Part 2 (1/2)
Her eyes were fairly glittering with anger, but she still tried to make her voice honey-sweet. ”Why, I'd never do anything like that. You're just such an attractive man-”
Luke's harsh laugh interrupted her. ”Now I know you're just putting on an act, Delia. It's not going to work, so you might as well take your cleavage and get on out of here.”
The fake smile disappeared as she snarled at him. ”You d.a.m.n fool. You don't know what you're pa.s.sing up.”
”Whatever it is, I reckon there's a good chance I'll live longer without it.”
”Oh!” She s.n.a.t.c.hed up the shawl but didn't put it back on as she turned to the door.
”You'll get over McCluskey,” Luke told her. ”He's just a two-bit outlaw. A week from now you'll have forgotten that you ever met him.”
She jerked the door open, stalked out, and slammed it behind her hard enough to make it s.h.i.+ver in its frame.
Luke locked the door, holstered the Remington, and went to bed.
He fell asleep quickly and didn't dream.
Breakfast at the cafe was just as good as supper had been the night before, and Luke felt well-rested and well-fed as he went to the livery stable to get his horse and McCluskey's mount. Once he had the horses saddled and ready to ride, he led them to the general store, which had just opened for the day.
Marshal Elliott had told him it would take about a day and a half to ride to Rattlesnake Wells, so Luke wanted to make sure he had enough provisions for that journey. His weeklong pursuit of McCluskey had exhausted some of his supplies.
With that errand taken care of, he headed for the marshal's office.
”Is that a fresh pot or left over from yesterday?” Luke asked as he came into the office. He gestured toward the coffeepot on the stove in the corner.
”The grounds are still good,” Elliott said defensively. ”The town doesn't pay me what you'd call an extravagant wage. Man's got to be thrifty to live on it. I'll pour you a cup, though, if you want it.”
”No, thanks.” Luke had already had an extra cup at the cafe, figuring he would need it to stay alert on the ride to Rattlesnake Wells.
”Suit yourself.” Elliott picked up a ring of keys from his desk. ”I already fetched the prisoner some breakfast awhile ago, so he's ready for you, I reckon.”
”I'm obliged to you for your help, Marshal.”
Elliott unlocked the cell block door. ”I'm just glad we were able to corral that jasper. I don't like the idea of an outlaw like him being in my town and I didn't even know it.”
”You didn't have any reason to suspect McCluskey was in these parts,” Luke pointed out. ”There's no telegraph office here, so you wouldn't have gotten a wire about that bank robbery over in Rock Springs. You wouldn't have known to be watching for him.”
”And the stagecoach only comes through once a week. That's the only news we ever get. Since it was westbound last time, word of the holdup never got here. But it all worked out all right, I suppose.” Elliott swung the thick wooden door open. ”Can't say as I'll be sorry to see McCluskey go. You need to be mighty careful with him on the way to Rattlesnake Wells, Jensen. He's liable to try to escape.”
”I'll be ready for any tricks he pulls.” Now that he had captured McCluskey alive, Luke would just as soon keep him that way and turn him over to the authorities in Cheyenne. But if the outlaw tried to make a break and Luke had to kill him, well, that wouldn't be any cause for lost sleep.
McCluskey was fully dressed, wearing the clothes that had been brought over from the hotel. He stood at the cell door, grasping the bars and glowering at Luke as the bounty hunter and the marshal entered the cell block.
Luke drew one of his Remingtons and covered McCluskey as Elliott unlocked the cell. The lawman stepped back quickly and drew his own gun. ”Come on out now,” he told the prisoner.
”And don't forget all the posters on you say dead or alive,” Luke added.
McCluskey swung the door back and said sullenly, ”I'm not gonna try anything. I'm smart enough to know when the odds are against me.”
”Just not smart enough not to take up a life of crime,” Elliott said.
McCluskey sneered at the marshal but didn't have any other response.
”Hands behind your back and turn around,” Luke said.
”You're gonna cuff me like that?” McCluskey asked indignantly. ”h.e.l.l, a man can't ride with his hands cuffed behind his back.”
”You can. I'll be leading your horse. You don't have to worry about the reins.”
”Maybe not, but it'll be blasted uncomfortable.”
”Not as uncomfortable as the coffins where all the men you've killed are spending their time now.”
McCluskey smirked. ”h.e.l.l, I'll bet they're not feelin' a thing.”
Luke suppressed the impulse to pistol-whip the man again. ”Turn around.”
McCluskey did, and Luke snapped a pair of handcuffs on him. With that done, he grasped the outlaw's s.h.i.+rt collar and jerked him through the marshal's office and outside where he helped him up into the saddle as Elliott stood by with gun still drawn. Once McCluskey was mounted, Luke ran a length of rope under the horse's belly and tied the outlaw's ankles together.
”If this jughead runs away or falls down, there won't be a d.a.m.n thing I can do about it,” McCluskey complained bitterly. ”I'll be stuck up here.”
”It's your horse and your worry,” Luke said. ”You'd know better than I would how likely that is.”
”You're hopin' I don't make it to Cheyenne alive, aren't you?”
”I'm not worried about it one way or the other,” Luke replied honestly. ”If I really want you dead, I can just shoot you in the head as soon as we've left town. n.o.body would ever know the difference, or care overmuch if they did. You'd do well to remember that.”
The frown McCluskey gave him was enough payment for that jibe, Luke thought as he chuckled to himself.
Even though the hour was fairly early-the sun had just come up-quite a few people were on the street, and Luke realized they had turned out to watch him leave Rimrock with his prisoner. Having the notorious desperado Frank McCluskey captured in their town was probably the most exciting thing that had happened in the settlement in years. It was possible nothing would ever take place in Rimrock to top it. Some of the townspeople were probably even sorry to see them go.
Luke wouldn't regret putting the place behind him. He glanced across the street at the Powder River Saloon, which was dark and quiet at the early hour. Delia Bradley was probably asleep. He was confident that what he had told her was right. She would soon forget all about Frank McCluskey.
Luke swung up into the dun's saddle. Elliott handed him the reins of McCluskey's horse.
”Thanks again, Marshal,” Luke told the lawman.
”My pleasure. Just be careful, Jensen. You never know what you might run into.”
Luke nodded and heeled his horse into motion. Leading McCluskey's mount, he rode out of Rimrock, on his way to collecting six thousand dollars.
As they pa.s.sed the saloon, he thought he saw a curtain in one of the windows twitch, but he wasn't sure about that and didn't figure it mattered anyway.
Delia let the curtain fall closed. She couldn't bear to watch McCluskey humiliated like that, being paraded in front of those stupid townspeople as a helpless prisoner while Jensen took him out of town. She hadn't known McCluskey long, but she knew what a proud man he was and how that display had to be eating at his guts.
It was just one more thing Luke Jensen would pay for, sooner or later, she swore to herself. Her eyes were red-rimmed and gritty. She'd been awake all night, crying and plotting her revenge.