Free The Tracker by Mary Burton

more!”
    “Get on your horses and ride,” Nick ordered. “If I see either of you again, I won’t be so generous. I will kill you.”
    Neither argued. Fat Pete helped Hugh up on his horse and then mounted his. They rode off without a backward glance.
    Nick kept his gaze on the riders, but he was aware that Ellie stared with horror. He’d cultivated and encouraged the legends about himself because he’d wanted people to be afraid of him. Fear made his job easier.
    But seeing Ellie’s naked apprehension troubled him deeply.
    “Is what they said true?” she asked.
    “Enough of it.”
    “You aren’t a marshal.”
    “No.”
    A wrinkle furrowed her brow. “How do I know you’re not working with Frank?”
    “You don’t.”

CHAPTER SIX
    L ATER THAT EVENING as Ellie folded Rose’s freshly laundered clothes, she mentally cataloged what she needed to take when she and Rose left.
    There wasn’t much, of course. A bottle, a few cans of milk, three baby gowns and the twenty dollars she’d earned these last few months. She owned the dress she wore and a store-bought one Annie had given her. She’d never worn the blue calico because it had just seemed too fancy for her, but she’d cherished the gift nonetheless.
    In truth, there wasn’t much she and Rose truly needed. As long as they had each other, they’d manage.
    Nick’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “I would never hurt you.”
    Ellie started and looked up. He stood by the stove, a cup of coffee in his hand. He stared at her. Self-consciously she wondered what had caught his attention and then she realized she’d been sorting the laundry—a pile to keep and a pile to leave behind.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She looked away but could still feel his gaze on her. Color flooded her cheeks as she put the piles into one stack and carried them to the chest by her bed. Absently she smoothed the wrinkles from the clothes Rose would never wear again.
    Nick set his cup down. Lantern light flickered on the hard planes of his face. “I am the best hunter there is, Ellie.”
    “Why should I care about that?”
    “Because you are planning to leave.” His voice was smooth, unemotional and lethal.
    Guilt and fear gnawed at her as she moved to the oven to pull out a loaf of freshly baked bread. She didn’t mean to leave Annie, but Fat Pete had called him “The Tracker” and Rose had to come first.
    In such a rush to pretend nothing was wrong, she didn’t double fold her hot mitt. The scorching pan burned through to her fingers. She hissed and dropped the pan on the cook top.
    Nick dampened a cloth with cool water and limped toward her.
    She blew on her fingertips. “That’s ridiculous. How far would I get with a baby?”
    He wrapped the wet cloth around her fingers. “You made it here all the way from Butte. I didn’tfind you sooner because I underestimated you. I won’t misjudge your determination again.”
    The pain in her fingertips coupled with frustration and fear brought sudden hot tears to her eyes. “I’ve told you, I don’t have the gold. Good Lord, if I did have that kind of money, do you think that I’d be in a coach station working twelve hours a day?”
    He turned her hand over. Her fingertips were red. Gently he held her hand above the washbasin and poured water from a pitcher over it. The throbbing in her fingers eased. She tried to pull her hand away but he held tight. “You are smart. I won’t deny that.”
    “What does that mean?” she asked.
    “It means you are patient. Perhaps you are waiting for Frank and people like me to forget about the money.”
    She rolled her eyes. “It’s been my experience that people don’t forget about twenty thousand dollars. I saw a man shot in cold blood once for fifty cents. You can bet if I had the money I’d have bought a ticket to someplace very, very far from Montana.”
    He absorbed what she said. “You have always lived in Montana. It makes sense you wouldn’t stray