whispered so only he could hear. “You don’t need to get yourself killed just because I was drunk and stupid.”

“I don’t plan on getting killed tonight.” he whispered back and Tessa heard the anger in his voice. She knew he was angry at her for opening her mouth with these cowboys and she was angry at herself too.

“Answer me lawman.” Franklin said angrily. Richard chuckled.

“Actually Franklin, I believe I’m a might bigger man than you are. You may want to choose someone a bit smaller.” Richard saw Franklin’s face flash red with anger and smiled. He already knew that Franklin and his four buddies were too damn drunk to hit the broad side of a barn and making them angry would only hurt their aim more.

“I hope you’re ready to meet your maker lawman cuz you’re fixing too.” Franklin hissed.

“I told you I ain’t a lawman any more, Franklin. Now quit running your mouth. If you’re gonna draw than draw dammit.” Richard had no more finished speaking than Franklin went for his gun. Richard was firing shots before any of the five men cleared leather and before any of them got a shot off three of them, including Franklin, were laying dead.

Richard hissed in pain as a bullet grazed his arm. Ok so maybe he’d been wrong about how drunk a couple of the guys were. He fired two more shots and suddenly the saloon was silent again.

“Anybody else got a problem with me or the boy.” Richard asked holstering his empty gun and laying his hand on his second revolver on his other hip. No one seemed too eager to step forward. Richard turned to the bartender.

“Sorry about the mess.” he said. The bartender shrugged.

“Shit happens.” he replied. He had just gotten done cleaning up after the first gunfight of the night about an hour before the man and boy had gotten there. Richard grabbed Tessa’s arm and drug her from the saloon. He didn’t speak a word to her until they were locked in their room at the hotel.

“What in the hell did you think you were doing!” he yelled. Tessa was taken aback and took several steps away from him. She had never heard him yell. Even when she had stolen his horse and guns he had not yelled. He was a very scary sight with his scarred face and his blue eyes flashing with anger.

“I’m sorry.” she gasped. “I drank too much and I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Obviously you damn foolish woman! You about got your damn head blown off in there!” he yelled angrily.

“Well why didn’t you just let me get my head blown off?” she demanded feeling her own temper rise at being called foolish. “It had nothing to do with you and if I’d have been killed than you wouldn’t have had to share the bounty.”

“I don’t give a damn about the bounty!” Richard yelled. “I damn near lost you tonight.” Tessa stared at him in shock as he started gathering up the few belongings in the room.

“Come on.” he said walking toward the door. “We have to leave. It ain’t safe for us to stay the night here now.” Tessa never got the chance to ask him about his last outburst because he was out the door and she was running to keep up with him.

They jumped on their horses and her mare barely could keep up with Horse as they galloped quickly across the dusty ground. The horses were wore out and nearly spent by the time Richard finally stopped beside a small river. Richard went about setting up camp. Tessa wondered how he could even see what he was doing in the dark.

He had a fire lit and was laying on his bedroll in less time than it would have taken Tessa to gather firewood.

“Richard, I am sorry.” she said as she laid her bedroll out on the other side of the fire. He didn’t reply as he laid with his hands behind his head looking up at the stars.

“You never told me you used to be a sheriff.” she said finally.

“You never asked.” he replied. Tessa was happy to hear that all the anger was gone and he sounded like his old self. Tessa looked over at him and that’s when she noticed the blood on the sleeve of his white shirt.

“Oh my God! You got shot!” she exclaimed as she ran over to him and dropped to her knees beside him. He looked down at his arm.

“Oh yea.” he said. “I forgot.” She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind.

“You forgot that you got shot?” she asked. He sat up and grinned.

“Grazed, not shot.” he replied. “It’s just a scratch.”

“It’s going to get infected.” she said. Richard sighed. He stood up and walked over to his saddlebags and pulled out the salve he’d used on his leg the other day. He took off his vest and shirt and looked down at the wound on his arm more closely. It really was not that bad. Barely more than a scratch. Tessa grabbed her canteen and walked over to him.

She tried to tell her heart to slow down and keep her eyes from roaming across his hard muscular body. She poured the water on the wound to clean away the blood. He handed her the salve and she got a little on the tips of her finger.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” she said.

“I’m tougher than I look.” he replied. She rubbed some of the salve on his arm and he thought for sure his heart was going to bust right out of his chest at the feel of her tiny fingers on his skin.

“You need something to wrap around it.” she said. He raised his brow.

“It ain’t even bleeding.” he replied. She rolled her eyes.

“You need to keep it clean.” she scolded. Richard couldn’t help but laugh. He picked up his bloody white shirt and ripped a strip of cloth off of it. He handed it to her and she tied it around the wound.

“Better?” she asked. He shrugged.

“It was fine to begin with, Doc.” he replied, he pulled a clean shirt from his saddlebags and then walked back over to his bedroll and sat down. She sat down on her bedroll and they sat in silence for several moments.

“I don’t like that you took a bullet over my stupidity.” she said.

“I didn’t take a bullet, it just scratched me.” he reminded her. “And it wasn’t cuz of your stupidity it was because Franklin Jones has been wanting to a bullet in me for years.”

“So you know Trigger then?” Tessa asked. Richard shook his head.

“Nope. Never met him.”

“Dammit. I was hoping maybe you’d know what he looked like. It would make finding him a heck of a lot easier.”

“Don’t you know what he looks like?” Richard asked. “Ya said the man wanted to marry you.”

“He did, but if I ever saw him I don’t know about it.” she replied. Richard nodded and stared into the fire for several long moments.

“Why don’t you just quit hunting after Trigger and go on home, Tessa?” he asked. Tessa glared at him.

“Because Trigger Jones killed my pa and I aim to make him pay for that.” she replied. Richard shook his head.

“Killing Trigger won’t bring your pa back from the dead and it won’t make you feel any better about losing him.”

“No but the money I get for his bounty will help me keep my pa’s farm up and running.” she replied. Richard nodded.

“There’s gotta be an easier way to get money for the farm.” he argued. Tessa stared at him for several long moments.

“Trigger wants me, Richard. He won’t be satisfied until he has me. So I am to kill him before he ever gets the chance.”

“He knows what you look like?” Richard asked.

“Yes. I don’t know when he saw me but he did and he also stole a picture of me from me and my pas house before he took off running from the law.” Tessa saw anger flash in Richards eyes.

“So you think the man is looking for you?” he asked. She shrugged.

“I don’t know, but he has already killed once to try to get me if that tells you anything.”

“Would it do me any damn good to tell you to go somewhere safe while I go after Trigger?” he asked. Tessa shook her head.

“I’m a grown damn woman and I will not just sit with my head in the sand while some man runs around fighting my fight. I was chasing Trigger Jones long before I met you and if you don’t want to help me anymore then I’ll just go back to chasing him alone.”

“Calm down.” Richard said. “I’m gonna stay with you. I gave you my word didn’t I?” he asked. Besides there was no way in the world he could abandon her now. He was pretty damn sure he loved the woman. Not that he was in any hurry to tell her that. It always seemed that as soon as he fell in love with a woman he ended up losing them.

“Anyway you ain’t a grown woman remember? You’re just a boy named Tom.” Tessa couldn’t help but smile.

“Let’s get some sleep Tom.” Richard said as he lay down with his hands behind his head. Tessa sighed. This man confused her to no end. He teased her mercilessly, yelled in anger at the thought of losing her and then went right back to teasing her again. She lost a little more of her heart to him every second they were together and that worried her. He did not seem like the kind of man who had any intention of settling down and she was not the type of woman to be content to have a fling with a roaming gunslinger.

Tessa took off her hat and removed the pins from her hair letting it fall in waves down her back. She didn’t know it but Richard was watching her from the corner of his eye and thinking that that was the kind of sight a man could see every day for the rest of his life and never tire of.

Chapter Seven

“So what is the plan?” Tessa asked the next day around noon as they were traveling across the dusty ground. Richard shrugged.

“You said five days south two days ago. I figure we travel another day or two then stop off in a small town called Greenlake and see what we can figure out. Greenlake is a favorite hangout for outlaws.”

“Aren’t you worried they might recognize you?” Tessa asked.

“Why is there something about my face that sticks out?” Richard asked with a grin as he ran his hand over his scarred cheek. “Naw I ain’t too worried. Most outlaws that see my face die shortly after and I’ve been pretty damn good at avoiding having my picture taken.”

“How did you get those?” Tessa asked pointing at the three long scars down his cheek. Richard looked out ahead of them squinting in the sunlight.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time with one hell of a pissed off mountain lion.” he replied. Tessa’s eyes widened.

“How did you get away?” she asked.

“I strangled him with my bare hands.” Richard replied. Tessa stared at him in wide-eyed wonder.

“Really?” she gasped.

“No.” he said with a grin. “I shot the bastard.” Tessa laughed lightly.

“What about the one on your lip?” she asked. Richard looked over at her.

“Why the sudden interest?” he asked. Tessa shrugged.

“What else is there to talk about?” she asked.

“I do believe the woman is bored.” Richard said leaning down to Horses’ ear.

“I’m not the one talking to my horse.” Tessa said. Richard laughed.

“No I guess you’re not.” he replied. “I got my lip busted by a man who was pissed off because I accused him of abandoning his woman and child. For some reason saying that did not make him want to shake and be friends.”

“No I guess not.” she said. She wondered who this woman had been and why Richard had been insulting her man.

“Any other scars you’d like to know about?” Richard asked. “Asking about most of ’em will just get you a shrug. I’ve been shot, stabbed and clawed so many times I guess I just lost track.”

“What about the ones on your back.” she asked. He looked out ahead of them.

“You wanna be more specific?” he asked. She rolled her eyes.

“The ones that look like whip marks.” she said.

“Oh those.” he replied. “Yea those are whip marks.”

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed growing angry. “Who the hell whipped you?” Richard smiled at the sound of her anger.

“My pa.” he said.

“Why in the hell would your pa whip you?” she demanded. Her own pa had been strict on her and her brother but never had he ever gone so far as to whip them.

“Toughen me up I guess.” Richard said. “It worked, but I always said I’d find a bit gentler of a way to toughen my sons up.”

“You have kids?” Tessa asked feeling her heart fall to her feet. Maybe there was already a Mrs. Richard Helms after all.

“No.” Richard said and she was sure she could hear a sadness in his tone. “No, I had a wife once about eleven or twelve years ago now but we were only married about two months before she died.”

“I’m sorry.” Tessa said. Richard shrugged.

“It was a long time ago.” he said.

“Did you take to bounty hunting after she passed?” Tessa asked.

“No I was chasing outlaws and collecting bounties before.  But one look at Sarah and I gave it all up. Married her one week after I met her and bought us a little homestead up north around Amarillo. Then she got sick.. For a short time I thought maybe she was with child but I was wrong. I buried her in the ground and took off the same day. Went back to chasing bad guys and gambling.” Tessa was saddened by his story but it also gave her hope. Maybe she shouldn’t give up on the idea of him and her just yet… Maybe he was the type to settle down.

“So when were you a sheriff?” Tessa asked. Richard wondered if she was always so nosy or if maybe she had a special interest in him. He hoped it was the latter because he definitely had a special interest in her.

“I rode the trails hard for a few years after Sarah died but then I came to a little town called Gatesville. They were looking for a sheriff and I was good with a gun. I liked that town. I liked the people. I was good at my job and most outlaws stayed away. I took care of the ones that didn’t.”

“I’ve heard of Gatesville. My pa and I were thinking about moving down that way before he was killed. He said Witchita Falls was getting too crowded.” Richard nodded.

“It’s a nice place. Or at least it was a year ago when I left.” he said.

“So what happened to make you leave if you liked it so much?” Tessa asked.

“That man I told ya about….”

“The one that busted your lip?”

“Exactly. The woman I accused him of abandoning was special to me. We were friends. I would have liked to have been more but she wouldn’t have me even though she thought her man was dead. Once he came back I didn’t feel like hanging around anymore.” Tessa felt the sharp sting of jealousy.

“Did you love her?” she asked before she could stop herself. Richard rubbed his jaw and looked around the sparse forest they were riding through.

“You sure do have a lot of questions this morning.” he said. Tessa shrugged and looked the other way.

“You don’t have to answer.” she said.

“Yeah I loved her. But we were never anything more than friends and it just wasn’t meant to be. I’m sure she’s married by now and I already know she’s unbelievably happy with her husband.”

“So you just went back to chasing outlaws to get away?” Tessa asked. “You must really love it.”

