Silver Creek - G.L. Snodgrass Page 0,45

you, brother. You got these people thinking you’re a right ornery hombre. Faster than lightning and meaner than a beaten dog.”

“Don’t change the subject. Why are you here?”

“Hanna said I could come,” he said as he shrugged. “Got to admit it. I might have gotten on her nerves a bit. Pestering her a bit. But she could see, things are too tame at home. Zion’s already done solved everything.” Then he laughed. “I didn’t want you having all the fun by yourself. Besides, you said in your letter you was helping Becky Johnson. I couldn’t have stayed out of it.”

Here he turned to wink at Rebecca then said to Luke, “You always did say she was the one person you felt something for.”

Rebecca gasped. Had Luke really felt the same about her as she had always felt about him?

“Jacob,” Luke sighed, “this isn’t the same as hunting rabbits or busting broncs. These people shoot to kill.”

The tall cowboy’s eyes narrowed, “So do I, big brother. So do I.” He patted the gun on his left hip. “Took this off a rustler down on our southern range. He wasn’t going to need it no more.”

Luke let out a long sigh as he examined his brother then turned to Rebecca. She looked back at him and smiled. “At least you’re not alone anymore.”

He rolled his eyes then reached into the desk drawer and pulled out a gold star to toss it to his brother. “You better wear this. At least they’ll know who they’re trying to kill.”

Jake looked down at the star in his hand then smiled. “You always did know how to find the most fun. I’m telling you, brother, Zion is going to be so upset when he finds out we got into a fight and didn’t invite him.”

“Here,” Rebecca said as she took the star from his hand so that she could pin it to his chest. Her insides bubbled with excitement. Jacob Parker here. Luke wasn’t alone. It was hard to imagine anything ever defeating the Parker brothers.

The young cowboy smiled down at her. “I’m telling you, Becky. You done picked the wrong brother. The man is older than dirt and about as smart as an addled frog. Don’t you want someone prettier with half a brain?”

This was the Jacob she remembered. Funny, light-hearted, with a twinkle in his eye and a ready smile. The boy who fought to make the world happier. “Someone like you, I suppose,” she said with a smile

“Well, I got to think it’d be a better move.”

She laughed as she patted his chest then stepped back to stand next to Luke. “Maybe, but a girl can’t help who she falls in love with.”

Jacob frowned for a moment as he studied her, then his brother. Finally, he shook his head. “That’s my brother. Always there first and always getting the treasures.”

“Don’t you forget it,” Luke said to him. Then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, silently marking his territory. Rebecca’s heart soared. He was telling his brother that she was his and always would be. A thought that made her insides tingle with happiness.

“Oh well,” Jake said with a shrug then he smiled. “So, what’s your plan brother? Do we go in guns blasting, or take them out one at a time? Oh, by the way, who are we fighting exactly?”

Luke laughed and shook his head. “We got but one job, keep that man in his cell until the judge gets here. That and figure out who killed Tom Johnson.”

Jake turned to her, his eyes softening, “I was sorry to hear about your uncle. He was a good man.”

Rebecca’s heart broke as it always did when she thought about her uncle’s death. But like the death of her parents, she knew that eventually, the hurt would form a callus.

“Thank you … Jake,” she said. She must remember to call him Jake. The name Jacob sounded too much a boy’s name. Then, remembering her manners, she asked him, “Have you eaten? Come on, Helen makes the best cobbler this side of Saint Louis.” She pulled at his arm to get him started.

Jake looked at his brother and raised an eyebrow.

“You get something to eat,” Luke told him. “I’ll want you here at sundown.”

Suddenly Rebecca paused as the truth of the situation returned. This was two men against a dozen. And by the look in Luke’s eyes, he would never entertain the idea of letting it all go and walking away.

“And stay clear of