Free Reese by Lori Handeland

their breathing. Then thunder rumbled, once, sharp as lightning, and Reese whirled about.
    "What was that?" she asked.
    "A gunshot, damn it to hell."
    Reese ran for the door. Mary was right on his heels.
    * * *
    The general store stood only a few buildings away from the schoolhouse, yet to Reese it seemed like a few miles. He could hear Mary trying to keep up, panting as her corset pressed on her ribs, making it hard for her to run and breathe at the same time. Women and their idiotic undergarments!
    Though Reese should have waited for her to catch up, he didn't. Had one of his men shot one of the townsfolk, or had one of the townsfolk shot one of his men? Either way, there'd be trouble in Rock Creek. And when there was trouble, Reese was always the one who fixed it.
    He slowed on the boardwalk. Waltzing into the store without knowing what was happening inside would be an excellent way to get his head blown off. He might not have much to live for, but he really didn't care to die that way.
    Reese flattened himself against the outside wall, drew his gun, scowled at Mary, and waved her out of sight. Then he peeked into the store.
    To find his men in the process of holding up Baxter Sutton. Hands raised, the storekeeper stood with his back against the wall as the men pawed through his selection of bullets. Reese should have known better than to leave them alone and armed among real people.
    "Coming in," Reese called. Sometimes Cash got jumpy, and Nate was always shaky this time of the afternoon.
    He started into the store. Mary followed so close her toes clipped the heels of his boots. Once inside, she maneuvered around him and planted her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing?"
    The five men glanced at her, smirked, and glanced at Reese. He shrugged. They were on their own.
    "I think it should be obvious," Cash drawled. "We're robbing Sutton."
    "Why?"
    "Seemed like the thing to do at the time."
    "But there's no need."
    "Perhaps not, but boys will be boys."
    "Hmm." Voice calm, the only sign of her annoyance was the tap of her boot beneath the sweep of her skirt "Mr. Sutton, it was agreed that these men would be supplied with whatever they wished while they were here."
    "That doesn't mean I have to give them whatever they want."
    "That's exactly what it means."
    "Who else has to give them stuff? They're living in a deserted hotel. Nobody's losing money over that."
    "Everyone is taking turns feeding them. And I paid them. I don't have time to listen to any tales of poor little you. You'll benefit from the town coming back to life more than most, so do your part now. Give them whatever they want."
    "And you!" She turned to the five men. "Put away those guns and that knife. Behave like human beings for a change."
    "Or what?" Cash snapped.
    Uh-oh, Reese thought, time to step in. Cash had very little patience when it came to women of a certain type—good women, to be exact. His charm with saloon girls was legendary, but wave a decent lady in front of his face, and it was like waving red in front of a bull.
    Reese stepped around Mary. "Miss McKendrick, what exactly do you think you're doing?"
    She crossed her arms over her breasts, her stance considering rather than mulish, but that foot kept tapping. "Managing things, of course."
    "These men being one of those things?"
    "It's what I do best. Manage."
    Jed snorted. Rico coughed. Cash's upper lip lifted like a cur's. Sullivan shrugged as Nate groaned and put a hand to his head. "Lord spare us from a good woman who manages things."
    Her eyes narrowed. "It's not a curse; it's a gift."
    "Right." Cash flipped his pretty gun back into its holster, grabbed two boxes of bullets, and stalked toward the door. Before he left, he turned and glared at Reese. "You'd better manage her or I'm leaving."
    The other four mumbled and grumbled as they chose their ammunition and filed out. Since Sutton glared at her, Mary thought it prudent to leave too.
    On the boardwalk she turned to Reese.