“Tessa, a man don’t look death in the face everyday cuz he loves to do it. If he says he does than he’s got some serious issues. Sometimes a man does the things he does because he figures he ain’t got nothing worth living for.” Tessa’s heart hurt for him. She knew he was talking about himself and a little voice in her mind was screaming at her that she needed to show him that she could be the thing that he lived for. But she couldn’t do that. He hadn’t said or done anything to make her think he had any interest in her other than saying he’d almost lost her. But that didn’t mean he loved her it just met that maybe he liked having her around. That just wasn’t enough for her.

“You have Horse.” she said. Richard laughed loudly.

“I’ll be damned, I guess you’re right.” he said. “You hear that, Horse? You are my reason for living you flea bitten old bastard.” Horse blew out a breath and Tessa laughed.

“I think he loves you too.” she said. Richard nodded.

“He ought to.  As ornery as his ass he’s he’d done been shot if he was with anybody else. So what about you, Tessa? What’s your story?” Richard asked.

“My momma died when I was a baby so my pa raised me and my brother on his own. He didn’t know nothing about raising a girl so he just raised me like a boy. Sure I learned how to cook and clean but I also learned how to plow, plant, rope and brand. When I was ten and my brother was fifteen my pa left to go to Amarillo to take care of some business. That’s when my brother was snake bit. I went for the doc but there wasn’t nothing he could do and I watched my brother die. It took days and it was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Sorry you had to go through that. Must have been hard.” Richard said. Tessa nodded.

“You’re a pretty woman, Tessa. You must have had men lining up so what kept you at the farm with your pa?” Tessa laughed.

“Yeah right. If there’s one thing I’m not it’s pretty.” she said. At first Richard thought maybe she was just being a normal woman and fishing for compliments but when he looked at her he could tell that she really meant what she was saying and that baffled him. How could a woman as beautiful as her possibly get to be twenty-two years old without knowing she was beautiful.

“Tessa, I would never lie to you and I’ve done told you how I feel about my word. You are beautiful.” Tessa felt herself blush and looked away from him quickly to hide the tears in her eyes. She had never before had a man compliment her other than her father and she could feel her heart becoming lost to him even more.

Then she scolded herself silently. She was a grown woman not some lovesick girl and just because a man tells a woman she’s beautiful doesn’t mean he is getting ready to fall on his knees and beg to keep her forever. Plenty of men told whores they were beautiful everyday.

“Well thank you, Richard. You’re not so bad yourself.” she said. “And you’re wrong about the men lining up. I never had a single suitor. Most men want a real lady that wears pretty dresses and talks all good and proper. Not some tomboy with dirt under her nails and tears in her skirt who cusses more than they do.”

“I don’t think there’s a single thing wrong with you.” Richard said matter-of-factly. Tessa blushed again. She didn’t really know what to say back.

“So how does Trigger play into this?” Richard asked after they rode in silence several moments.

“One day my pa and I were in town. I walked into the general store and my pa stayed out with the wagon. I heard him talking to someone. I heard the person say my name but I couldn’t hear what else they were saying until I heard my dad tell the man to get lost.” she said. “Two days later I was in the house when I heard some horses riding in. My dad was out on the porch reading and he whispered inside to tell me to hide. I hid behind the sofa at first so I could hear what they were saying.

“There was more than one man but only one was talking to my pa and I heard pa call him Trigger Jones. Trigger wanted to marry me. Pa told him no. Trigger offered him money but pa still told him no. That’s when I heard the gunshot. I was smart enough to know what had happened so I ran upstairs and hid under my bed.

“Trigger and his men looked all over the house for me but somehow I got lucky and they didn’t find me. They had to leave in a hurry because we had plenty of neighbors pretty close by who had heard the gunshot. I stayed at home for two weeks after that scared to death that Trigger was going to come back. After all, he’d stolen my picture to remember me by. Finally I’d had enough of sitting around being scared and decided to find him myself and put an end to him.”

Richard nodded. He had a lot of respect for this woman. Sure she didn’t seem to know much about gun fighting but she had courage. Just then he heard hooves coming up behind them.

“Put your bandana on your face, Tom.” he said. Tessa heard the hooves too and quickly did as he said. Five rowdy cowboys yelled and hollered as they galloped around Richard and Tessa and then continued on their way.

Tessa breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at Richard to see that he had a hand on the revolver on his side and was staring hard at the men who were quickly disappearing into the distance.

“Calm down, cowboy.” she said pulling the bandana back down around her neck. Richard felt himself starting to relax. He wasn’t usually so high strung but then again it wasn’t everyday that he was out in the middle of outlaw territory with a woman that he loved riding beside him.

888

They made camp that night at the edge of the forest. Richard managed to shoot a rabbit and was cooking it over the fire as the darkness settled around them. Tessa rose and began to walk away into the woods.

“Watch out for snakes, Tom.” Richard called out. Tessa waved her hand and continued on her way. She wandered away from him deep in her own thoughts and ended up walking further than she’d meant to. She stopped and did her business behind an old scarred up tree.

She finished and stood up. She looked around the dark forest and thought about Richard. Maybe she should just be honest with him about how she was feeling. Worst thing that could happen is he wouldn’t feel the same and they would simply go their separate ways once Trigger was dead. She never had been a coward or one to bite her tongue so there wasn’t any point starting now.

She squared her shoulders and started back toward camp trying to think of how to say what she was wanting to say to Richard when suddenly she heard a noise behind her. She turned quickly and pulled her gun. She looked through the darkness but could see nothing but shadows.

Suddenly she heard a growling to her right and she turned to see a very big mountain lion staring at her. She wanted to scream for Richard but never had time as the big cat lunged at her.

888

“What the hell is taking her so long?” Richard asked Horse as he looked toward the place where Tessa had disappeared into the woods. Suddenly Horse’s head perked up and so did the mares. Both horses started snorting and acting nervous. Richard stood quickly and a gunshot filled the air. Richard pulled his own revolver and ran toward the sound of the shot.

“Tessa!” he yelled. “Tessa, where the hell are you!”

“Over here.” he heard her tear-filled muffled voice answer. Richard looked through the darkness and saw her legs sticking out from under the body of a giant mountain lion. He cursed and ran to her.

Tessa gasped when Richard grabbed the huge beast by the back of the neck and tossed it away as if it was no more than a kitten. Richard scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to camp without a word.

He sat down on the ground with her in his arms and held her while she cried against him. Finally she felt herself calming down and she wiped her face clean and looked up at him.

“What happened?” he asked gently. Tessa was surprised by the amount of concern she saw in his blue eyes.

“I strangled him with my bare hands.” she replied trying to ease his worry. His eyes brightened as he smiled. If she was okay enough to joke with him then she must be alright.

“Really?” he asked. She smiled.

“No.” she said. “I shot the bastard.”

“Are you hurt?” he asked as he held her tight in his lap. Tessa shook her head.

“No, I shot him before he got to me but he fell on me dead and I couldn’t get him off.” Richard threw up a silent prayer of thank-you. When he had seen that mountain lion on top of her he had thought for sure he had lost yet another woman he loved.

“I lost my hat.” Tessa said raising her hand up to her head. Richard nodded.

“I’ll find it for you.” he said. He ran a big scarred up finger down her soft cheek as their eyes locked. Richard did not need to ask her if she was feeling the same as him. He could see the answer shining in her dark eyes. He lowered his face to hers needing to feel the softness of her lips against his own more than he’d ever needed anything.

Just before their lips touched Horse nudged Richard hard in the shoulder with his head nearly toppling him over. Horse let out a snort and lowered his nose to the saddlebag where his oats were stored.

“I think he’s hungry.” Tessa said in a breathless voice. Richard cursed and muttered under his breath as she climbed from his lap and stood up. Richard stood as well and grabbed a handful of oats from the saddlebag.

“You gosh damned pest of a stinking ass, flea ridden beast.” he said as Horse happily ate the oats out of outstretched hand. Tessa removed the rabbit from the fire and placed some on a plate for herself and Richard.

They ate side by side in silence and once they were finished Richard stood up.

“You should try to get some rest, Tessa.” he said. “I’m gonna go find your hat and take care of that mountain lion.” Tessa nodded though she was disappointed. She was almost certain she had seen love in his eyes as he’d held her earlier. Of course even if she had would he settle down for her? Once they killed Trigger would he be content to come live on her farm and give up chasing outlaws and riding trails?

As he walked away into the darkness Tessa removed the pins from her hair and grabbed her brush from her saddlebags.

Richard found Tessa’s hat next to the mountain lions body. He looked down at the beast and shook his head.

“You better be glad she shot your ass.” Richard said as he kicked it in the head with his boot. “If you would have harmed one hair on her head I would have cut your damn guts out and choked you with ’em.” Richard pulled his knife and skinned the beast in the darkness. He’d done it enough times he didn’t really need to see what he was doing. He hated to waste the meat but there was nothing he could do about that. Some other critter was sure to come along and have a meal out of it.

He threw the mountain lions pelt over his shoulder, picked up Tessa’s hat and walked back to camp. He smiled when he saw that Tessa was sound asleep curled up on her bedrolls. He sat her hat down beside her and couldn’t stop himself from reaching his hand out and feeling her long red hair. He had been dreaming of running his hands through it for days.

God knew he wanted to wake her up and tell her how he felt… Maybe even make love to her right out here under the stars but he couldn’t do that. Based on what she had told him earlier she was innocent in every single way when it came to men and he didn’t want her first time to be on the ground with a dirty ass bounty hunter covered in mountain lion blood.

Richard laid the pelt over his saddlebags and then laid down on his own bedroll. He placed his hat over his face and did his best to ignore his bodies frustrations as he tried to get some sleep.

Chapter Eight

“Wake up ,Tom. The days a wasting.” Richard’s deep voice woke Tessa from her dreams of him. She had dreamt of lying in his arms and what that kiss would have felt like. Though she could only imagine seeing as how she had never kissed a man.

Tessa opened her eyes and saw that he already had camp cleaned up and both horses saddled. She looked up at the sky and saw that it was only a couple hours past dawn.

“What the hell are you in such a hurry for this morning?” she asked as she sat up and rubbed her face. Richard shrugged.

“No point sitting around. We got miles to cover before dark.” he said. Truth be told he wanted to get to the next town as quickly as possible and if they traveled hard that could be tomorrow evening. He didn’t’ know how much longer he could make himself wait to hold her again and he knew the next time he held her he would make love to her and he wanted that to be after he’d had a bath and had a real bed to lay her down on.

Tessa went about putting all her hair back up in the pins and stuffing it inside her hat. She stood up and walked over to her mare. Richard was already sitting on Horse. She saw the mountain lion pelt on the back of his saddle.

“Should get a good twenty-five dollars for it.” Richard said when he saw her looking at it. She nodded but couldn’t stop herself from shivering. She had come two seconds away from losing her life to that creature just the night before.

888

They made camp that night and Tessa began to think that maybe she’d been wrong to think for a second that she and Richard Helms could have a future. He hadn’t said a word to her about their near kiss the night before and his silence had caused Tessa’s pride to kick in and so she hadn’t mentioned it either. She did not want to put her heart on the line only to have him stomp it into the ground.

“Afraid it’s jerky and some more stale biscuits tonight Tom.” Richard said tossing some to her.

“Better than nothing.” Tessa said taking a bite. Richard raised his brow at her.

“You know that for a fact?” he asked. She nodded.

“Most nights before I met you nothing is exactly what I had for supper. When I saw you, I had just had to use my final bullet to shoot my horse after she broke her leg.”

“I still can’t believe you got the drop on me.” Richard said. “And then tricked me with an unloaded gun.”

“It’s funny looking back now isn’t it? I mean I never figured I’d see you again after that. Or if I did see you I figured I’d end up dead. Why didn’t you just shoot me when you found me in that town?”

“I don’t usually just shoot people for the hell of it.” Richard replied.

“Yea but I did steal your horse so you would have had every right to.” she reminded him. He shook his head.

“No, that’s a hanging offense and there weren’t no big trees around.” he said. After he finished his jerky he laid back on his bedroll.

“Let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow night hopefully we’ll be sleeping under a roof.” he said and covered his face with his hat. Tessa watched him for several long minutes feeling disappointed and hurt. She had been wrong about him. She just needed to focus on the job at hand. Kill Trigger, get the bounty and go home and forget about any fantasies that included Richard Helms and his blue eyes and strong arms.

888

They rode into the town of Greenlake a few hours before dark the next day.

“Go get us a room at the hotel.” Richard said handing her some money. “I’ll take care of the horses and head to the saloon and see what I can find out. You go ahead and get you a bath and wash the trail dirt off of ya.” he added. He knew how badly she had been wanting to wash her hair the last two days.

“Okay.” Tessa said. Richard had noticed that she hadn’t spoken much today.

“You okay, Tom?” he asked. Tessa looked up at him and nodded.

