Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,65

wrong.

“What happened?” she asked seeing the strained look on the men’s faces. They exchanged a look and then sighed in tandem.

“Big commotion outside of town, down by Butte. We have to go lend a hand,” Forrest answered her.

“When are you leaving?” Seylah asked. She was already going through the mental calculations associated with what would be needed in town and at the office with her fathers gone.

“Now,” Will said his face grim. “They sent two telegrams about it. Train was hit at the depot last two days runnin’. We’re going to be leaving Tom and Wallace behind with you, August. You’ll look after things here until we get back from this.”

August nodded. “Understood.”

“Why do they need the both of you? Can’t Wallace or Tom go?”

“Those boys are boys. Too young. Besides, it’s the McCarron Gang we’re hunting,” Will answered, gruffly. Seylah’s heart sank at that news. The McCarron Gang were among the roughest outlaws in the state. The Frontier was home to its fair share of law breakers, but the McCarron Gang was in an entirely different class of outlaw. The men would be hard to find and even harder to subdue. The Wickes-Barnes men were in for a battle and they all knew it.

“We’re going on as trackers. This gang isn’t taking kindly to being told what to do. They’ve holed up somewhere nearby, but authorities aren’t sure where.”

Seylah’s face fell. “Let me go with you.”

Both of her fathers blanched at her request. “Sweetheart, it’s not safe. You have to stay here where things are looked after. We can’t take you with us.”

“You have a job to do here in town, Seylah,” Forrest told her gently, but she shook her head.

“As what? A secretary? I’m a sure shot, you made sure of that. You need me to watch your back while you work,” she insisted. She didn’t know why they needed her fathers but the familiar pang of fear and anxiety associated with them leaving town on the trail of criminals had her feeling faint. This time she wouldn’t be able to go with them. There would be no one to watch their back, not if she was to stay here in her role as secretary.

“I’m more useful to you as a deputy, as a gun and a pair of eyes. Not filing papers and taking messages!”

Forrest held up a hand. “Seylah, no.”

She threw out her hands in frustration. “Make me a deputy. I’m trained for it. We need the extra people and times like this when they call the both of you away show it. What happens when you’re gone? Who is going to make sure Gold Sky keeps on being Gold Sky.”

The men were silent, they moved back and looked at each other. Even though no words were exchanged she knew they were communicating. They had always been like this. Silent but speaking to the other. How they did, she didn’t know. She had always found it endearing but now? Now it was acutely frustrating. She scowled at them.

“I’m better with a gun than a pen. Admit it.” She had never missed a target, was as disciplined as any man on the job, and understood the land and the people she had grown up with. It was only her gender, the fact that she was a woman that swayed her fathers’ idea of what her “safety” encompassed. Her family was progressive in their living, and encouraged each of them to be their own person, but she was under no illusions that what she was allowed would be vastly different if she were a man.

The men nodded, the gesture so slight it might have gone unnoticed except for the fact that it was their daughter and the man they had raised who watched them. Both August and Seylah stepped closer together, his hand brushing hers lightly giving her comfort.

“You’re trained. We know it, but it isn’t safe,” Forrest began. “The life of a deputy isn’t the one meant for you, sweetheart.”

She flinched at his words. “But Papa--”

Will gave a shake of his head. “Seylah, you can’t come. We’d spend more time worrying over you than looking for the gang.” Forrest nodded along with his words and Seylah felt her heart sink. How she wished she’d been born a man. In that moment, she would have given anything to change places with August. To have a spot beside her fathers in their job. To be able to actively protect those she loved from harm. “Your place is here in