heart thumping through her skin.
He covered her breast with his hand, to still and comfort her. He brushed his fingers slowly over the plush mound, not in passion but hoping to still the quivering.
It didn’t help much, given that his hand was no steadier than her heart.
Come morning, quaking like that would get him killed.
Some things had to be sorted out no matter the pain of saying them out loud.
With dawn, he’d have to close everything out of his mind but the slide of metal against leather. Until this job was done there would be no home, no children, no Emma.
Things had to be spoken now. Tomorrow, a single thought or feeling that didn’t have to do with shooting Hawker would be the nail shutting his coffin closed. A single loose string at home might mean his end.
“I can’t say that.” He turned her over, ran his thumb alongside her cheek. “That’s why I need some promises from you.”
She shook her head in denial but said, “All right. Tell me what to do to make you come back to me.”
“I need to know that you and Lucy and Red are safe, here at home. If I think that you aren’t I’ll be distracted. Promise me you will stay here. No matter what, you’ll keep everyone here.”
“I promise, just as long as you don’t tell me goodbye. Matt, never tell me goodbye.”
“Why would I? I’ll be home before dark, you’ll see.” All of a sudden the front door flew open with a force that knocked it back against the wall.
“Hope everybody’s decent.” Billy’s voice boomed down the hall. “I’m coming in!”
A second later his big frame filled the doorway.
“Red’s missing and so is his horse. I think he’s gone to Dodge.” Billy’s voice sucked in and out of his lungs. “Jesse caught him in town a few nights ago ready to call out Hawker. I took his gun away and hid it, but it’s gone now, too.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nighttime in Dodge seemed the same in any weather. Rowdy tunes plinked out of open saloon doors, men laughed and argued, cards shuffled and chips chinked on tables. Driving rain or sweltering night made no difference in the buzz of activity.
Life on Front Street seemed as normal as peas even though the tension in Matt’s gut nearly doubled him up.
During the charge from the homestead to town the rain had slowed to a steady drizzle, but the wind howled and swirled.
Cold mist covered his face in a clammy sheet. Lanterns squeaked on hooks up and down the boardwalk. Their sway shot beams of light over the muddy street, then twisted them back to stab jumpy lines on the boardwalk again.
“I’ll ride toward the livery,” Billy said, rising in the stirrups then resettling his weight. “We could use Jesse’s help.”
Matt settled his soggy hat on his head. It wasn’t much cover, but it helped to slow the trickle of rain seeping under his shirt.
“Cousin, if we part ways tonight, take care of my family.” Emma would be grieved to hear that kind of talk, but the ride to town had turned his fingers stiff with cold. If he were forced to face Hawker like this, he would lose.
“Hey now, it won’t come to that. But if it sets your mind at ease, I’ve got your back.” Billy turned his horse toward the livery. Its hooves sucked at the muddy street, slowing what needed to be quick action.
Everything about tonight seemed slowed by the weather. Hawker was likely inside somewhere, keeping his shooting finger warm and swift.
“Where are you, Red?” Matt whispered even though he wanted to shout.
Thoughts of Emma crowded his brain, filled his senses. He closed his eyes, breathed in the moist night air and looked at the images of her behind his eyelids for the length of a sigh. Then he put her away.
Without success, he tried to call up the rash young man he had been, with no ties but the one between his hand and his weapon. That boy was gone, and in his place a husband and father, dead set on protecting what was his own.
He felt his determination swell, but also his vulnerability.
“Come on, boy,” he murmured to Thunder. “Not enough ruckus in the saloon to let on that a green kid is inside calling out a gunfighter. Chances are Red is hiding out behind one of these buildings watching for Hawker.”
Matt hunched his shoulders against the chill and rode a block to the land office. Red knew of