“I’m just fine.” she said. She grabbed the saddlebags from him, her knees nearly buckling beneath their weight and went to the hotel.

Richard watched her until she disappeared into the hotel. He wondered what in the hell could be wrong with the woman. As far as he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong but then again women were complicated…

He walked both the horses to the town stable and paid for their keep before heading over to the saloon. He rented a room upstairs and asked for some hot water to be brought up for a bath. He wanted to be clean when he went back to Tessa.

He had to scrub for nearly fifteen minutes straight before he got all the dirt, grime and blood off of himself. He had no choice but to pull his dirty clothes back on and then he walked back downstairs. He saw a table full of half drunk outlaws playing cards and he walked over and took a seat with them.

“Who the hell are you?” one of them demanded.

“Just a man looking to play some poker.” Richard replied. The man nodded and then dealt him into the game. He stayed quiet and pretty soon the outlaws went back to their conversation.

“Trigger is heading back up north in a few days. Says he has some business he needs to finish in Witchita Falls.” one of the men said. Richard managed to keep a straight face even though his blood was beginning to boil. Tessa had been right. Trigger was indeed after her and that meant that she was not safe while he was alive.

“When is he heading out?” another of the men said.

“Bout three days I think. He’s staying put for now in that old abandoned fort outside of Deadwood.” the first man replied. Richard knew the fort the men were talking about and it was only about two days riding from here.

“He’s got about ten men there with him. He wanted me to come join cuz I think they plan on robbing every bank they come to once he settles his business up north but I told him hell no. I don’t have a bounty on my head yet and I aim to keep it that way. Especially with that Richard Helms out running around.” the first man added.

“Someone needs to put a damn bullet in that man. I mean come on, I hear men talking all the time about the deadly Richard Helms but he’s only a man. A bullet will kill him same as it will the rest of us.” another of the men said. Richard grinned as he looked down at his cards. He’d had no idea he had such a reputation.

“No they don’t.” the second man argued. “I hear he’s covered in scars from all the times he’s been shot and he’s still breathing and shooting every damn bounty he comes across.” Richard could feel several of the men’s eyes falling on his scarred up face and he looked up.

“Mountain lion.” he replied pointed to the long scars on his cheek. “And a pissed off husband.” he added as he pointed to his lip.

“What’s your name?” the first man asked.

“Peter Haggins.” Richard replied as he folded his bad hand. “I’ve heard of that Richard Helms fella though. I heard he’s ugly as homemade sin and can’t hit the broadside of a barn with them irons he carries.” The other men laughed.

“Let’s hope you never meet up with him then because you might just learn that you’re wrong.” the first man said. Richard stood up.

“If Richard Helms ever meets me it’ll be the last thing he ever does.” he said and then excused himself from the table. He walked back outside. Darkness would be here soon.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about what he’d just learned about Trigger. He knew exactly where Trigger was and he knew that if Trigger waited three days before leaving that he could get to him before he did. He knew Tessa was determined to ride with him against Trigger and that scared him to death. He would not want to live if something happened to her. Maybe he could talk her out of this mission she was on and he could take her somewhere new and keep her safe. Lord knew he was getting real tired of riding these rough trails with nobody but Horse to talk to. He was ready to give settling down another try and he wanted to do it with Tessa.

“I’m with the boy.” Richard said to the clerk as he walked into the hotel. “What room is he in?”

“Upstairs. Room fourteen.” the clerk replied. Richard tipped his hat and walked up the stairs. He was lost in his thoughts and didn’t think to knock before he walked in.

Tessa screamed and quickly tried to grab the quilt off the bed to cover herself. She had just gotten done with her bath and was wearing only her pants and the thin strip of cloth she used to bind herself. Her long red hair was wet and hanging down her back. Richard stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

“Sorry, I should have knocked.” he said. Tessa nodded.

“Turn around or something so I can…..”

“What is that?” Richard said cutting her off.

“What?” she asked.

“That cloth you’ve got wrapped around you. Are you hurt or something and didn’t tell me?” Tessa blushed red with embarrassment.

“No, it’s.. um… Well boys don’t have a chest.” she mumbled. Richard walked over to her and pulled the quilt away. He traced the top of the binding with his finger and Tessa felt herself tremble.

“Does it hurt?” he asked. Tessa nodded. Richard was angry to know that she was hurting herself just to continue with this foolishness of passing herself off as a boy.

“Take it off.” he said. “There aint’ no point in hurting yourself. You ain’t a woman alone now. You got me to protect you.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Richard. Why do you care anyway?” she asked. She could barely breath with his eyes looking her up and down. It angered her that she was having such a reaction to him and that he was now bossing her around after barely speaking to her for two days.

“I care about you, Tessa. I don’t like the thought of you being in pain.” he said.

“You care about me?” she asked before she could stop herself. Damn it all to hell. She had always prided herself on being able to take care of herself and not needing a man to make her happy or safe but she wanted to need Richard. She wanted him to care.. She needed him to care.

“Foolish woman, of course I care. Haven’t you figured that out yet?” he asked as he ran a finger down her cheek. Tessa felt her breath catch in her throat. She looked up at his face and realized he must have taken a bath while he’d been gone. He smelled like soap and dust and it was the most masculine scent she had ever smelled.

They stared into each other eyes for several long moments. Neither needing to speak.. They could see what the other was thinking clearly enough in their eyes. Finally Tessa rolled her eyes.

“Are you gonna kiss me or not?” she asked. Richard grinned and lowered his mouth to hers. At first the kiss was slow and safe. Then as the sparks grew into flames it became more passionate and demanding. Richard wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to him while he buried his other hand in all that wet red hair.

Tessa pulled away enough so that she could look into his eyes. He saw that her cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes were nearly black with her passion. Richard felt his pulse quicken. Damn but he didn’t think he’d ever had a woman look at him like that after just a simple kiss and he knew that his reaction to her was no different than hers to him.

“I think I need to make something real clear before this goes any farther.” Tessa said. Richard ran a scarred up knuckle along her bare collarbone.

“What’s that?” he asked smiling when he saw that her knees nearly buckled from the simple touch.

“I ain’t looking for just some fling with a roaming gunslinger who is going to take off and leave me with a broken heart after he’s done.” she said.

“Well I think I need to make something real clear to you then.” he replied.

“What?” she asked laying her tiny hand on his chest. She could feel how quickly his heart was beating and she wondered if it was because of her.

“I don’t think that Horse is my only reason for living anymore and there is no way this roaming gunslinger would ever break your heart.” he replied. He saw the tears fill her eyes as she smiled up at him. “But honey I need to make sure you understand that I ain’t interested in some fling with a red-haired, gun toting, pant wearing, beautiful woman who is going to take off and leave me with a broken heart after she’s done.”

“Foolish man. I would never hurt you.” she said. Richard grabbed her hand that was over his heart and squeezed it tight before pressing his lips back to hers. He led her over to the bed before pulling away.

“Will you take that off now?” he asked pointing to the binding around her, his voice deep with passion. Tessa nodded. She started to unwrap the bindings and Richard realized it was going to take longer then he was willing to wait.

He pulled his knife from the strap on his pants and raised it to her chest.

“Hold still.” he said. In one quick motion he cut the fabric and it fell away from her body. Richard felt his mouth go dry as he looked at her chest on display for him. He wondered how she had managed to hide those luscious curves beneath that simple thing of cloth.

“Beautiful.” he said. Tessa blushed and he lowered his mouth back to hers as they both finished undressing. Richard laid her down on the bed and moved his lips along her neck and collarbone.

“You’ll have to teach me what to do, Richard….” she whispered. Richard smiled against her neck as she ran her hands over his scarred body.

“Yes ma’am.” he replied.

888

Tessa curled up against him hours later and laid her head on his sweaty chest. Richard ran his hands through her hair and sighed. He knew that if he died right now he would die the happiest man in the world. Never before had any emotion he’d felt for a woman been this intense. He had loved both Sarah and Catherine but it was nothing compared to what he was feeling for Tessa.

He had suspected when these feelings first started that if he allowed them to grow it would be a deeper and stronger love than he’d ever felt before and he had been right.

Tessa listened to his heart beating beneath her ear and smiled. Her dreams had not prepared her for how amazing his lips would feel against hers. They had not prepared her for the passion and the intensity she would feel in her own body as they had touched and made love long and slow.

“So did you learn anything at the saloon?” she asked after they had laid there in silence for a long while just holding each other. Richard sighed.

“Trigger is about two days ride from here in an old fort outside of Deadwood. He’s got about ten men with him and their leaving in about three days.”

“So we’ve got time to get there.” she said. He nodded against her head. “Do you know where they’re going?” she asked.

“Witchita Falls.” Richard replied and she felt his grip on her get tighter. “Apparently he has some business he wants to finish up.”

“I would be that business, right?” she asked. She could hear the anger in his voice when he replied.

“They didn’t say, but I think we’re both smart enough to know you are.”

“Why is he so damn hung up on me?” Tessa demanded angrily. “It’s not like I’m some satin covered lady or some damn great beauty to start wars among men! Why can’t he just find him a new woman to chase after?”

“First off you are one hundred times the woman that those satin covered ladies are. Second I think I’ve already told you several times how beautiful you are. And third, I happen to know this for a fact, there is absolutely no other woman in this world that could ever compare to you.” Richard said his tone of voice telling her that he would not allow her to argue with what he was saying.

“So you think we can take on him and ten men?” Tessa asked. Richard blew out a long breath.

“I wish you’d just give up on this and go somewhere safe.” he said. Tessa shook her head.

“No.” she said. “If this was someone that had killed your pa or one of those three sisters you told me about would you just let it drop?” Richard shook his head.

“No, and I understand why you won’t. But would you allow me to take you somewhere safe while I take care of Trigger and I’ll come back for you once the job is done?”

“No. This is my fight, Richard, and I want to see it through.” Richard nodded. He understood and he respected her bravery. He just didn’t want to lose her and the thought of her being in harms way made his stomach churn.

“Well then let’s get some sleep, Tessa. We’ll have a couple of hard days of traveling if we’re get there in time.” He said kissing her hair. She sighed against his chest and snuggled deeper into his arms before drifting off to sleep.

Chapter Nine

“Don’t even think about it.” Richard warned as Tessa grabbed the sheet off the bed and began to fold it to wrap it around her bare chest.

“I have to, Richard. Tom’s don’t have big breasts.” she replied matter-of-factly. Richard laid his hand over one of her breasts and her breath caught in her throat.

“No, but my Tessa does, and I saw those damn lines that last thing you wrapped around yourself caused by being pressed so tight against your skin. You are not doing that to yourself again. I told you before that you don’t have to pretend to be a boy anymore. You are no longer a woman on your own.. You are now a woman with a ruthless, ex-sheriff, bounty hunter looking out for you and I will not let anything happen to you.”

Tessa smiled happily and threw the sheet down as Richard walked away and removed some clean clothes for both of them from the saddlebags. He tossed her a shirt and pants before pulling his own on. Richard had purposely hid her duster down in the saddlebags. He wanted to be able to see the way those pants hugged her hips and rear. Once they were both dressed and Tessa had all her hair tucked beneath her hat they walked outside into the bright morning sunlight.

“Wish you’d left your hair down.” Richard said.

“It would be so full of dust and dirt by tonight you wouldn’t be able to run your fingers through it.” she replied.

“Glad you put your hair up.” he said with a chuckle. They walked into the gunsmith shop.

“What can I do for you sir and uh…. Ma’am.” the gunsmith said. He had never before seen a woman in a pair of trousers with a gun on her side. Did she think she was a cowboy?

“I know it’s startling at first but you get used to it.” Richard said looking from the gunsmith to Tessa and back again. Tessa’s opened her mouth to speak but shut it quickly and punched Richard in the arm instead. The gunsmith chuckled and looked back at Richard.

“You better be careful. Looks like you got ya a tough little woman there.” he said.

“You’re telling me.” Richard said rubbing his arm. Then he threw the mountain lion pelt on the counter.

“I need some dynamite and some ammo for this.” Richard said putting one of his colts on the counter. The gunsmith nodded and walked down the counter to gather the supplies.

“Dynamite?” Tessa asked. Richard nodded.

“The fort is old and barely standing as it is so throwing a few sticks of dynamite over the wall and making a big boom sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Ok.” Tessa replied.

“There ya go.” The gunsmith said handing Richard a leather bag full of ammo and dynamite.

“Did the pelt cover it?” Richard asked. The gunsmith nodded and Richard and Tessa turned and walked away. The gunsmith let out a silent whistle. Just watching that little woman walk away in those tight trousers would have covered the dynamite and ammo good enough.

888

They traveled hard all day, made camp beside a trickling stream and spent the night in each others arms making love beneath the stars.

