McCarron’s.”
Seylah nodded and watched as he turned and made for the gulch to the left of them. He vanished out of sight with the horses and after a few minutes reappeared, one of their saddle bags slung over his shoulder.
“We’ll take the hilltop and assess. I suspect I’ll have to go down and investigate the buildings.” He started up the hill and Seylah fell into step beside him. “You’ll keep watch from the hilltop, make sure my back isn’t taken while I take a look around. Hopefully, I’ll get eyes on Will and Forrest. Once I do, I’ll come back to you and we can plan how to take the McCarron’s off guard.”
“What if you don’t make it back to me?” Seylah asked, trying to keep the waver from her voice. It was difficult but she managed it. The prickly feeling of fear was like ice water on her skin.
“I will make it back,” he assured her.
“But-”
“But if I don’t,” he said, cutting her off and for once Seylah was glad to be interrupted, “you are to report to Butte and tell them where we were, what has happened and bring them here immediately.”
She balked. “You can’t expect me to leave you. To leave my family.”
“I can and I do, Seylah. If you mean to claim that you are suited to the job of deputy then you have to remain above what your heart tells you. If you do not bring the authorities here then the McCarron’s will go free. You cannot take them all on your own. If I cannot return to you then you must take care to get word out about what has happened.”
She flinched from his words. He was right, they both knew it but that didn’t mean she was apt to like it.
She shook her head, shifting the rifle she was carrying. “Fine.”
August snorted and put a hand on her arm. “I know it’s hard but we are a team in this, Seylah. Promise me you’ll do as I ask.”
She nodded, his touch making the truth easier to swallow. “I will. I promise.” Seylah glanced towards the ridge in front of them now. The buildings Maurice had told them of were below, just as the man predicted. The barkeep had been right, the hilltop was the perfect vantage point for keeping watch, and sharpshooting, of those below, and August crouched down gesturing for her to do the same beside him.
“You’ll be safe here. Use this boulder for cover,” he put a hand on the rock beside them and then nodded down at the scattering of buildings below them. “I’ll come back as fast as I can, cut down that side of the hill so I can use the outcropping for cover.” He pointed to the side of the hill and gave her a reassuring smile.
“This will work,” he said.”
Seylah nodded. “Yes, of course.” She lowered herself down into position and made a show of getting her rifle’s sites set.
“Seylah, look at me.” August crouched down beside her, and put a hand on her shoulder. When she didn’t immediately look at him, he sighed. “Honey, please.”
She looked up at him then. That voice, that sweet endearment could make her agree to damn near anything and she suspected he knew it.
“This will work.” He squeezed her shoulder. “I love you, Seylah.”
She blinked back the tears that burned her eyes. “I love you too,” she replied. Seylah reached for him then and pulled him close. She kissed him as if it were the last thing she might ever do, as if the very air in her lungs demanded it because for all she knew it would be the last time she kissed him. He cupped her face, hand gentle on her skin as he returned her kiss. August took freely of the love and need Seylah offered him, drank of it like a dying man in the desert.
They parted, foreheads touching as they looked at each other in the ever growing light of the morning.
“I love you,” he said.
“Come back to me,” she whispered.
August kissed her once more before he was gone, moving away from her and down the hillside before Seylah could think too much on what would happen next. Drawing out their goodbye wouldn’t do. It would only make it harder for them to focus. She knew that but it didn’t mean it was any easier to watch him go.
“Focus,” she whispered forcing her attention away from August and towards the McCarron’s buildings. She scanned the