Free The Outlaw's Kiss (an Old West Romance) (Wild West Brides) by Anya Karin

Clark Davis’s claim was working. He’d
shown us the gold. But what he said about Eli struck me in a strange,
unexplainable way. 
    I knew he had a relationship with Itan.
He’d explained it to me, after all. There was no shame surrounding it, in fact,
he was very proud of their sworn brotherhood. If that were true, then what else about what he said should be taken seriously? Were there kernels of reality in
all his bombastic statements? I spent most of the day absently following my
father around, and trying to reconcile what I knew to be true with what I
needed to be false.
    As the sun began its path to the horizon, a sound
of hooves shook me from my stupor.
    Someone coming up the river toward Father called
out, “Sure is a lot cooler in the mountains out west than it is here this time
of year.”
    “Eli? Is that you?” I made my way over, and in my
eagerness, I dropped the basket I was carrying and stumbled as soon as I saw
his face. Almost tipping the thing over and allowing our days’ worth of gold to
rejoin the river, I let out a soft curse the instant before one of Eli’s
powerful arms caught me. He helped me to right myself, not once taking those
beautiful blue eyes off my face.
    As father approached, Eli spoke softly to me.
“It’s good to see you, Clara. The road back’s a long and lonely one for a man
to travel alone.” His hand settled first on my shoulder, then moved slightly
down my back.
    I couldn’t speak; I could hardly keep myself from
falling over in the river again. Eli’s gloved fingers curled softly against the
small bit of skin above my collar. I was almost taken with a flight of fancy to
turn and kiss him – thankfully I managed to maintain enough dignity to not
shame myself quite so utterly. Fortunately, a moment later, Father approached
and saved me from any further embarrassment.
    “Mr. Masterson! So good to see you. How’d you find
us?”
    “Oh,” Eli said with sly smile, “I got into town
and went directly to Mr. Star to ask after you. Like I was just telling Miss
James here, the road back to Deadwood is empty, dull, and lifeless. I needed to
see a couple of friends when I got back to civilization, such as it is.”
    “Well you’re certainly always welcome to visit. By
the way, your advice that I seek out Mr. Star proved very fortunate. It seems
like I’ve got a working claim!” Father fished a nugget out of the basket I’d
dropped and turned it in the sunlight.
    “Put that down,” Eli said in a hushed tone. “Don’t
go waving nuggets. These hills aren’t safe for success. Too much greed, too
many –”
    “Eli? Eli Masterson? Is that you?” Eustace Rawls
drew up behind Eli and put his hand on his shoulder. “How long as it been since
we came across one another?”
    In my excitement, I’d somehow missed his approach.
    Eli grimaced. “Six years, Eustace. Six happy
years.” He brushed the hand off his shoulder. “Leave these folks alone, do you
understand? No one’s going to put up with you or your goon harassing them. I’ve
warned Seth to keep an eye –”
    “Oh yes, the right Sheriff. I’m sure he’ll have
plenty of time to keep me from being cordial with my friends here in between
his endless visits to the various women he keeps. Anyway, no need to be curt
with me, Eli. I was just coming by to,” he paused. “What’s that then?” his gaze
went to my father’s hand, still holding the nugget.
    “Nothing,” Father said, tucking it in his pocket.
“None of your business at any rate. We were just going back to town, to dine
with Mr. Masterson, if he’ll give us the pleasure.”
    Eli nodded without taking his eyes off the slight
man in the tattered coat before him. “Be obliged, ma’am, sir.” He reached for
my hand, took it and kissed it. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to talk to
people, Eustace. You’ve just exemplified for us the way to make sociability a
most unpleasant experience.”
    They exchanged a long, unfriendly glare.
    “Of