It was nearly noon the next day and dark clouds were gathering quickly. Tessa rolled her eyes and let out an irritated growl when the first fat drops of rain hit the brim of her hat.

“I hate rain.” she said. Richard looked over at her and shrugged.

“Not much we can do to stop it.” he said. “Might as well try to enjoy it. Just think of it as a free bath that you don’t even have to get off your horse for.”

“Cold bath.” she muttered.

“You hear that, Horse? You just can’t make a woman happy. She complained all day yesterday about the damn dust and now she’s cursing the rain.”

“Buck his ass off into the dirt, Horse.” Tessa said with a grin. Richard acted shocked.

“Look at that, Horse! You give a woman two amazing nights and what does it mean? Nothing… She just tells your horse to give you a bruised backside.”

“Ya big baby.” Tessa said and she nudged her mare into a faster pace. Richard chuckled and took off after her.

Soon the rain was coming down hard enough that they could barely see more than ten feet in front of them. Richard signaled to Tessa to follow him and he led her off the path to a large outcropping of rocks.

“We can keep kinda dry under here for a while.” Richard said. Tessa nodded and then shook her head and sent big drops of water flying.

“Let’s just take a seat and rest a while.” Richard said. Tessa shook her head.

“I’m not sitting down in that dust.” she said. “As wet as my rear is I’d come up covered in mud.” Richard shook his head and sat down then patted his lap.

“I’ll keep ya out of the dust.” he promised. Tessa sat down on him and instantly their lips found each other. Neither knew how long they sat under the rocks lost in each others kisses but finally Richard noticed that the rain had stopped.

“Well we better get moving.” he said with regret. “We need to get to the fort before dark. And then make our move once night falls.” Tessa nodded feeling her stomach twist in knots. She had been after Trigger for nearly two months now but had never really thought about being this close to her goal. She just prayed that she and Richard would live until the morning.

“Richard, I’m gonna walk back here a ways.” she said pointing behind the rocks. “I need some privacy.”

“Maybe I should come with you.” he said. “Seems like every time you go off needing privacy you end up in trouble.” Tessa put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“I’ll be fine.” she said and walked off leaving him chuckling. He heard a sound behind him and turned just in time to feel the butt of rifle come down hard on his head and he fell unconscious to the ground.

888

Tessa was just making her way back to camp when she heard the laughter to her right. She turned and saw a dirty cowboy standing there looking at her with his gunl in his hand.

“Well aren’t you a pretty little thing.” he said spitting out a long stream of tobacco. “Harold, you ever seen a woman in a pair of pants like that?”

“Nope.” Another man said from behind her and Tessa screamed when she felt him grab her arm and yank her to him. “But I’d sure like to see her out of them.” Tessa saw a third man walking their direction from where she’d left Richard.

“Richard!” She screamed. The third man laughed.

“I’m afraid he ain’t gonna be able to help you.” he said. Tessa felt her heart fall to her feet and her breakfast rise in her throat. Richard was dead? He couldn’t be…. She had nothing if she didn’t have him. Harold, the man holding onto her arm removed her gun from her holster and stuck in the waistband of his own pants.

“I’ll keep this, beautiful.” he said with a smile revealing a mouth full of rotten teeth.

“Let’s get her back to camp, boys. I don’t wanna have to wait much longer to get her outta them pants.” the first man said. In a desperate attempt to get away Tessa tried to run but Harold’s grip on her arm was too strong and he yanked her back against him.

“Throw me a rope, Todd.” he said. The man to her right holding the gun pulled a rolled up rope off his gun belt and tossed it to Harold. Tessa fought against him but he just laughed and tied her hands together in front of her.

“What about that other guy?” Harold asked the third man.

“I knocked his brains out.” the third man said.

“Did ya kill him, Fred?” Todd asked.

“If he ain’t dead from the blow I gave him then I’ll shoot my own foot off. I’ve killed many a men with blows lighter than that.” Fred replied. “And look here, he had some nice irons.” he added raising his shirt to reveal both of Richard’s pearl handled colt revolvers in the waistband of his pants. Tessa felt her head spinning. Richard couldn’t be dead… He just couldn’t. Why the hell hadn’t she listened to him when he had begged her to just give up on getting to Trigger and go somewhere safe with him? Now because of her own stupid foolish pride her love was dead and she was sure that she would be too.

“What about that big black stallion he had? I’d like to have me a horse like that.” Todd asked. Fred cursed.

“Damn thing bit the hell out of me and then took off running.” he said holding up his bloody arm.

“Too bad he didn’t kick your damn brains out.” Tessa spat. Fred laughed and Harold swung his fist and caught Tessa hard in the side of the head. Tessa yelled in pain and fell against him as her legs buckled from the blow.

“Keep your mouth shut bitch unless we tell you to speak.” he said.

“Calm down, Harold.” Todd said putting his gun away. “I like a woman with a little fire.”

“Go straight to hell.” Tessa said spitting at him. Todd laughed.

“Not yet, sweetheart. One day I will, but not yet.” he motioned to the other two men. “Shut her up Harold and let’s get back to camp.”

“Gladly.” Harold said and before Tessa could fight back he slammed his fist hard across her face and she fell into his arms unconscious.

Chapter Ten

Richard felt something nudging his arm roughly. He groaned and rolled over onto his back wincing at the pain in his head. He opened his eyes to see Horse standing over him and stomping his hoof impatiently. Richard sat up and looked around trying to remember what had happened. He could feel the blood covering his dark hair and the side of his face.

“Where’s my damn hat?” he said weakly. Horse lowered his head and picked the hat up between his teeth then dropped it onto Richards lap. Richard looked around.

“Tessa.” he said. She didn’t reply and suddenly the memory of the rifle hitting his head came back to him. All pain was forgotten as he jumped to his feet.

“Tessa!” he yelled as he ran back behind the rocks and looked for her. She was nowhere to be seen and she didn’t respond to his yells. He ran back to Horse at the road and realized that Tessa’s mare was gone as well. He went to lay a hand on his gun and he realized it was gone too.. As a matter of fact both of his guns were.

“Son of a bitch!” Richard said angrily. He jumped on Horse and pulled his hat down low over his aching head.

“Come on, Horse. Let’s go find Tom.” Horse took off at a gallop and Richard prayed Tessa was still alive and that if she was alive he would find her in time to save her.

888

“Wake up, beautiful.” Fred said as he poured a canteen of water over Tessa’s face. She woke up and jumped to her feet quickly looking around the campsite. Todd and Harold were sitting on some rocks about three feet away beside a campfire while Fred was standing next to her grinning.

“Come here.” Harold said. Tessa shook her head.

“You come here.” she replied. Harold laughed but Fred was not as entertained by her attitude. He slapped the back of her head and shoved her forward. She stumbled and practically fell onto Harold’s lap.

“That’s more like it.” he said. Then he grabbed her face roughly and pressed his lips to hers. His thick beard and mustache dug into her tender skin. His free hand roamed over her chest and she thought for sure she was going to throw up on him. She closed her eyes tight and moved her hands, which were still tied together, down to her boot. They may have taken her gun but they had forgotten about her knife.

Richard was already dead and there was no way she could take out all three of them before they killed her too but she would be damned if she would die without taking at least one of these bastards with her.

She closed her hand around the handle of her knife and as Harold moaned against her mouth she pulled it quickly and stuck it into his neck, twisting the handle as she yanked it back out.

She jumped to her feet as blood sprayed across her from Harold’s neck. Within seconds he fell lifeless to the ground. Todd and Fred both just stared at his body in shock. Tessa took advantage of the moment and lunged at Fred driving the knife into his chest.

“Stupid bitch!” Todd yelled jumping to his feet as Fred fell to the ground with the knife still sticking out of him. Tessa turned to face Todd and gasped when she found her face less than an inch from the barrel of the revolver.

“I’m gonna put a bullet right between your pretty brown eyes.” he said. Tessa spit at him and suddenly a throat cleared to their right. They both turned to see Richard sitting there atop of Horse looking at them. Todd grabbed Tessa quickly and pressed the gun against her temple.

Richard looked around the campsite scanning the situation quickly. Two men were laying on the ground and appeared to be dead. One of them still had a knife in his chest. Richard looked back at Todd who was holding Tessa tight with his gun pressed to her temple. Tessa was covered in blood and her face was bruised.

“You okay, Tom?” Richard asked. Tessa felt a relief like she’d never felt before. Sure she was probably still going to die because Richard didn’t have his guns2 and there was a crazy man holding a gun to her temple but at least Richard was alive.

“I’m just fine.” Tessa replied. Todd laughed.

“Not for long. I’m fixing to put a bullet…..” Todd never got the chance to tell them where he was fixing to put that bullet. Before anyone could blink or draw another breath Richard pulled his knife from the strap on his leg and threw it through the air.

Tessa felt Todd’s grip on her loosen and he fell to the ground dead with the handle of the knife sticking out of his forehead. Richard jumped from Horse and ran toward Tessa. Before he reached her a gunshot rang out and he felt a bullet tear through his arm. He yelled in pain and heard Tessa scream.

Tessa looked over and saw Fred laying on the ground with his gun in his hand pointing at Richard. She could tell he was about to fire another shot. She bent quickly and grabbed Todd’s gun from his dead hand. She aimed at Fred and fired a shot and he fell to the ground with a hole in his head.

Tessa walked over to Fred’s dead body, pressed the gun to his boot and pulled the trigger again.

“Um honey, I think he was already dead.” Richard said walking over to her. “Can I ask why you shot him in the foot?”

“The bastard told me you were dead. And he said that if you weren’t he would shoot his own foot off. Since he obviously wasn’t in any shape to do it himself, I did it for him.” she replied. Richard laughed, untied her hands and then wrapped his good arm tight around her and kissed her hair.

“Thank God you’re okay.” he said breathing her in. “I thought for sure I’d lost you.”

“They told me you were dead… I knew they’d end up killing me but I was determined to take at least one of them with me.” she replied listening to his steady heart beat.

“You are one hell of a woman.” he said. Tessa pulled away then and looked at his arm. His shirt sleeve was already covered in blood and large droplets were quickly forming a puddle on the ground at his feet.

“Oh my God, Richard! You’re really shot this time!” she said. Richard looked down at his arm.

“Yep.” he said. “I guess I am.” Tessa pulled her bandana off her neck and tied it tight around his arm but even it was soaked in blood almost instantly.

“You have to get to a doctor.” Tessa said. Richard nodded. He was already feeling weak from the loss of blood and his damn head was swimming from the blow the man had given him earlier.

“No towns around too awful close.” he replied. He knew that the closest town was Gatesville, the town he’d run away from a little more than a year ago, but even that was nearly a five hour ride. He didn’t know if he’d last that long. There was only house he knew of any closer.

“Where’s your mare?” he asked. Tessa ran from him to go get her mare that the men had tied to a tree while Richard reached down and took his guns out of the dead man’s pants. He put them in his holsters, walked over to the dead man he’d thrown the knife into and pulled his knife from his head. He wiped it on his pants and walked over to Horse. He used his good arm to pull himself up into the saddle and Tessa came over on her mare.

“Are you ok?” she asked him. Richard nodded. He pulled the rope off his saddle and tied his good arm to Horses’ saddle horn.

“It’ll help me stay on.” he said. Tessa could hear that already his voice was sounding weaker.

“Lead the way Richard.” she said. He took off at a fast gallop and they rode at that pace for a long while. Finally Richard pulled Horse to a stop and looked at her. Tessa was shocked by how pale and sweaty he was.

“I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be able to stay awake.” he said matter-of-factly. The blow he’d taken to his head was making it hard to even keep his eyes open.  “Just follow the sunset and in about an hour you’re gonna come up on a white farmhouse with pretty flower gardens out front. They’ll help us.” he said.

“What about you?” she asked.

“Don’t worry about me. Horse will follow you.” he replied. Tessa nodded and then took off at a gallop again toward the sunset with Horse following behind her.

888

It was nearly dark when Tessa arrived at the white farmhouse with the flower gardens.

“Hello!” She yelled hoping to alert someone of her presence. Richard had long since lost consciousness and was laying limply across Horse’s neck. The door to the house opened and a tall man stepped out onto the porch pointing a rifle at them.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

“My name is Tessa Bradshaw.” she replied. “My friend is hurt bad. He got shot and is bleeding out. He needs help.”

“Who’s your friend?” the man asked.

“His name is Richard Helms. He said you would help him. Will you or do I need to find someone else?” The tall man seemed like he couldn’t make up his mind about whether to help or not and then a heavy set blond woman walked out the door and laid her hand on his arm.

