Free Relentless by Bobbi Smith

I’ve never seen him before.”
    “Neither have I, and it was so strange for him to just appear out of nowhere the way he did. I mean, some of the men in the hall knew the fight was going on, and they didn’t do anything—nothing—They just stood there watching. They didn’t even try to help Rick—And then that stranger just showed up and faced both Paul and Mark down—”
    “There was something about the man—a dangerous edge or—I don’t know. And then for him to just disappear the way he did—”
    “I wonder where he went?”
    “He was probably your guardian angel and he went to make sure those two don’t come back to bother you again.”
    “Oh, I don’t know. I think Rick was my guardian angel tonight,” Francie said, finally managing a smile as her expression softened.
    “That was very brave of him to take on Paul.”
    “Yes, it was.”
    “Let’s get you freshened up then. Your hero is waiting out there to dance with you.”
    “I hope Rick’s not hurt too bad,” Francie said, sounding concerned.
    “If he’s staying to dance with you, I don’t think you have to worry too much about that.”
    “I just have to worry about the other girls grabbing him,” Francie replied with a grin.
    “Then hurry up!” Dusty teased.
    “All right,” Francie said, getting up to check her appearance in the small mirror. “How do I look?”
    “Gorgeous! Let’s go.”
    Grant followed in the direction the two drunks had gone, and it didn’t take him long to catch sight of them, staggering along up ahead of him. He watched from a distance as they entered the saloon. He hadn’t expected them to give up so easily, but he was glad that it seemed they had. He knew the cowhands might drink some more and come back looking for even more trouble, but he hoped they had sense enough to just spend the rest of the night in the saloon, drinking. He had more important things to worry about than a couple of drunken cowboys. He wanted to make sure Les Jackson and his men weren’t in town yet, so he had to get back to the dance and take a look around.
    Charley was still drinking at the bar when the two hands came in and sat down at a table, yelling forone of the saloon girls to wait on them. There was no missing their conversation as they bragged about the fight they’d just been in at the dance.
    “Yeah,” one of the men was chuckling to his friend, “I’d say that Randolph girl was worth fighting over, wouldn’t you?”
    “Especially if you only had to fight that banker for her,” the other man answered. “It was too damn bad the other fella showed up when he did. If he hadn’t butted in, we mighta had ourselves some real fun tonight.”
    “Yeah, well, we can have some real fun here with Sassy,” the first man said, grabbing the saloon girl as she came to the table and hauling her down on his lap.
    “Yes, you can,” the girl assured him, leaning forward to give him a big, hungry kiss.
    Charley usually didn’t pay any attention to what went on there in the saloon, but hearing the news that there had been trouble at the dance, and that it had involved Francie, worried him. Quickly downing the rest of his drink, he left the saloon and hurried back to the hall. He feared Dusty might have gotten caught up in all the ruckus, too, and he grew angry with himself for not being there to make sure she stayed safe and out of harm’s way.
    His felt a surge of relief when he went back inside and found Dusty dancing with one of the nice young men from town. He was glad to see that she appeared to be enjoying herself, so he went looking for Fred to find out exactly what had happened earlier.
    Charley didn’t get far, though, before Miss Gertrude saw him coming and cornered him.
    “All right, Charley Martin, you’ve been avoiding me all night, but you’re not sneaking past me this time! This is my dance!” she declared, taking his arm.
    Even though he’d been drinking, he knew better than to try to get away from Miss