back to her, Casey made her way to where Jenkins leaned against the open door of the cabin.
“Jenkins,” Tim shouted from the small clearing in front of the cabin. “What are you doing in there?”
“O’Hare, I thought you had better things to do than trail me.”
“I wondered where you were headed. I hadn’t been in this part of Texas before, so I thought I’d find out what you were up to.” Tim sounded friendly. “You’re a hard man to find.”
“Well, now you found me. Get on out of here. I want to be alone.”
“Who do you have in there with you?” Tim dismounted from his horse and slowly ambled toward the cabin. His right hand rested on his gun belt.
“Nobody. Just me and my bottle.”
“I think you’re lying. This is Andrews’s land. Morgan Andrews.”
“What do you mean?” Impatience seemed to mount with Jenkins’s every word. Casey wanted to warn Tim, but Jenkins would shoot him.
“I want to come in and take a look. I wouldn’t want you to be drinking by yourself. I’ve come a long way.” Tim stared at the drunken outlaw.
Jenkins raised his revolver. “I don’t think so.”
The click screamed at her mind. “Tim,” Casey cried, “he’ll kill you for sure. Do what he says.”
The muscles in her brother’s face tightened. “Jenkins, I told you too many times to leave my sister alone. I’ve been trailing you for a long time, knowing you’d not give up on finding her. Casey, come on outside.”
“She stays put,” Jenkins said.
“Then you and I will settle this for good.”
“I could shoot you where you stand.” Jenkins limped off the porch.
“But you’d rather fight me square. You’ve wanted to for a long time.” Tim’s hand rested near his holster.
“Yer pushin’ me.”
“Come on out in the open, Jenkins. Show me what you’re made of. This business with my sister has to stop here. I told you to leave her be. She ain’t no good to you alive or dead.”
“I’m faster than you.” Jenkins spit tobacco between them.
“Prove it.” Tim whirled one quick glimpse her way.
Casey gasped. Her mind scrambled. Was Tim faster?
“I don’t want to kill ya,” Jenkins said. “We were partners.”
“Didn’t stop you from killin’ Franco. Let my sister go.”
“She’s mine. Always has been. You’re not giving me any choice but to gun you down, O’Hare.”
She realized Tim allowed silence to strengthen his challenge. She well remembered his tactics. “Are you afraid of me?”
Jenkins made his way into the clearing. She followed, no longer afraid that he might swing his gun back her way.
Tim met Casey’s gaze. One brief moment of compassion. “That’s my sister you’re treatin’ that way. I’m ready, Jenkins.”
In the midst of anger’s fury, two men fired. And two men fell.
Casey screamed as her brother’s body slumped to the ground. He rolled over on his back. Blood rippled over his chest and onto the dry ground. She stumbled down the steps to his still form. “Tim. I’m coming.” She struggled with the rawhide binding her hands. “I can’t touch you.” She stared in horror at the sight of his ashen face. “Why did it have to come to this?”
He groaned and opened his mouth to speak. She tried to stop him, but he ignored her pleading. “Cas, I’m sorry . . . I never did right by you.”
She blinked back stinging tears. “It’s all right. Save your strength and rest. I’ll go get help.”
“Not this time, little sister,” he whispered. “Jenkins’s bullet did me in.”
And with the red pool at his side, she saw his words were true.
“Tim, do you still remember Jesus?” Sobbing broke her words.
“No . . . only through Ma.”
“It’s not too late to ask Him into your life.” All the things she wanted to tell him about Jesus flowed through the recesses of her mind, but time stole them from her heart.
He struggled to breathe. “Someday, when you see Ma again, tell her I’m sorry. I never kept the promises I made to take care of you proper.”
“You did keep—” Her words fell on lifeless ears. Casey heard the click of a revolver. Her gaze bore into the crippled, mangled outlaw who had stalked her and killed her brother. He’d crawled to her, and now he aimed his revolver directly at her face. If she hadn’t been on her knees, she could have kicked the gun from his hands.
“Go ahead, Jenkins,” she said. “Do it now. I dare you.”
He raised the weapon to fire, but movement caught her eye. Morgan raced from the trees beside the