“Put the gun away and help Richard get into the house.” she said and Tessa saw the man listen to her without question. He sat the rifle down on the porch and walked quickly toward Tessa and Richard. Tessa noticed he had a slight limp as he neared them. Tessa jumped down off her mare as the tall man untied Richards arm from the saddle and threw him over his shoulder.

“Take your horses into the barn over there.” he said motioning toward the barn. “There’s a lantern on the wall inside the door if you need light.” Tessa nodded and the man walked up into the house with Richard over his shoulder. Tessa was shocked by the sight. She had thought Richard was a tall and muscular man but even he looked small when draped over this giants shoulder.

Chapter Eleven

Catherine looked down at Richard lying on the sofa and felt tears filling her eyes. He was pale and covered in blood.

“Is he dead?” Emmett asked and Catherine shook her head.

“Not yet.” she replied.

“Oh.” Emmett said sounding disappointed. Catherine slapped his arm.

“You ride into town and get something for pain and infection from the doc. I think I can close the wound up myself. Stop by at Bianca and Edward’s house and tell them we have guests on your way.” she said. Emmett nodded.

“You sure you can handle this on your own?” he asked. Catherine nodded.

“I’m sure.” He bent down and kissed her hair.

’I love you and I’ll be back as quickly as I can.“ he said and then he walked out of the house. Catherine stood and walked over to the liquor cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of whiskey and then grabbed her sewing kit off the floor. She laid everything next to the sofa and then walked into the kitchen. The stove was still hot from dinner and she walked outside and filled a bucket full of water from the well. She carried it inside and put it on the stove to heat.

She heard the door to the house open and she could hear someone walk into the sitting room. She assumed it must be the woman that had been with Richard. She wondered who this woman was to Richard and what exactly had happened to her friend.

Catherine waited until the water was warm, grabbed it and some washrags and walked back into the living room. The woman was on her knees beside Richard and had her head lying on his chest. Catherine cleared her throat and the woman looked up at her.

“Did you say your name was Tessa?” Catherine asked. Tessa nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes looking embarrassed to have been caught crying.

“My name is Catherine. Can you help me get his shirt off?” Tessa nodded and quickly unbuttoned Richard’s shirt. Richard moaned but didn’t wake up as she and Catherine both struggled to get it off of him. Richard’s hat fell off in the process and Catherine and Tessa both gasped at the sight of his blood covered head and the wound above his temple.

Tessa had not known his head looked like this beneath his hat.

“You damn stubborn, fool headed man.” she scolded him. Catherine wet one of the washrags and handed it to Tessa.

“Go ahead and clean his head off. I’ll work on his arm.” she said. She cleaned the wound the best she could with the water. Thankfully the bullet seemed to have went straight through and she didn’t have to worry about digging it out of his arm.

“Hopefully he’s unconscious enough he won’t feel this.” she said as she opened the whiskey bottle and poured the liquid over the wound. Other than letting out a moan Richard had no other reaction. Catherine opened her sewing case and pulled out a needle and thread. She took her time sewing both sides of the wound tight. And then she and Tessa both worked to clean as much of the blood from him as they could.

Once done Catherine looked over at Tessa and saw the blood on her as well.

“Are you hurt?” she asked. Tessa shook her head.

“No it’s not mine.” she replied. Catherine nodded.

“What happened to him?” she asked. Tessa sighed.

“It was my damn fault. I wanted revenge on a man and so Richard was helping me and then I got kidnapped and he came to save me and the bastards shot him.” Tessa replied. Catherine looked at her wide-eyed. She was dressed like a man, was covered in dirt and blood, and cursed more than any other woman Catherine knew.

“Richard is a good man and he’s strong. He’ll be okay.” Catherine said. She stood up and then walked over and removed Richard’s boots. She saw the rag tied around his lower leg and narrowed her eyes. She undid the make-shift bandage and saw the wound on his leg which was just starting to get a scab over it.

“What the hell is that?” Tessa demanded looking at it. Catherine shrugged.

“Looks like he was shot.” she said. Tessa made a mental note to ask him about it when he woke up. Then Catherine pointed to the wound on his arm beneath the wound she’d just got done sewing.

“What happened there?” she asked. Tessa bit her lip.

“I got drunk in the saloon, ran my mouth too much and he had to fight five guys to save me. He got shot.”

“Sounds like you all have been busy.” Catherine said. Tessa nodded and looked back down at Richard.

“Come on. There is still some soup out in the kitchen that’s good and warm. I’ll get you some.” Catherine said. Tessa laid a gentle kiss to Richard’s forehead and then followed her to the kitchen.

888

Richard woke up and could feel sunlight on his face. His head felt like a blast of dynamite had gone off inside of it and his arm was burning like fire. He opened his eyes and recognized Catherine’s sitting room. It still looked much like it had when he’d last seen it. The cheerful yellow paint, floral couch and armchair and dark cherry mantleplace and tables. He supposed the fact that he was lying on the couch alive  meant he wasn’t dead and that Emmett had not put a bullet into him for showing up here.

He heard soft snoring beside him and he looked down to see Tessa asleep on the floor next to the couch. He shook his head and pushed himself up into a sitting position. His movement woke Tessa up and she climbed up onto the couch beside him.

“Good morning, Tom.” he said giving her a small smile. Before she could reply Catherine came into the room smiling guiltily.

“Sorry I interrupted you.” she said. She handed him a bowl of broth. “I’m leaving now.” she said and turned and left the room quickly. Richard watched her walk away. Her soft blue cotton dress whipping around her ankles and her golden hair lying in long waves and curls down her back. He had wondered for the last year how he would feel if he ever saw her again. He was surprised that he felt nothing more for her now than the same kind of fondness he would feel for any friend he had. It just proved to him that God must know better what He was doing than Richard did. Richard had thought he loved Catherine more than he would ever love anybody else but now that Tessa was here with him he knew he had been wrong.

“That’s her isn’t it?” Tessa asked. “And that humongous husband of hers is the man that busted your lip.” Richard nodded.

“Yea that’s her.” he replied. Tessa nodded.

“How do you feel seeing her again?” she asked. Richard laid his head against hers and kissed her cheek.

“She is a friend, Tessa. Nothing more. You are the one that I want to be with.” he said.

“Good to know.” Emmett said walking into the living room. “Cat said to give this to you.” he added holding out a bottle of pain medicine. Richard grabbed it and quickly took some.

“Thanks Emmett.” he said. Emmett shrugged.

“Cat told me to.” he replied then he walked out.

“Nice guy that one.” Richard said. Tessa laughed lightly.

“He’s been quite charming to me.” she said. “I just don’t think he likes you.”

“Charming?” Richard asked. “Maybe about as damn charming as a cactus.”

“You must be talking about Emmett.” Bianca said as she came into the room. Richard looked up at her and his eyes widened when they fell on her very pregnant belly.

“You look different.” he said. Bianca grinned at him.

“You look about the same. Just bloodier.’ she said. Richard looked down at himself and realized that he was not wearing a shirt.

“You are one scarred up piece of work, darling.” Bianca said as she sat down in one of the arm chairs. Richard felt Tessa tense beside him at the flirtatious, teasing tone in Bianca’s voice and he smiled and reached over and took her hand wrapping his fingers through hers.

“Guess a lot of folks just don’t like the looks of me much and they figured they’d improve it with bullets and knives.” Then Richard looked over at Tessa.

“I need a shirt.” he said.

“I left the saddlebags in the barn last night.” she said. “I was more worried about getting in here to you I guess.” Richard nodded.

“I’ll go get em.” he said. Tessa shook her head.

“I don’t think you will, dammit. You about bled to death last night. I’ll get them.” she said. Richard frowned at her and traced the bruise on her cheek with his thumb. He didn’t want her out of his sight. Seems every time she got out of his sight she ended up in trouble.

“Oh for goodness sakes!” Bianca said rolling her eyes at the two of them. “Edward!” she called out. In an instant Edward was at her side.

“What is it darling? Is it the baby? Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Are you….” Bianca cut him off by pressing her finger against his lips.

“Calm down, Edward.” she said gently. “It’s not about me.”

“That’s a first.” Emmett said walking into the room. Bianca sent a glare in Emmett’s direction and then looked back at Edward.

“Richard needs a shirt but the saddlebags are in the barn. Would you go get them?” Edward nodded, kissed Bianca’s dark hair and then walked out of the house.

“How did you manage to wrap that man so tight around your finger?” Emmett asked. “He never seemed like the type to let a woman tell him what to do.” Before Bianca could reply Catherine walked into the room holding a dark eyed, brown haired little girl in her arms.

“Emmett darling, clean the things out of that chair so I can sit down please and go get Sophia something to snack on.” Emmett quickly moved the sewing kit from the second armchair, kissed his wife and daughters heads and started toward the kitchen.

“Oh yes because this family if full of men who don’t let women tell them what to do.” Bianca said dryly. Emmett turned and smiled.

“I said Edward never seemed like the type. I’ve been wrapped around your sisters finger since I was ten.” he said and then walked out of the room.

“Catherine, I guess I owe you a thank you for sewing me up last night.” Richard said looking over at her. Catherine waved her hand.

“You don’t owe me anything, Richard.” she said. “But I would like to know how you ended up in such bad shape.”

“I got shot.” he replied with a shrug. Catherine sighed and Emmett walked back in with a biscuit. He laid in Sophia’s chubby outstretched hand and then stood behind his wife and daughter. Tessa was again struck by how handsome he was and also by the sheer size of him. He looked like a very able body guard as he stood there behind his family with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I know that.” Catherine said. “What happened to your leg?” Richard looked confused and Tessa bent down and raised his pant leg revealing the wound.

“Oh that.” Richard said with a shrug. “I got shot.”

“When?” Tessa asked.

“I believe that would have been the night that Tom stole my horse. One of those bounties Tom stole from me, shot me before I killed him.” Tessa’s eyes widened and then turned guilty while everyone else just looked confused.

“Who’s Tom?” Bianca asked.

“Me.” Tessa replied. “I told you all last night that I was tracking down the man who killed my father but I didn’t tell you that I was pretending to be a boy while I did so.”

“And you stole Richard’s horse?” Emmett asked. Richard nodded.

“She sure did. My horse, my guns, my saddlebags, my bounties.. The only damn thing she left me with was the clothes on my back.” Tessa glared over at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me that night that you had been shot? I would never have stolen a horse from a man with a damn bullet hole in his leg.” Richard shrugged.

“You didn’t seem real chatty waving that gun in my face.” he replied. Tessa felt tears filling her eyes. Edward walked back in and laid the saddlebags next to Richard and then went to stand next to Bianca.

“Why are you about to cry?” Richard asked Tessa gently.

“Because. You keep ending up hurt and it’s my damn fault!” she exclaimed. Richard shook his head.

“No it’s not.” he replied. She stood up angrily and put her hands on her hips and Richard sighed.

“It is too! I stole your horse and you had to walk who knows how many miles back to town with a bullet hole in your leg! Then I run my drunk mouth in the saloon and you get shot in the arm. And then I go and get myself kidnapped and you take yet another damn bullet in your arm and about bleed to death.” she said. The room was silent as everyone simply watched the interaction between the two of them.

“First off it’s not your fault that Shade shot me in the leg, I kind of asked for that one. Second I done told you once that the saloon was not entirely your fault. Them guys had been wanting to put bullets in me for a long time and third it’s not exactly your fault you got kidnapped by those men.”

“Bullshit.” Tessa said. “I’m bad for you, Richard. You just keep ending up getting shot and you’d be better off if I left.” She turned on her heel and walked out of the house. Richard watched her in shock for several seconds and then jumped to his feet, ignoring the way his head was spinning from the loss of blood and blow to the head the day before, and took off after her.

He caught her as she stepped off the porch and grabbed her hand. He spun her around to face him and saw that she had tears streaming down her dirty face.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

“I’m leaving before the next bullet you take for me kills you.” she said. “I don’t want you taking any more bullets for me.” Richard looked down at her in disbelief. He pulled her to him and ran his hand down her cheek.

“You foolish damn woman. I would take one hundred more bullets for you if it meant you got to live for just one more second.” he said. Tessa shook her head.

“You’re better off without me Richard. I’ve got a bad man wanting to get his hands on me and I don’t want you getting killed.”

“I don’t plan on getting killed anytime soon, honey.” he said gently. “And if you think I’m better off without you then you’re more foolish than I thought you were. You are everything to me Tessa. Before I met you I had nothing to live for. I was running around just looking for a way to get myself killed. You have given me something to live for. You have given me a reason to smile again. I ain’t letting you go anywhere.” Tessa smiled happily as she stared up at him.

“Are you saying that you love me?” she asked. Richard grinned and laid his forehead against hers.

