Free The Outlaws: Rafe by Connie Mason Page B

his.   Damn, he was thinking with his cock instead of his head.   He had nothing to offer Angel.   Not even his good name.   One day she would find a wanted poster with his picture on it and think the worst.   It was best he left now, before the law caught up with him.   The last thing he wanted was to make more problems for Angel.
    Just when Rafe thought the night would never end, a gray dawn colored the night sky.
     
    They met in the dining room the next morning.   After devouring a hearty breakfast, Rafe went for the wagon while Angela packed her nightclothes and few belongings in her carpetbag.   Rafe was waiting for Angela at the curb when she stepped out the door and onto the sidewalk.   The day was exceptionally fine.   A light breeze blew down from the mountains and the sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky.
    Rafe lifted Angela onto the seat and took up the reins.
    "You really don't have to come with me, you know," Angela said.   "I'm sure I can find my own way to the Golden Angel."
    "The least I can do is see you safely to your destination.   As you reminded me last night, you did save my life.   Only an ungrateful wretch wouldn't return the favor.   I know you're itching to be rid of me, and you'll get your wish soon enough."
    Angela gnawed on her bottom lip.   She should have expected Rafe's sarcasm, but somehow it sounded harsh and accusatory coming from his lips.
    "Rafe.   About last night.   I'm sorry."
    "You already said that."
    "Then I'll say it again.   I want you to understand..."
    "I do understand, Angel.   More than you know.   Ah, here's where we turn off to the mine.   It shouldn't be far now."
    Angela's eyes glowed.   "Yes!   It's been a long time but I recognize the road.   I traveled it often with my father."
    The wagon traveled steadily upward, wobbling from side to side over a rutted trail.   Thick forests rose majestically on towering mountainsides; a canopy of dappled shadows and sunlight.   In some places the track was narrow and steep, with one side falling away abruptly to nothing.   Angela drank in the magnificent view featuring snow-capped mountains, dark green forests and clear blue skies, giddy with delight as memories of happy times with her father assailed her.
    "There it is!" Rafe cried, pointing to a narrow track and a sign posted beside it that read, "The Golden Angel."
    A sob caught in Angela's throat.   "The sign is still there, I was with Father when he made it.   He always called me his angel."
    Rafe deftly turned the horses into the road.   The gaping mouth of the mine sat at the end of the narrow lane.   Activity was in full swing.   Rafe counted four men busily engaged in various tasks and an empty car sitting on a track leading into the bowels of the mine.   From what Rafe could gather, the Golden Angel was a good-sized operation.   Two sturdy cabins, built to withstand the harshest winters, stood side by side at the far end of the site, backed up against a wooded hillside.   Angela stared at the larger cabin that had once been her home.
    While Rafe took in the lay of the land, a man detached himself from a group of men standing beside the cable car and ambled toward them.
    "Are you lost, mister?   This is the Golden Angel mine.   We don't see many strangers up here.   There's nothing beyond the mine but trees and more mountain."
    "We have the right place," Rafe said as he climbed down from the wagon.   "Are you Brady Baxter?"
    "I'm Baxter.   How can I help you?"
    Rafe sized up Baxter in one glance.   He wasn't old, perhaps a few years older than his own twenty-eight.   His drab blond hair showed signs of graying at the temples and his murky brown eyes held the predatory gleam of a wolf.   Big, rawboned and rangy, his narrow-lipped smile suggested a mean disposition.   Rafe decided Baxter wasn't to be trusted.
    Not one to remain in the background, Angela stepped forward.   "Mr. Baxter, I'm Angela, Simon Abbot's daughter."
    "Abbot's