“If you haven’t figured that out yet then you aren’t near as smart as you think you are, Tom.” he said. Tessa laughed lightly.

“Besides if you leave Horse would just fall apart. You should have seen how upset he was when he thought that we had lost you yesterday.” Richard added and then he looked over and saw Bianca, Edward, Emmett and Catherine standing on the porch watching them.

“Don’t’ mind us.” Bianca said laying her hand on her stomach. “We’re just nosy.” Richard was about to reply when his head started swimming and his knees nearly buckled. Tessa looked up at him and saw how pale he looked.

“You stubborn ass man! You need to get back in that house and sit down!” she scolded as she threw his arm over her shoulder and helped him up onto the porch.

“Well if you hadn’t took off I would never have gotten up.” he said and Tessa just laughed.

Chapter Twelve

“Catherine seemed upset that you left so quickly.” Tessa said as they walked into their hotel that evening and Richard shut the door behind them. He walked over to the bed and collapsed there.

“Emmett and I just ain’t cut out to be in the same house.” Richard replied. Tessa nodded. She had noticed the same thing. The two men were too tense and on edge around each other for either one to be happy or relaxed.

“Well you just stay right there and rest.” Tessa said matter-of-factly. She pulled the bottle of pain medicine from the saddlebag and handed it to Richard who gladly took some.

“Doc Hawke said that you need to rest for a few days because of that blow to your head.” she said. Richard nodded.

“Yeah yeah.” he said. “Woman you sure are bossy. I’ve been knocked around harder than this before and hit the trail the same day.”

“I’ve been bossy since you met me and you fell in love with me anyway so quit complaining about it now.” she said.

“I never said there was anything wrong with you being bossy, I was just saying that you are is all.” he replied.

“Well this bossy woman is going to go down to the diner before it gets too late and get us both something to eat.” she said.

“Sounds good.” Richard replied. When Tessa returned a short time later she found Richard sound asleep on the bed. She smiled and sat his soup down on the table for him to eat later. She ate her food, took a bath in the hot water she had brought up and then curled up against Richard and fell asleep.

888

A week passed before Richard was feeling more like his old self again. He would never tell Tessa but that blow to the head had come closer to killing him than the loss of blood from the gunshot. Truthfully the only thing that had gotten him up off the ground after getting hit was the thought of losing her.

They were lying in each others arms early one morning in their hotel room when Richard decided it was time again to talk about Trigger Jones. Neither one had mentioned him since coming to town.

“Well Tessa, guess we’ll have to be hitting the trail again soon and looking for Trigger.” he said while running his hands through her red hair. She sighed into his chest before raising up on her arm and looking at him.

“I don’t want to chase Trigger anymore.” she replied. Richard raised a brow.

“But I thought you wanted to kill him since he killed your pa? And you said you needed that five thousand dollars to keep your farm up.” Tessa nodded.

“The farm will need work but I got a big strong man to help me now….. Don’t I?” she asked. She had never really talked to him about whether or not he would give up bounty hunting to settle down on a farm. She worried that maybe he wouldn’t want to and she knew they could never be together as long as he was riding trails chasing bounties.

“Yeah, I reckon you do.” Richard replied kissing her gently. Tessa smiled and felt relief fill her. He was willing to settle down with her. “But what about your pa?” he asked.

“I miss my pa. I’m sad about what happened and yes I want to see Trigger pay for it but you were right when you said that killing Trigger won’t bring pa back. I am not willing to lose you to a bullet just for revenge.” she replied. Richard smoothed her hair away from her face.

“Are you sure you want to give up the chase? Cuz you know I’d ride beside you and fight with you till the end.” he said. Tessa nodded.

“I’m sure.” she replied. Richard narrowed his eyes.

“But that still leaves us with one problem.” he said. “Trigger had his heart set on marrying you. What if he starts looking for you again?” Tessa shrugged.

“He won’t a clue where to find me. He sure won’t have any clue that I’m in Gatesville with you and besides he’ll be looking for Tessa Bradshaw, not Tessa Helms.” Richard’s eyes widened as he looked at her.

“Tessa Helms?” he said. Tessa bit her lip. Okay so maybe she should have waited until after she was sure he wanted to marry her before she blurted that out. Oh well it was too late to take it back now.

“Sure. I mean you are going to marry me aren’t you?” she said with much more confidence than what she was feeling.

“Damn you woman! You never even gave me a chance to ask you proper.” he said angrily. Tessa rolled her eyes.

“Well I don’t’ feel like growing old and dying while you take your time getting around to it.” she said. “Besides who says the man has to be the one to ask?”

“You saying that you’re asking me to marry you?” Richard asked. Tessa nodded.

“Maybe I am. Is that a problem?” Richard shook his head.

“Guess not.” he said. Tessa stared at him for several long moments but he didn’t say anything else.

“Well…. Are ya gonna marry me?” Tessa asked. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he was and he was just making her wait to drive her crazy. When he just grinned instead of replying she stood up.

“All right then fine, I’m leaving.” she said trying to get a rise out of him as she walked toward the door.

“Don’t you think you oughta put some clothes on first, Tom?” Tessa looked down at herself and blushed. She had forgotten that she was naked. Richard laughed at the look on her face and patted the bed.

“Get back over here, woman.” he said. Tessa smiled happily and jumped back into the bed. Richard wrapped his arms tight around her while he chuckled.

“Of course I’m going to marry you.” he said. “You’ll have to give me a few days to get the license.”

“Days? I thought it took longer than that to get one?”

“Back east it does…. Out here things are simpler. And of course it doesn’t hurt that I’ve made some friends in some pretty high places in my life. Just give me a couple days.”

“I love you Richard.” Tessa said. Richard just smiled and laid her down on the bed covering her with his body and kissing her senseless.

888

“I’m gonna go down to the post office and send a telegram back to my neighbor in Witchita Falls to check on the farm.” Tessa said as she and Richard stepped out into the sunlight later that day.

“Alright. I’m gonna head down to the sheriffs office and see who they got to replace me.” He bent down and kissed Tessa not caring who saw and then walked down the road.

He walked into the sheriffs office and was surprised to see the old man sitting behind the desk with a star pinned to his chest.

“Neil Hawkins?” Richard said as he walked in. Neil looked up from where he was looking at some papers on his desk and his eyes widened.

“Richard Helms? Is that you?” Neil asked rising to his feet slowly on his aching legs. Richard nodded and shook the mans hand.

“Of course it’s you. Ain’t nobody else in this world got scars like that and lived to talk about it.” Neil said.

“Yeah it’s me, Neil. I’m just as surprised to see you. How old are you now? Ninety? Ninety-five?” Neil laughed.

“I ain’t a day over seventy you asshole.” he said as he pulled a rolled cigarette from his pocket, struck a match and lit it. He took a long draw and then laid his wrinkled hand on the pistol on his side.

“So what are you here for? Come to get your job back?” Richard shook his head.

“Naw. I think I’ll leave you to it.” he replied. Neil took a draw of his cigarette and narrowed his eyes.

“Well why the hell would you want to do that for?” he demanded. “I’m plumb wore out and when I saw you walking in here I thought maybe you were my saving grace.” Richard chuckled.

“I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, Neil, but never that.” Neil sighed and walked back around his desk and sat down. Richard sat down as well in another chair against the wall.

“So what did you come back for?” Neil asked.

“I got shot. This was the closest place that had a doctor.” Richard replied. Neil nodded.

“Doc told me there was somebody holed up over there at the hotel but he wouldn’t tell me who it was.”

“Sorry about that. I told him not to tell anybody who I was. When you’ve made as many enemies as me in your life the last thing you want spreading around is that you’re busted up and laying in the bed.”

“I understand that.” Neil said taking a long draw off his cigarette. The two men sat and talked for a long while about the weather and the town. Richard stood up when he saw Tessa walk up to the door.

“Come on in here, honey.” he said motioning for her. Tessa walked in and Neil’s eyes widened as he stood up.

“Neil, this is Tessa. Tessa, this is Sheriff Neil Hawkins.” Tessa looked at the old man and wondered how exactly he had gotten to be sheriff. His ancient legs looked ready to buckle at any moment. But she smiled warmly and shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you, sheriff.” she said. Neil looked at this woman and knew instantly that if anybody could settle down Richard Helms it would be her. Neil had known Richard’s first wife Sarah from the many times she’d come to Gatesville and sung in the saloon before meeting Richard and while Sarah had been a nice girl she had also been the definition of a spoiled lady and Neil had known that eventually Richard would have seen through her beauty and proper words and become bored with the woman he had chosen.

Then there had been Catherine and while she had been a step in the right direction Neil had always thought there was something off about the two of them together… Course that could have just been because Catherine hadn’t loved Richard back.

But now this Tessa looked more like a woman made for Richard. She was wearing men’s clothes that hugged her very nice body. She had a gun and a lasso on her side and plenty of long pretty red hair hanging out from under her hat. She had a small upturned nose, soft lips and she had big brown doe eyes but Neil could see the fire in them… Yep, this woman was definitely custom made for Richard.

“Nice to meet you too, Tessa.” Neil said. “I was trying to talk Richard here into taking his old job back.” Tessa looked up at Richard questioningly but Richard was shaking his head and looking at Neil.

“I done told you I don’t want it.” he said. Neil sat back down in his chair.

“Fine.” he said with a bit of a pout. Richard looked down at Tessa.

“Ready to get something to eat?” he asked. Tessa nodded. “Alright Neil, we’ll see ya around. Don’t worry about getting up.” Richard said as Neil braced his hands on his desk. “Wouldn’t want your hip to snap old man.”

“You just wait, Richard. You wont’ be a young gun forever.” Neil said with a chuckle as he gratefully relaxed back into his chair.

“Aw hell Neil, I’m thirty-two damn years old. Not exactly a young gun myself anymore.”

“Richard, your fitter and more able than most of these new cowboys coming into town that are in their twenties. They wouldn’t know how to put in a hard day of work or riding if you put a gun to their head and told em they had to.”

“Thanks for the compliment, Neil.” Richard said. “You hear that, honey? I’m fitter than most men in their twenties.” he added with a suggestive smile to Tessa. Tessa blushed but wiggled her eyebrows up at him.

“Prove it.” she said. Neil laughed loudly.

“Hell Richard, she’s alright!” he said. Richard nodded and looked over at Neil.

“Yea I reckon I think so too.” he said.

“Whenever you want to talk about taking your job back just come see me.” Neil said. Richard shook his head.

“Actually I’m thinking about laying my guns down here pretty soon and trying my hand at farming.”

“Farming? What the hell makes a tough as nails, gun slinging son of a bitch like you think that you’d ever be content sitting around plowing fields all day?” Neil demanded. Richard glared over at him.

“Well I’d love to stay and talk to you about it, Neil, but I gotta get this lady back to the hotel and prove to her just how fit I am. We’ll see ya around.” he said. Neil was laughing as they walked out the door.

Later that night as Richard lay sound asleep and snoring beside her, Tessa thought back to what Neil had said to Richard. She could tell by the look in Richard’s eyes that he really had been interested in taking up his old job as sheriff again. She could remember the pride she’d heard in his voice on the trail whenever he’d talked about his old job and this town.

She wanted Richard to be happy and she wondered if he would really be happy back up in Witchita Falls working on a farm. Witchita falls was much more settled and tamed than the country around here. How would Richard even fit into that? Maybe it was wrong of her to just expect him to give up all of this for her. She thought about the farm back home. It wouldn’t be the same without her father there. Tessa had set out on this quest with the sole purpose of avenging her father and then going back to her farm but now she wasn’t so sure that the farm was what she wanted.

She curled up against Richards scarred back and wrapped her arm around him. She kissed his shoulder and he rolled over and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her hair and smiled sleepily.

“I gotta rest sometime, honey. Give me a few hours and then I’ll be ready prove a few things to ya again.” he said. Tessa smiled.

“You don’t’ have to prove nothing to me. I done know how great you are.” she said.

“Good. Cuz I ain’t sure I’m gonna be able to move again til morning.” he replied matter-of-factly causing Tessa to laugh. “Get ya some sleep Tom.” he said.

“I love you.” Tessa said. Richard smiled and pulled her tighter against him.

Chapter Thirteen

Two days later and Tessa was reading over the Telegram her neighbor had sent her. The farm was gone. Trigger Jones had burnt it to the ground and killed all the livestock after finding that Tessa wasn’t there. While Tessa was sad to know that what her father had worked so hard for was gone she was also relieved because that meant she wouldn’t have to lie to Richard.

She had been fully prepared to tell Richard the farm was gone and have her neighbor secretly sell it and wire her the money. She could tell by watching Richard in this town, interacting with the people that this was his home and her home was wherever he was. She had not been willing to let him give up something that made him happy for her especially when she really didn’t care about the farm anymore anyway.

She walked outside the post office to find Richard standing on the porch waiting for her.

“I thought you said you’d be busy most of the day.” she said as she walked up to him. He held up a piece of paper.

“You ready to become Tessa Helms?” he asked. Her eyes widened.

“You got it already?” she asked. He nodded.

“Yep.” he said. Then his eyes narrowed. He could tell there was something wrong with her.

“Did you get a telegram back today?” he asked. She nodded and handed it to him. He read over it quickly, his eyes growing angrier with every word.

“That son of a bitch!” he exclaimed bringing a gasp from a woman walking by with a toddler on her hip. She glared at Richard and he offered her an apologetic grin.

“Sorry bout that, ma’am.” he said. The woman shook her head and walked away. Richard looked back at Tessa.

“That bastard burnt the whole farm to the ground.” he said. Tessa nodded.

“I know. I read the damn thing too.” she replied.

“Guess we’ll just have to rebuild it.” Richard said folding the telegram and the marriage license and putting both in his pocket. Tessa shook her head.

“I was actually wanting to talk to you about that.” she said. Richard took her by the hand and led her over to a bench on the wooden walkway and they sat down.

“What?” he asked.

“What would you say about settling down right here around Gatesville? I mean this is where my pa was wanting to move to anyhow.”

“Not much land for farming around here.” Richard told her. Tessa shrugged.

“I’m about farmed out.” she replied. “Besides do you even know how to work a plow?” Richard chuckled and rubbed his chin.

“No, I reckon I don’t but I was gonna learn.” he said. Tessa smiled.

“You weren’t made for that life. You were made for living out here.” she said.

“What about you? What were you made for?” Richard asked.

“Being wherever you are.” she replied. Richard looked at her to see if she was lying but she seemed to be telling the truth. He was relieved to say the least. He would have gone anywhere with her and done anything she had wanted him to but Richard didn’t know the first thing about working a farm.

“How’d I get lucky enough to end up with a woman like you?” he asked. Tessa grinned.

“You’re just blessed I guess.” she replied. Richard chuckled.

“Bout as blessed as a cowboy who squats on a cactus in the dark.” he said. Tessa glared at him.

“You are such a charming gentleman.” she said. Richard shook his head.

“No, I’m just a gunslinger. If you wanted a gentleman you picked the wrong man.” he replied.

“Well I ain’t no lady so what use would I have for a gentleman?” she asked.

“You are perfect.” he replied. “You gotta get busy planning that wedding.” he reminded her. She shook her head.

“I don’t want no wedding.” she replied. “We can just go on down to the church and let the preacher marry us today.” she said. Richard shrugged.

“Works for me but don’t all women want a big wedding?” he asked. Sarah had wanted a big wedding and her parents had been happy to put it all together in the short week they’d courted.

“Apparently not.” she replied.

“Well let’s go then.” Richard said standing up and pulling Tessa to her feet.

“Are you in a hurry or something?” she asked. Richard pulled her close to him.

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for a woman like you.” he said. “I don’t’ want to wait another minute to have you as my wife.”

888

A month came and went and Richard had never been happier in his life. He’d used some of the money he still had from Shade and his men’s bounties and bought himself and Tessa a small house just outside of town. Richard found it hard to believe that it hadn’t been that long ago when he hadn’t cared if he lived or died. His life had been so empty and meaningless before Tessa had come along and turned it upside down.

They were just coming into town one morning when Richard noticed a bunch of unfamiliar horses hitched outside the bank. Alarms went off in his mind at the eerie silence that had fallen over the usually busy little main street of town.

“Tessa, go home.” Richard said. Tessa looked over at the bank and then back at Richard.

“Why?” she asked. Before he could reply they saw Neil Hawkins limping his way toward the bank with his pistol drawn.

“Dammit woman just do what I say.” Richard said. Tessa shook her head.

“Not without you.” she said. Richard sighed and jumped down off of Horse leaving him standing loose on the street. Tessa hitched her mare to the post in front of the general store beside them.

“Stay behind me then and keep your damn head down. If bullets start flying you high tail it out of here and don’t’ stop till you’re locked in safe at home.” Tessa nodded just to make him happy and he knew she was lying. He knew damn well the stubborn woman wouldn’t run off even though that was what she needed to do.

“Neil, what’s going on?” Richard asked quietly as he and Tessa jogged up to the old man. Neil stopped walking and led Richard and Tessa over to the cover of the gunsmith porch.

“Damn outlaws are in there robbing the bank.” he replied. “They got a bunch of men, women and children in there for hostages. I guess that’s all that’s keeping the men from fighting back is fear that the women and children will get hurt. Everybody else in town done ran for cover.”

“Do you know the gang that’s holding it up?” Richard asked. Neil nodded.

“Hell yea. It’s that damn Trigger Jones. He’s got about four men with him in there.”

“Trigger Jones?” Tessa demanded looking up at Richard. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“Robbing the bank.” Richard replied with a shrug.

“Do you think he knows I’m here?” Tessa asked and Richard could hear the fear in her voice.

“I won’t let him hurt you, Tessa. Don’t you worry that pretty little head about that.” he said.

“What can we do?” Tessa asked. Richard shrugged.

“Stay out of sight of the watchman they got standing in the doorway there.” Richard said pointed to the cowboy who was smoking a cigarette and looking up and down the road. Richard, Tessa and Neil were not visible from where they stood on the gunsmiths porch.

“And?” Tessa asked. Richard glared at her.

“And you’re doing nothing else. You are gonna stay out of sight. When they come out Neil and I will deal with them.” Richard said and Neil nodded in agreement.

“A lady ain’t got no business involving herself.” he said. Tessa glared at the old man and she stuck her hands on her hips angrily. Richard sighed and shook his head. The damn old man had just said exactly the wrong thing to his high tempered, proud, independent wife.

“Well I ain’t no damn lady and if my husband is going to be chasing after damn bank robbers and the man that killed my pa then I reckon it sure as hell is my business.” she whispered angrily. Before anyone could say anything else the doors to the bank opened and five armed men walked out and met up with the watchman.

“Look at this ,Trigger!” One of the men said holding up his saddlebag which was about to burst with the amount of money he’d stuffed inside. “We’ll be living high on the hog for the rest of our lives after this score!”

“That’s right, Franks.” A man replied. “I told you it would pay off to ride with me.” Richard looked at this man. So that was Trigger Jones? He was hardly what Richard had expected. Trigger wasn’t an inch over five and half feet tall and he was skinny as a rail. He was older than Richard would have guessed as well and his thin face was covered in gray stubble.

“That’s Trigger?” Tessa whispered. Richard nodded.

“Just think, honey. You could have been waking up beside that beautiful face every morning.” he replied. Tessa glared at him but said nothing.

“Trigger Jones!” Richard yelled. Trigger’s head whipped around but he couldn’t see who had yelled.

“Who’s there? Why don’t you come on out and face me like a man?” he demanded.

“Cuz I’m just one man and there are six of you.” Richard replied. Then he looked at Neil. “Go around the back way Neil and come up behind them. I’ll keep him talking.” he whispered. Neil nodded and walked away surprisingly fast on his old legs.

“Well if you don’t mind me and my men will be on our way.” Trigger said walking toward his horse while several of his men mounted their own. Richard looked at Tessa.

“Stay here.” he said sternly. Then he walked onto the street as Tessa watched in shock and horror.

“I can’t let you do that Trigger.” he said as he took a wide legged, relaxed stance about one hundred feet away from the robbers. Trigger laughed.

“Why is that?” he asked finding this thoroughly entertaining.

“You got money that don’t belong to you inside them saddlebags.” Richard replied. “And I happen to know there is a five thousand dollar bounty on your head.”

“So what are you then? Some kind of bounty hunter?” Trigger asked.

“Names Richard Helms.” Richard saw the anger flash across Triggers face.

“You’re the son of a bitch that killed my brother.” he spat. Richard nodded.

“Yea that was me.” he replied. Then he saw Neil slip into position behind the gang. Richard smiled. He knew Neil was a damn good shot and that between himself and Neil they could make short work of this gang. He kind of felt sorry for them really… At least until he reminded himself that this man had killed Tessa’s father, burnt Tessa’s farm to the ground and had some kind of sick fascination with her.

His plans were ruined when the doors to the bank burst open and several of the men who had been held hostage inside ran out with their guns drawn. Richard cursed as bullets went flying everywhere at once and chaos ensued. Trigger’s men, the men from the bank and Neil all firing shots at the same time. Richard ran for cover on the other side of the street. He didn’t want to go back to Tessa and show Trigger where she was.

Just then he saw Neil take a bullet in the leg and go down. Richard aimed his pistol and shot the man off his horse that had shot Neil. He shot two more of the men and Trigger jumped onto his horse. Richard ran down the dusty street keeping low to the ground to avoid being shot.

Tessa watched in horror. She wanted to help but didn’t want to distract Richard and she knew if she jumped out right now Richard would be too worried about her to keep himself safe. She watched in disbelief as one by one the men that had run out of the bank to kill the robbers fell to the ground.

She saw that Richard was almost to Neil. Then she saw Richard nearly fall to the ground as a bullet struck his lower leg. He continued on his way to Neil firing a shot at the man who had shot him.

Tessa saw the man named Franks coming up behind Richard but before she could scream a warning  he brought his gun down hard on the back of Richard’s head. Richard fell to the ground and Franks put the barrel of his revolver to his forehead, quickly kicking Richards’ gun from his hand and removing Richard’s second revolver from his gun belt and tossing it aside.

“Should I kill him, boss?” he asked. Trigger shook his head from atop his horse and looked around the blood covered streets. Three of his men were dead and the old man who had come up behind them was laying on the ground unconscious and bleeding to death quick enough and the other men that had come at them from inside the bank were dead as well. The street was now silent and Trigger was feeling better than he had in a long time. There was nothing like killing a bunch of men to put a man in a great mood.

“Naw I want to have some fun with that one.” Trigger replied. Franks stood up straight and holstered his gun.

“He’s out cold.” he said matter-of-factly. Trigger nodded.

“Tie him to your saddle horn Franks, and we’ll take him back to the fort and teach him what happens when you kill Trigger Jones brother.”

Tessa watched helplessly while Trigger and his two remaining men rode out of town. Franks was dragging Richard’s body behind his horse. Tessa had known if she had jumped out to help Richard she would have been killed and then there would have been no hope for Richard. But now she knew she had at least a little time. She ran to Neil and slapped him across his face to wake him up.

“Wake up, old man!” she yelled. Neil’s eyes opened and he looked around.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded looking down at his bloody leg.

“You got shot.” she replied. “And they’re taking Richard to that fort outside of Deadwood. Do you know how to get there?” Neil nodded.

“Yea but I ain’t in no shape to…..” Tessa cut him off with a whistle. Horse came trotting over and Tessa took a knife from her boot and cut off a long strip of his saddle blanket. She tied this tight around Neil’s leg while he gasped in pain.

“Suck it up. We gotta save Richard.” Tessa said. Neil glared at her.

“You’re one bossy woman!” he said. “Why don’t you try sucking it up with a bullet in your leg. This hurts like a son of a bitch.”

“If I ever have a bullet in my leg I won’t whine half as much as you.” she replied as she helped him to his feet. She walked him over to his horse at the sheriffs office as the streets starting filling back up with people coming out to survey the mess and the damage.

After a brief struggle she managed to get Neil up in the saddle. He wiped his sweaty brow and made a painful moan.

“I’m getting too old for this shit.” he said. Tessa walked over to the gunsmiths store and walked inside. The gunsmith was currently lying dead on the street so Tessa walked behind the counter and helped herself to several sticks of dynamite. She walked back outside and put the dynamite into Horses’ saddlebags. She found both of Richard’s pistols on the ground and reloaded them with ammunition she found in the saddlebags before sticking them into the waistband of her pants.

“You ready, Neil?” she asked. The old man was pale and sweaty but nodded.

“Let’s go kick some ass.” he replied and they rode out of town.

Chapter Fourteen

Richard knew he was a short timer. Not from the bullet which had only grazed his leg or from the blow to the head which had hurt and given him a headache but other than that left him unharmed. Even the long ride dragging across the dusty ground behind Franks damn horse wasn’t what he was sure was going to kill him.

No, the reason he knew he was a short timer was because he was currently tied to a wooden post in the center of the courtyard of the old worn down fort covered in dirt, blood and sweat with a damn crazy ass mad man and his two screw loose buddies waving guns in his face.

The only thing Richard had to be thankful for at this moment was that Tessa had actually listened to him and remained hidden and was safe from Trigger. Richard had been working at getting his hands free for the last thirty minutes he’d been tied up but he wasn’t having any luck.

“So, Richard Helms, it looks like you’re not gonna get that big bounty on my head after all.” Trigger said. Richard shrugged.

“No guess not.” he replied. Then he looked around.

“I heard tell you had ten men working with ya. What happened?”

“Bank robbing is a dangerous business. People die.” Trigger replied simply. Richard nodded. That meant it was just three against one…. Three armed men against one beat all to hell man currently tied to a wooden post. Not his best odds but surprisingly not his worst.

“I thought Richard Helms was supposed to be some big tough ass?” Franks said. “He don’t look so tough to me.” Franks swung his fist out and caught Richard in the jaw. Richard’s head snapped around but he chuckled as he spit out a mouth full of blood.

“You should ask Trigger’s brother about how tough I am.” he said. Trigger let out an angry yell and kicked Richard in the leg where the bullet had grazed him. Richard let out a painful groan through his clenched teeth.

“Did you know that a man can’t live but a day or so out in this hot desert without water?” Trigger asked. “I’ve heard tell that dying of thirst is a damn painful way to go. Guess you’re going to find out aren’t you Mr. Helms?”

“Guess I am.” Richard replied. Franks walked close to Richard and leaned down over him.

“You are one cocky son of a bitch aren’t you?” he asked. Richard shook his head.

“Naw. Not me.” he replied. Then he swung his uninjured leg up and over Franks neck. He pulled Franks down and held him in place with both his legs around his neck, cutting off his air supply.

“I hear that suffocation is a pretty rough way to go too.” he said. Franks was struggling against him but Richard was too strong.

“That’s enough!” Trigger yelled finally and hit Richard upside the head with his pistol. Richard was dazed and his legs relaxed just long enough for Franks to pull away coughing and gasping for breath.

“You stupid son of a bitch!” he yelled and punched Richard again. Richard just kept his head bowed and his mouth shut this time. He was sick and damn tired of being hit in the head.

“Let’s get out of this sun boys. We’ll come back out and check on our little guest here about dark.” The three men walked away and Richard went back to work on loosening the ropes on his hands. He didn’t really think he stood a chance of getting away but he had to try. He closed his eyes and said a million ‘I love you’s’ to Tessa in his mind with the hopes that somehow God would let her hear him.

888

The sun was beginning to set as Tessa and Neil came up on the fort. They walked their horses quietly up to the stone wall.

“Must not have any lookouts posted or we’d done be dead.” Neil said his voice weak. Tessa knew the old man was probably going to die and felt a moment of guilt. She should have let the doctor sew him up before bringing him out here but the only thing she’d been able to think about had been saving Richard.

“Stay here with the horses.” she said. Neil nodded.

“Not exactly like I’m in any kinda shape to run off.” he said as he pulled a rolled cigarette and some matches from his pocket. Tessa nodded and down the stone wall. She came to a spot in the wall, that had obviously seen better days, and looked through the broken and cracked bricks to the inside of the fort.

The courtyard was lit up brightly by several small campfires and lanterns. Tessa could see Richard tied to a wooden post in the center of the courtyard but couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead. As she was watching Trigger and two men walked out of a door and into the courtyard.

Tessa breathed a sigh of relief when Richard looked up to watch them walking over. He was alive.

“How you feeling, bounty hunter?” Trigger asked as the three men came to a stop several feet from him. Richard chuckled when he saw they all stayed well out of the reach of his legs.

“Pretty fair I reckon.” Richard said. Tessa could hear that his voice was dry and cracking but at least it sounded like he still had some fire in him so maybe he wasn’t doing quite as bad as he looked.

“I’m getting a bit tired of waiting for you to die of thirst.” Trigger said. Richard looked up at him and grinned through his dry cracked lips.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Trigger. I hate to be a pain in your ass.” he said. Trigger chuckled.

“Too bad you killed my brother and seemed determined to kill me. You would have been a good man to ride beside.”

“You know if you want me dead a bullet would do it quicker. I’m about tired of hearing your voice.” Richard said. Trigger kicked Richard hard in the face and Tessa barely kept herself from crying out as Richard spit out blood and put the same grin right back on his face.

“I’m a married man, Trigger. I’m used to getting beat around.” he said as he looked over at the broken wall Tessa was peering through. Their eyes met and Richard quickly looked away and back up at Trigger. What the hell was that fool headed woman doing here?

The third man, who had not spoken a word since Richard had been brought here, walked away toward the broken wall where Tessa was hiding. For a moment Richard thought that maybe the man had seen Tessa but then he stopped about twenty feet from her and undid his pants to relieve himself in the dust.

Tessa had seen enough of them abusing her husband. She had to save Richard and now that he knew she was here it was time to act. She knew she couldn’t just start shooting away because she wasn’t very good with a revolver and she’d just end up shooting Richard. She pulled a stick of dynamite from her pants and struck a match to light it. She held the stick until the fuse was nearly gone before tossing it at the peeing mans feet and then she ducked.

The man barely had time to let out a yell before the dynamite exploded and his body went flying in more than one piece through the air. As the dust, blood and gore settled to the ground Trigger and Franks looked around with their guns drawn.

“Who’s there!” Trigger yelled. “Who the hell is out there!” Tessa walked back around to where she had left Neil.

“If anybody other than me or Richard comes out, shoot them.” she said. Neil nodded.

“Whatever you say.” he replied. “I ain’t arguing with you no more. Not now that I know you carry dynamite in them britches.” Tessa jumped up on Horse and rode around to the front door of the fort.

“Trigger Jones!” she yelled. “Open up and let me in!”

“Who the hell are you, woman!” Triggers voice yelled from inside.

“I’m Tessa you son of a bitch and I believe you’ve been looking for me!”

“Tessa Bradshaw?” Trigger replied his voice full of disbelief.

“Used to be. I’m Tessa Helms now and that’s my damn husband you’ve got tied up in there.” Silence followed her statement and Tessa worried that Trigger was not going to let her in.

“I’m gonna open up Tessa, but we’ve got our guns drawn so don’t you try nothing stupid.”

“I’m way too smart to ever do anything stupid.” she replied. Richard was seriously doubting that right now. If by some miracle he and Tessa lived through this he was going to beat the woman to death.

Tessa rode Horse into the fort at gunpoint. Once she was inside she was happy to see that Trigger and Franks left the door open.

“Jump down off that stallion real slow and throw down your weapons.” Trigger said. Tessa jumped down from Horse who quickly walked over to Richard and then walked behind him. He lowered his head down to the rope tied around Richard’s hands. Richard could feel his big teeth starting to gnaw at the rope and was happy to see that Trigger and Franks were too busy watching Tessa to notice.

Tessa threw down her own gun at her feet then she grabbed Richard’s guns from the waistband of her pants and tossed them down as well. She reached into the front of her pants while all three men watched wide-eyed and pulled out several sticks of dynamite and threw them down into the dust.

“Now step this way.” Trigger said. Tessa walked toward him stopping about a foot away from the man.

“Untie my husband and let us go.” she said matter-of-factly. Trigger laughed.

“No I don’t think I will. You’re gonna be a widow real damn soon sweetheart and I have every intention of being your second husband.” he said. Franks looked at his boss in shock.

“You can’t marry that bitch!” he yelled. “She killed Doomer!” He added pointing to the many parts of Doomer that were littering the ground. Trigger caught Franks hard in the jaw with his fist.

“Don’t you call Tessa a bitch!” he said. Franks rubbed his jaw and backed away from Trigger.

“Sorry boss.” he said.

“Of course once your mine you’ll have to take off those ridiculous pants and start wearing some of the beautiful dresses I’ll buy you.’ Trigger said turning his attention back to Tessa. “I think that dark green would look really good up against that hair.” Trigger ran his hand through some strands of Tessa’s hair and she couldn’t’ stop herself from shivering.

Richard felt anger well up inside of him as Trigger’s hand moved to Tessa cheeks and then his thumb traced her lips. Then he damn near had a heart attack when Tessa opened her mouth and bit down hard on Triggers finger. Trigger yelled in shock and pain and backhanded her across her face.

“I’ll have to teach you some respect too!” he said. Franks looked over at Richard as the big black stallion that had been standing behind the pole started walking over to Tessa.

“That’s a nice damn horse.” Franks said eyeing Horse happily. “Can I have it boss?” Trigger nodded.

“Sure. I’ll be too busy riding Tessa to worry about some damn horse.” he said with a grin. Tessa felt her breakfast rise in her throat but swallowed it back down.

“You aint’ gonna be riding nothing you son of a bitch.” Richard said. Trigger looked over at him and laughed.

“Yes I am. I’m gonna be riding your widow here in about two minutes after I blow your good for nothing brains out.” Tessa forced tears into her eyes and grabbed onto Trigger’s arm before he pulled his gun.

“Please let me say goodbye to him.” she said. Trigger looked at her. He figured it wouldn’t hurt nothing to let the woman say goodbye to her husband. Might even help her be a little more accommodating to him later.

“You have one minute.” Trigger replied. Tessa quickly ran to Richard and threw her arms around his neck. Richard breathed in her scent. He knew he was about to die but he was grateful for one last chance to feel her body against his. However he wished that she had stayed away and stayed safe.

“You’re a foolish woman. You should have stayed where you were safe.” he said. Tessa shook her head.

“But then you would have died.” she said. He sighed.

“I love you, Tessa. I guess I ain’t never actually said that before but I want to make sure I say it before Trigger puts that bullet in my head. I love you more than any man has ever loved another woman.” Tessa felt tears in her eyes but pushed them aside. She reminded herself that this was not goodbye.

“As much as I enjoy hearing you say that I don’t need the sappy ass Richard Helms right now. I need the tough as nails bounty hunter who likes to kick ass.” Richard looked at her questioningly.

“Okay.” he said.

“Horse did chew through your ropes like I told him to didn’t he?” she whispered. Richard nodded. “And you are real good at throwing knives right?” Richard nodded again. “I got a knife in each boot.” She said and then without another word she straddled her legs around his waist, laying her feet against his hands and began kissing him passionately.

Richard reached into both her boots and closed his hands around the hilt of both the knives.

“Hey! I said you could say goodbye! I didn’t say you could make love right there in front of me!” Trigger yelled angrily. Tessa rolled sideways off of Richard as he raised his arms and sent one of the knives flying. Trigger’s eyes widened in shock just before the knife sunk deep into his head and he fell lifeless to the ground.

“What the hell!” Franks yelled turning away from Horse to face them. Richard threw the second knife but Franks moved to the side and it went sailing harmlessly past his head.

“You missed.” Franks said pulling his gun. Richard nodded.

“Guess I did.” he said. He jumped to Tessa and shielded her body with his just as a gunshot filled the air.

Richard waited for the pain but it didn’t come. He turned his head in time to see Franks stagger forward several steps and then fall on his face on the dusty ground.

Richard looked toward the doorway of the fort and saw Neil standing there leaning on the wall for support with his gun in his hand.

“I think ya’ll might need to get me to that doc now.” he said and then fell to the ground unconscious.

Richard stood up and pulled Tessa to her feet before wrapping his arms tight around her.

“You damn fool headed woman! I should beat you senseless for coming out here like that! You could of got killed!” he scolded.

“Yea and you would have gotten killed if I hadn’t come dammit.” she replied.

“I’d have figured something out.” Richard argued but even he knew he was lying. Tessa looked over at Neil and pulled out of Richard’s arms. She dropped to her knees beside the old man.

“He needs help.” she said. Richard limped over and pulled off his shirt. He tied it tight around the old mans leg to help try to help slow the blood loss and then picked him up and carried him over to Horse. He threw Neil on his stomach over Horse’s saddle.

“He’s tough. He’ll be okay. We’ll have to take him into town and to the doc. That bullet is still in his leg.” he said. “And I guess this mean I’m gonna be stuck being sheriff after all.” Tessa nodded. Richard grabbed his and Tessa’s guns off the ground and tossed hers to her while she picked up the knife that had missed Frank and stuck it back in her boot.

She walked outside and grabbed her and Neil’s horses and Richard led Horse out to meet her. Tessa jumped on her mare and Richard jumped on Neil’s horse.

“I’ll come back out tomorrow and get Triggers body so we can turn it in for that bounty.” Richard said as they started back to town.. Tessa shook her head.

“I don’t care about that bounty.” she said. “I just want to go home and get back to our life together without having to worry about Trigger Jones ever again.”

“Sounds good to me.” Richard replied.

“Isn’t it crazy to think that the only reason you and I are together now is because of your love of a bounty?” she asked. Richard shook his head.

“It weren’t never the bounty I loved, darlin. It was that little red-haired she-devil named Tom.”